'Sonic the Hedgehog' Review—A Harmlessly Fun Ride

By any chance, have you tried Olive Garden's Never-Ending Pasta Bowl? They give you unlimited pasta, sauces, toppings, soup or salad, and breadsticks. It never ends.

Maybe a better question is, why am I beginning a review of Sonic the Hedgehog with an endorsement of Olive Garden's dry, flavorless breadsticks? Well, I was asking a similar question as I watched the never-ending Olive Garden product placement in this movie.

Jeff Fowler directs this adventure comedy about Sega's iconic character, Sonic, who gets sent to Earth and goes on an adventure with a human named Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) to escape the mad scientist, Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey).

Now, you don't have to be a movie lover to have heard about the controversy surrounding the original character design for Sonic; this movie's release was delayed for three months to allow the animators time to rework Sonic after the negative reception.

Luckily, the new design looked great, and it is one of the multiple reasons why this video game movie works. This is an entertaining adventure movie with a great sense of fun and a lot of chemistry between the two leads.

This is an effortlessly enjoyable road movie. It follows the road movie formula very closely with two characters butting heads and going somewhere in a car. It is quite fun to watch, especially in the action sequences, which are very well-directed and creatively executed with Sonic and his rings.

Also, there are scenes in the movie which resemble Quicksilver's slow-mo sequences in the X-Men films, which are quite fun. Furthermore, the performances are what make this film even more entertaining; Ben Schwartz brings a lot of energy to this role through his voice, and he does a beautiful job as Sonic.

Marsden gives an excellent performance as Tom Wachowski, even though he basically already portrayed this role in Hop. However, the scene-stealer in this movie is Carrey, who plays Dr. Robotnik to perfection with a fantastic comedic, over-the-top performance straight out of the 90s. He is playing a mustache-twirling villain, and he's so fun to watch as this caricature.

While a lot of this movie is a harmlessly fun ride, there are some issues with the film's screenplay. Because while this is a road movie, it offers nothing original for the genre. This is a very formulaic film that doesn't do anything new in terms of its story, and as a result, the story is entirely predictable and lacking in surprises.

The story beats are very familiar, and there's even a story beat that felt copy and pasted from last year's Pokémon: Detective Pikachu. Furthermore, as this movie takes place on Earth, it felt like a bland setting to put Sonic against, given that he's from a much more fascinating world.

However, Sonic's personality is just like it is in the video games and the amount of passion the writers put into making a film that will make younger audiences and fans of Sonic satisfied shows in the amount of wit and humor that arises from the conflicts and characters in the movie.

And while Sonic's character is well-written, the rest of the film is averagely written. For example, Tom could have had a much more meaningful, emotional character arc, but as a character, he doesn't have too much.

Some of the conflicts that arise between Sonic and Tom feel forced and undeveloped, and their disagreement does not feel like a significant conflict. Parts of the film's plot strain credibility, as Tom is considered a terrorist on the run for a majority of the film, but Dr. Robotnik is the only person who poses as an adversary for him.

Certain emotional moments for Sonic feel as if they come out of nowhere, and the tone can shift from very lighthearted to very sad within seconds. And while Sonic has a very charming presence, he and Tom should have had more scenes to develop the bond and the close friendship they form.

Even though there are parts of the film that can be easily nitpicked, this is an enjoyable movie that younger audiences will find to be very watchable. It also has a few references to action films such as Speed and Fast & Furious, which will appease older audiences as well.

While I'm writing about this film, I feel like it's important to give credit to the animators who spent months revamping the character design in time for its release. Their hard work was able to pay off, making this movie an entertaining watch and not the disaster some of us may have been expecting after the first trailer.

Some of the jokes are funny, and others aren't. While there are a few issues with the film's script, the CGI is excellent, and at the end of the day, this is a film that will appeal primarily to younger audiences and long-time fans of Sega's most iconic character.

Final Grade: Sonic the Hedgehog—7/10 (B-)

If you're a Sonic fan, this is a film you should be running to see in theaters. If you're not a Sonic fan, you won't enjoy this much as die-hard fans of the character, but you may still find some entertainment in this bit of harmless fun.

And if you need me, I'll be looking for apartments on Zillow and researching Amazon's drone delivery service *wink* *product placement* *wink*