Title – Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

Director – Jeff Fowler (feature debut)

Cast – James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Tika Sumpter, Neal McDonough (voice of) Ben Schwartz

Plot – Small town police officer Tom Wachowski (Marsden) must help extra ordinary hedgehog Sonic (voice of Schwartz) defeat the nefarious Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Carrey) who wants to use Sonic for experiments to help with his devious plans.

“I’m wet, I’m cold, there’s a fish on my head, and clearly I’m not gonna be able to do this on my own!”

Review by Eddie on 28/02/2020

If there was a film released over recent years that had no right being as enjoyable as it has ended up being, it’s most certain that Sonic the Hedgehog would be near the top of that list.

A seemingly doomed video game adaption directed by a first time director and pushed back months from its initial release date due to large-scale online backlash aimed at its first reveals, Sonic didn’t have the easiest of paths to its final release but against all the odds, it succeeds where so many before it have failed.

One of the most purely enjoyable mainstream family films of the last few years, Jeff Fowler’s fast-moving and wittily delivered film never threatens to do anything in a way that reinvents the wheel of its genre but thanks to some energetic performances, accessible material and a loveable CGI creation, Sonic deserves to be ranked among the better video game adaptations.

Taking the mismatched buddy road trip approach to its source material, an approach that is tried and true in many similar adventures, Sonic sees the Ben Schwartz voiced extra-ordinary animal team up with James Marsden’s do-gooder small-town sheriff Tom Wachowski, as the destined to be best friends face off against a rampaging Jim Carrey as famed game villain Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who wants nothing more than to harness the powers of Sonic for his devious technology.

There’s nothing to write home about story wise here but Josh Miller and Patrick Casey’s funnier than it should be script allows its main performers ample opportunities to play out scenarios that will get the young and old laughing in equal measure, as Schwartz feels like the perfect Sonic, Marsden the solid grounded support he needs, while Carrey gets to rewind time and go full manic in his most enjoyable turn in year’s, in what is a performance that is sure to please long-term fans.

Full credit must go to the team as a whole here, managing to craft a breezy and easy to enjoy experience that balances that tricky line of being perfect for kids and entertaining for adults (bar fights and all), so much so that the thought of more big screen Sonic adventures is not only tolerable but exciting, a rare feat for modern family films and video game movies in particular.

Final Say –

A hugely enjoyable romp that never outstays its welcome or try’s to be anything but a fun-filled yarn, Sonic the Hedgehog will go down as one of 2020’s nicest cinematic surprises.

3 ½ chainsaw wielding locals out of 5