by Phillip Hudson, Feature/Entertainment Editor
The movie is comedic for the most part, but it has a few heartfelt moments. Schwartz’s voice for sonic is perfect. It has that teen kid vibe without being an annoying teen kid. It is playful at times, but in the serious moments you feel the weight of the emotions.
Sonic is the story of an alien hedgehog named Sonic (Ben Schwarts) who runs at super speeds. The hedgehog hides from the world so nobody will hunt him to steal his powers, and he was instructed by his owl mother to use his golden rings to teleport to other planets if ever discovered.
Sonic is discovered and plans to do that, but local sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) tranquilizes him and the rings are teleported to San Francisco. Sonic and Tom then go on a road trip to get the rings, and build a friendship with being chased by Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) who wants Sonic’s powers.
The design of Sonic spot on and only helps to add to Schwartz’s performance. This is not the original design they had for the film. The first design would have possibly wrecked the performance, even for non-Sonic game or television fans. James Marsden does excellent in the role.
The title of the film could have actually been called Sonic and Tom. They both have equal development throughout the film.
Marsden is not the straightest of the straight man found in most comedic films, like Desi Arnes in I Love Lucy or Jim Parson in The Big Bang Theory, because sometimes he is the comedian and Sonic is the straight man. Dr. Robotnix is also a character that switches from straight man to comedian, depending on who he is interacting with.
Jim Carrey’s character is the antagonist in the film. The role is pretty much Jim Carrey doing his Jim Carrey route. He screams randomly, he makes jokes at other character’s expense; he waves his arms around, and even dances. Audiences that love Carrey’s route will love this film. True, his dance comes out of nowhere and adds nothing plot wise for the film, or even character development. This works for the film though.
Again, sometimes he is the comedian in the scene. He has an assistance that interrupts his dancing and awkwardly offers him a beverage, making Carrey the comedian in the scene. When Carrey’s character meets Marsden’s, he is the straight man reacting to Marseden’s jokes.
He never gets a real deeply emotional moment like the other two stars, but the film is not about him and he does not grow as a character. It still works though because he is pushing the plot along.
The only issues with the film are from a video game of television show fan’s standpoint.
Sonic is the lead in both medias, but he has an ensemble in both and people love them. Characters like Knuckles, Tails, and Rouge would have been nice to see, but the film is probably better without the ensemble because it allowed the film to focus on the lead characters the film needed to focus on.
Otherwise these characters would have been like The Hobbit where you have a collection of dwarves that really do nothing, have no development, no real point in existing, and completely forgettable. If the film gets a sequel–which what films in Hollywood are not looking for trilogy/franchise films(?)–then they could appear and fans won’t call Espio “the purple one.”