Sonic the Hedgehog

Apart from the surprisingly impressive visual effects, Sonic the Hedgehog feels 30 years old in all the worst ways. Jim Carrey gives a great performance, but the rest of the human characters are completely forgettable. The constant narration grows repetitive and pointless, I want to watch the film not have it be told to me.

This is the first film for director Jeff Fowler, and it shows. The editing either takes a joke too far, ruining any comedic timing, or cuts short the dialogue, giving an awkward transition to the next scene. I have no idea how he went from a brief role in visual effects to directing a big budget film, but he definitely tries to make a well structured story. It is overflowing with clichés and drops several narrative threads throughout, but from a distance there is nothing inherently wrong with this film. That is, in reality, the most frustrating thing about this film and a lot of films coming out at this time. There are no more “bad movies,” the worst case scenario is sending out a passable, consumable product into theaters without taking any risks. That is what this film is, a risk free check to Paramount Studios in terms of story.

The characters are cliché cutouts that say lines and walk across the screen. Sonic himself is the most fleshed out—mainly through direct exposition—but there is one scene where he plays baseball that was emotional enough for me to care about him. The person that really steals the show is Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik. He is fantastic, and the camera lets him enjoy being Jim Carrey again after so many years. It makes the film feel like it was made in the 90s, especially with the amount of clichés in each scene and the overbearing music cues, but it was refreshing to see him back in his element. By the time the road trip story turns into the superhero action flick it advertises being, it is Jim Carrey’s performance that makes the film watchable.

What conflicts with the concept of risk free storytelling the crew tried to get away with is how problematic the post-production of this film was. The Moving Picture Company (MPC) studio in Vancouver, a team of what was once 800 VFX animators behind the effects of Sonic the Hedgehog and Cats has shut down. There are other MPC studios around the world, one of them behind the effects of Disney’s The Lion King (2019), so these animators did have other places to move, but many are now unemployed. A lot of speculation is pointing at Cats and Sonic for closing the studio, but in reality Vancouver was just growing too expensive for a shifting market in visual effects (here is the link for all of that data). It is sad to see people work so hard at what they love and be punished for it, especially after they released a trailer of their original design of Sonic and had to go back to the drawing board, redesigning the model, and recutting a lot of the film. The final effects on screen are really good, and I like the design of Sonic; would I have enjoyed the film more if they kept the original look? Probably, but the first-time director definitely wanted to have a future career, so he played it safe and listened to the fans. Hopefully that boosts the box office sales in his favor, though I doubt people remember the “controversy” six months ago.

Overall, this film is geared towards a younger audience, and it serves to be enough action and fun to keep them watching. And when they have to go to the bathroom—which happened often in my theater—they will not not miss anything important. I have already forgotten most of the story, but Jim Carrey’s performance sent me back in time to my childhood. It is a safe story with great visual effects. It is a sad end to one of the greatest VFX studios, and I really do not know anyone that is invested in Sonic characters at all. There are two really good scenes, a great Jim Carrey performance, and that is about it. If that is enough to entice you to see it, wait until you can rent it for three dollars.

P.S.—I am trying something new with this review by adding a new rating: Entertainment Value. I look back at some of my reviews and I see my ratings as either too harsh or too forgiving, and it is because the Entertainment of a film can be vastly different from its actual storytelling quality. Mike Myers’ The Cat in the Hat is a terrible film that I will always enjoy rewatching, while the groundbreaking 2001: A Space Odyssey does not engage its audience until after its delayed intermission. Please give me feedback on whether this addition is valuable or a waste of text!

Story Rating: 5/10

Character Rating: 3/10

Entertainment Rating: 2/10