The first trailer for this film caused heavy backlash because of the initial look of the title character. After the estimated $5 million redesign of the character, people seemed to regain confidence that it would not be laughably bad. What really sold me on this film was Jim Carrey’s mannerisms in the trailer of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. I’m happy to say that Sonic the character looked presentable and Jim Carrey really delivered an eccentric version of Robotnik. The film had a good mix of action and comedy that delivers a strong family film. It’s not a fantastic film, but I think it gives multiple generations a Sonic film they can enjoy.
The film starts off near the end of the film and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) narrates how his journey started years ago. He explains he was raised by an owl called Longclaw (Donna Jay Fulks) who tried to protect him from those who would want to steal his power from him. Baby Sonic (Benjamin Valic) thinks he’s too fast to be seen, but enemies arrive to get Baby Sonic. Baby Sonic gets handed a bag of magic rings by Longclaw and is told to escape to a planet on the other side of the universe. The rings create portals that he can flee into. If the next planet fails, he’s told to flee to a world full of only mushrooms.
We see that Sonic has been living alone for years and has created his own hidden home underground on Earth. He’s been living in Green Hills watching the people in the town without letting himself be seen. He feels alone though as he can’t interact with them. His favorite person he calls Donut Lord who is really Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). One-night Sonic is frustrated with being alone as he plays baseball, which causes him to run fast enough that he releases an electrical charge that takes out the power grid. Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey) is called in to investigate this anomaly and Sonic sees that he’s being tracked. Sonic goes to hide out in Tom’s garage where Tom uses a tranquilizer dart on Sonic out of pure surprise.
This movie feels familiar to other family films that I’ve seen before. It delivers on the premise well though. Jim Carrey helps create a threatening but strange character in Robotnik along with his sidekick Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub). The movie seems to rotate in scenes of character interaction and action scenes, which helps keep it exciting. It’s a fun family film that seems to be set in a world of strange characters. I really enjoy how it just leans into the absurd but maintains an internal logic to prevent things from being confusing. Rated PG.
Ryan
Read it or Weep 