I saw the early trailer for Sonic The Hedgehog and groaned. The beloved blue hedgehog from the game I played in college looked very, very wrong. This was a movie I was going to avoid at all costs if I wanted to keep from having furry blue nightmares. Luckily for everyone, Director Jeff Fowler threw the film’s budgets and timelines in the trash and went for a full character redesign. That resulted in a hedgehog that could actually tempt me to visit the theater!
Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is an extraterrestrial hedgehog with supersonic speed. He’s been forced to leave his home planet by those who want to exploit his power. He travels to earth using a bag of gold rings that serve as portals to other planets. When the Department of Defense learns of Sonic’s existence, he hides out in the garage of local sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). Sonic and Tom flee Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who has been enlisted by the government to capture Sonic, and set off on a wild road trip to San Francisco.
Listening to the fans when it came to Sonic’s original design was a very wise decision, and one that couldn’t have been easy to make. How much did that have to cost? The new version of Sonic looks cute and cuddly, and ready to span a wide variety of merchandise. Another place the filmmakers served the fans? They packed Sonic The Hedgehog full of Easter Eggs from the video game. There’s enough well-placed nostalgia to warm even the most cynical 90s heart.
The road trip buddy comedy has been done before, so other than its video game origins, Sonic The Hedgehog isn’t breaking any new ground. With it’s PG rating, however, this might be one of the few road trip flicks that is truly family-friendly. Ben Schwartz’s voice performance as Sonic brought a ton of humanity to a fluffy blue alien, and served as the perfect counter-balance to Jim Carey’s overly manic performance as Robotnik.
With a dearth of family films on the slate this time of year, Sonic The Hedgehog delivers a fun and funny film that can be enjoyed by kids and kids at heart who still reminisce about their old-school Sega Genisis console.
You can catch Sonic The Hedgehog in theaters on February 14, 2020.
About Sonic The Hedgehog
Based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega, SONIC THE HEDGEHOG tells the story of the world’s speediest hedgehog as he embraces his new home on Earth. In this live-action adventure comedy, Sonic and his new best friend Tom (James Marsden) team up to defend the planet from the evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his plans for world domination. The family-friendly film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.