Digital Review - Sonic The Hedgehog

★★★★

‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ is the first live-action feature film for SEGA’s blue speedster mascot, and a surprisingly faithful one at that. When they first announced a live-action/CGI hybrid film was in development for Sonic, fans of the franchise were sceptical to say the least.

When the initial designs were leaked for Sonic’s appearance it caused one of the biggest uproars online in recent times. While the internet raged on, downvoting any video or image they could that featured the design, Director Jeff Fowler took all the criticism onboard. Not too long after the first trailer was released, Fowler announced a four month long delay promising to get the character “just right” for fans. What an end result it was. After months of hard work from the film’s animation team, Sonic looks absolutely fantastic in the final product. Between the updated design and an overall perfect voice performance from Ben Swartz, the team have nailed this character perfectly in looks and personality.

Powered with incredible speed, Sonic the Hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz), aka The Blue Blur, embraces his new home on Earth. That is, until he accidentally knocks out the power grid and sparks the attention of super-uncool evil genius Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey). Now it’s super-villain vs. super-sonic in an all-out race across the globe to stop Robotnik from using his unique power for world domination. Sonic teams up with The Donut Lord, aka Sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), to save the planet in this action-packed hit that’s fun for the whole family.

The film is a fast paced, hilarious wild ride that both kids and adults are going to enjoy. There’s a lot of easter eggs and not-so-subtle referencing in there for the fans to look out for too! The story, while predictable, is still entertaining for its full runtime and never really runs out of steam. I was relieved to see that it wasn’t exactly the buddy road trip film it was made out to be in trailers either. The chemistry between Tom & Sonic is great, but the film is most enjoyable when Sonic and Dr. Eggman share the screen. Jim Carrey absolutely nails this role. You can tell he is loving every second of bringing his character to life. I got serious 90’s Jim Carrey vibes the whole time – absolute gold.

Composer Junkie XL (Tom Holkenborg) provides the score for the film, which is also fantastic. It’s vibrant, fun… having played all Sonic video game titles old and new, this is exactly what I would have hoped for from a Sonic film score.

I had an absolute blast with this film. It’s fun, action packed and full of heart. I highly recommend giving it a watch, especially during these particular times. It’s guaranteed to entertain both kids and adults alike, providing a little escape and perhaps a hefty dose of nostalgia.