Many expected the movie about a CGI small blue person accompanied by a white guy to be exactly like 2011s The Smurfs (the similarity is uncanny) but they are fortunately wrong.
Joking aside, I went in expecting the movie to be the equivalent of blunt force trauma and left pleasantly surprised at this adaptation of the SEGA character. First and foremost, this is a kid’s movie with loads of feel-good tones. But there’s also enough to keep the adults entertained and I actually laughed a few times. The people who will surely love this move the most are the fans of the games thanks to its ridiculous number of references that must require multiple viewings to get them all.
Ben Swartz voices the titular character of Sonic and gives a good performance for the fast-little guy making us empathetic with what he’s going through and just like him as a character. But by far my favourite part of the movie is literally any scene with Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik. His performance was as over the top as some of his older movies like The Mask and Dumb & Dumber (both 1994) which wasn’t just nostalgic but also reminded how talented a comedian he is. Hopefully, there is a sequel just so we get more Jim Carrey.
Thanks to the late adjustment to the Sonic character model, I felt for the most part that the special effects were great. Sonic looked a lot better than before and the SFX team, as well as those also on the film, should be praised for how they were willing to change their work to help please their fanbase.
One of the biggest issues I had with the movie was the borderline cringe use of advertisements from things like Olive Garden and Zillow. While clearly movies are expensive and need funding, the blatant product placement completely broke my immersion. And while yes, it is a kid’s film, it was a cliched kids film filled with fewer surprises than I have friends. But other than that, this is a solid family flick and a member of the exclusive “I’m a video game movie that doesn’t completely suck” club.
Rating: 3/5
