The most unexpected film franchise... (Sonic the Hedgehog Movie in review)

     Movies based on video games have a very... rough track record, from the abysmal Super Mario Bros movie to the alright, but slightly lackluster Ratchet and Clank movie from just a few years ago, there is one game that honestly beat all the odds and ended up being a pretty decent movie. It wasn't anything earth-shattering, but just the fact that it worked and was a legitimately entertaining and heartwarming romp of a buddy-roadtrip movie was good enough for me. On top of all the perfectly serviceable story were a lot of easter eggs and fun nods for fans of the Sonic franchise as a whole, which was a lot of fun. Enough charging my spin dash though, it's time to actually talk a bit about this really fun movie, which begins with the classic Sega jingle.

One slightly altered origin story, please?

    The story of Sonic the Hedgehog begins with young Sonic on his home planet (It's not said to be Mobius, but it does look like it), where he lives with an owl named Longclaw, who acts as his mother. Sonic was born with the power to run super fast, and Longclaw wants to do her best to protect that power. One day, a tribe of Echidnas attack and Longclaw sends Sonic away with a magic ring that teleports him to our world, and she presumably dies. Sonic ends up in the town of Green Hills and sets up a little cave where he can stay in isolation and hide from any potential threats, as it's now his goal to make sure that his power is protected and that Longclaw's sacrifice wasn't in vain. He has a map of all the safe worlds that are known, constantly referring to one that is a mushroom planet (in an obvious nod to Mushroom Hill zone from Sonic & Knuckles). Sonic gets bored and lonely over time and begins observing the residents of Green Hills, especially Tom Wachowski and his fiance, Maddie, or as Sonic calls them, Donut Lord and Pretzel Lady. Tom is the sheriff of Green Hills but he's applying for a job in the San Francisco PD, and preparing to leave the town that he was born and raised in. Sonic is constantly looking in on this lovely little family, and one night he gets really sad that he's not part of a family. He decides to play a little game of Baseball with himself, and while running the bases, he gets a little carried away and creates a sonic boom that ends up wiping out the power for half of the continental United States, which calls for Government attention. The government turns to independent contractor, Doctor Robotnik, to figure out who or what is causing the disturbances in this little community, and Sonic realizes that he probably needs to get out of this world since Robotnik seems to be a pretty serious threat. He's getting ready to use one of his magical rings to get to the Mushroom planet, but then Tom discovers Sonic living in his garage and tranquilizes him, making the ring accidentally send the bag of rings to San Francisco because sonic saw Tom's San Francisco shirt. Unfortunately the bag of rings falls on top of a skyscraper and the ring closes behind it. Robotnik finds out about Sonic, but Tom and Sonic leave Green Hills and begin on a road trip to get Sonic's rings back. Along the way, they have some wacky adventures involving getting in a bar fight, and more than one encounter with Robotnik who is intent on killing Sonic, as he's discovered that his power can be harvested, and is using a quill from him to power a bunch of new robots. Sonic and Tom eventually get to San Francisco, get the rings back, and Sonic uses several of them to fight Robotnik (who he now calls Eggman because of his flying vehicle that looks like an egg). Sonic faces off against Robotnik one final time and sends him to the mushroom planet instead of himself leaving, as he's discovered a family and a planet that he wants to protect. With the world getting back to normal, Tom and Maddie decide to let Sonic move in with them, setting up a little room in their attic for him, and we are all headed for a happy ending. In a post credits scene, another ring opens up at the top of a cliff and out jumps Tails, setting up the sequel! This is obviously a very heavily condensed version of the story, but it gives a little taste of exactly what happened in this film.

Lay on the charm!

    This movie goes a long way in making these characters really likable, with Tom (James Marsden) and Sonic (Ben Schwartz) obviously having great chemistry, and though Maddie (Tika Sumpter) doesn't have much screen time in this movie compared to the two main characters and the antagonist, she does a good job of being a likable character that plays into the story well. Her sister, who doesn't approve of Tom at all, and spends much of the movie being tied to a chair, is a hilarious character and really a scene stealer in her own right. Speaking of screen stealers though, Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik simply cannot be touched. He is so funny in this movie, this is possibly the most charismatic role he's had since the 90's or early 2000s, and even though he is a villain, and a pretty convincing one at that, he's absolutely hysterical. His dance scene in the middle of the film while he's running tests on Sonic's quill is amazing, and I can't talk about Robotnik without talking about his sidekick, Agent Stone. Stone is a great character that really reminds me of Jonathan from 30 Rock, as his whole role is just to be wrapped up in whatever Robotnik is up to, in the same way that Jonathan was wrapped up in Jack Donague's antics. I also love the whole joke about Agent Stone making great Lattes that Robotnik loves, and that's doubled down on in the second movie when Stone opens his own coffee shop, the Mean Bean Machine (which is a reference to Dr. Robotnik's Mean Bean Machine from the Genesis). There are so many good characters in this movie, and with the introduction of Tails (who was voiced by Colleen O' Shaugnessy, the same voice from the most recent Sonic games) in the final moments of it, I was really excited for the sequel, and that proved to be a great time as well!

What's a few references amongst friends?

    As this film is based on a video game, there are lots of easter eggs for fans of the game to look out for. There are tons of them, and they start pretty much right away. The echidna tribe from the beginning of the movie pretty immediately put out strong Knuckles vibes, which paid off really well in the sequel, we see Sonic's home world include a loop-de-loop like we've seen in all of the Sonic games since the beginning. Sonic has a road sign that he uses in his cave as a ping-pong table that says "Hill Top Road" on it, which is a reference to Hill Top Zone from Sonic 2 (the game, not the movie of course). The town of Green Hills, Montana, is a reference to Green Hill Zone, which is the first level from the first Sonic game! All of these Easter Eggs are so much fun, and honestly made the movie much better as a fan to play a little minigame to see what I could notice. My favorite Easter Egg has to come from the very end of the movie, though, after Eggman has been defeated and sent off to Mushroom Hill Zone (which is another reference). The Wachowskis return to their home and the town of Green Hills is being repaired from the destruction caused by Eggman, all is at peace, and in the background, a little ditty is played on a quiet piano. The song that is being played is the theme from Green Hill Zone, and it's such a perfect touch, I just about lost it in the theater. I'm a sucker for almost any video game music, and Green Hill Zone is about as iconic as you can get. Hearing that little piece of music followed by Tails being revealed at the end made me unrealistically excited for the sequel.

    I'm not going to spoil anything about the second Sonic movie yet, since it just came out not too long ago, but I will say that it's a fantastic time, and it owes a lot to the stellar first film in this unexpected smash hit! The movie came a long way from the first trailer that came out where Sonic looked horrible, and I'm so glad that the work was put in to make the movie as good as it should have been. As a longtime Sonic fan, I was really happy with where this movie went, and while it wasn't a perfect movie or anything, it was a great time, and a movie that I think little kids would like and be interested in playing the games maybe, just to get to spend some more time with Sonic, a character that so many have spent many great times with. If you haven't seen it, Sonic the Hedgehog is definitely worth a watch, and I hope you'll like it if you do.

    Thanks so much for reading this post, friends. I saw the second Sonic movie a few weeks ago and immediately wanted to write something about it, but I didn't want to spoil anything about it. It took a while for me to come up with this idea to write about the first one, but I hope you like what I have to say about it! I hope you'll all have a great week and I'll talk to you again soon! I'm Jonathan, your self proclaimed Sonic fan, and always remember to go fast!