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The Sonic Movie Was Better Than Expected

By George Robbins

[usr 4.2]

So, I am willing to admit that ‘Sonic the Hedgehog‘ was definitely better than I thought it would be. I know that it was made for kids to watch, but who are we kidding, it was a movie that was made to draw in a massive variety of people. For instance, kids are the most obvious targets to get seats sold out in theaters, then we have people who played the original video games that want to see how the movie is adapted comparatively, and finally we have people that simply want to see a video game movie. Video game movies historically haven’t done well, but this one is actually pretty decent. Spoilers ahead by the way.

As I just said, historically video game movies haven’t been responded to very well. These movies include ‘Super Mario Bros.,’ ‘Lara Croft: Tomb Raider,’ and the ‘Resident Evil‘ movies. However, that bad track record seems to have turned around a bit especially after last year’s ‘Detective Pikachu.’ ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ had a bit of a rocky start before the movie’s release due to the fact that the original Sonic design looked so terrible and nothing like the original character. Now, the character fits in much better with the entire aesthetic of the movie and surprisingly enough fits in well with the world around him.

To be honest the main characters, Sonic and Tom, played by Ben Schwartz and James Marsden, have a good dynamic, but is too much of a buddy cop style relationship. That is just in my opinion, but they did the characters well, especially Sonic’s sarcastic and relatively innocent attitude. Meanwhile, Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik portrayal was a unique take on the character that I feel like only Carrey can pull off. He pulls off the insanity angle of a mad scientist very well and creates a villain that we we expect given that this movie is based off of a game.

There are plenty of references to the game throughout the movie, whether big or small. For instance, the rings he collects are obvious and are meant to be a part of the plot, but things like the town they live in is called Green Hills, or a sign that says Hill Top. The name of Eggman being given to Robotnik is another reference. The music and sound effects are also very reminiscent of the original game.

Finally, I just want to cover some issues I had plus some final thoughts that I had on the movie. First of all, the creators of the movie did a few things to make sure that people knew who the bad guys were, such as literally labeling Robotnik’s lab as an “Evil Lab.” Yet again, I know it is a kid’s movie, but that seems a little excessive. I also feel like the plot of a good guy being hunted by the government for doing something good seems a bit overused. That aside, this adaptation was done very well, considering the premise of the games, they did it in a way that kind of makes sense by having the titular character be an alien from some far away place that uses ring technology to travel across the universe. I highly recommend that people go and see this movie for themselves to decide of it is a worthy adaptation. For more information on the movie, click here.

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