Sonic the hedgehog is a CGI live action movie about the titular character in the retro sega games of the same name. The film stars Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Jim Carrey as the evil Dr Robotnik or Dr Eggman and many others including James Marsden, Neal McDonough,Nathasha Rothwell and Adam Pally.
The plot is pretty simply Sonic travels to earth from his home planet to protect his power from those who want to use it for evil. However a small mishap puts him on the radar of a more powerful villain who intends to use sonics power for his own selfish intent. Sonic must team up with the locals to get his power to a safe environment
First of all let’s talk about the bad rep this film has from the first initial trailer. It was pretty bad the tone didn’t look like what i expected from a Sonic film and most of the jokes in the trailer fell flat, but that doesn’t even hold a candle to what was the worst part. The design of our titular hero. The internet went into uproar and meme after meme was created because of the backlash of this design. All however was not lost as 2 days later the film was delayed 3 months and a redesign was issued and it looked great. The new design looked and improved in some ways the design we all know and love and people on the internet were happy for a change. On the other hand though great character designs do not make for a good film so how does the film do all that being said.
The film was actually pretty great. It’s nothing close to a masterpiece but as far as video game movies go this is the best one i have seen and if this is as good as video game adaptations are gonna get then i’m okay with that. It’s a fun lighthearted kids adventure but with enough for die hard fans and new fans and adults alike to keep everyone entertained in the movie.
There are a few flaws that mostly consist of plot holes but overall the film has more positives than negatives. First of all Ben Schwartz as Sonic is a delight he captures the energy of the character perfectly and his witty one liners mostly hit every time. James Marsden is also great in the film even though he is very generic and cheesy he does well with the character he has and has some heartfelt moments towards the climax of the film. Ultimately though the stand out of the film is Jim Carrey. I never knew Jim Carrey could play such a great villain as usually his characters are all loveable goofballs and i wasn’t sure how that would translate to being a villian. My doubts however were quickly squashed as Carrey oozes his 90s energy in bucket loads. He is the best he has been in movies, in this film than he has in years and you can just tell he is having so much fun in this role and this just makes him a delight to watch and he is easily the best part of the film.
The film was a surprise to me and because of that i’m going to end my review here as i don’t actually want to spoil anything as i want people to watch this and give it the chance it deserves. Especially after fan backlash caused the production team to fork out thousands to redesign the hedgehog. It would be a shame if we didn’t repay them with a visit to the cinema. Because honestly it’s a surprise and the less you know the better.
Final Score.
Title:Good
Sonic the hedgehog is probably the most surprising film of the year so far. it outlived all my expectations with a solid voice performance from Ben Schwartz and a show stealing performances for the legendary Jim Carrey. its is no means a masterpeice but its probably as good as a first live action sonic movie can be and thats okay with me.
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