sonic 1 movie review

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Sonic the hedgehog.

• Common Sense Says
• Parents Say 45 Reviews
• Kids Say 163 Reviews

Common Sense Media Review

Carrey lights up video game movie; peril, some drinking.

Parents Need to Know

Parents need to know that Sonic the Hedgehog is a kid-targeted action/adventure movie starring the iconic Sega video game character. The famous blue hedgehog is also an alien with special powers that put him in danger in his world. While he's being pursued, his mama bird is shot with an arrow (she seems OK)…

Why Age 8+?

Pop culture references fly; some mentions of brands like Mello Yello and Amazon

Cartoonish fantasy violence includes drones that shoot lasers, bullets, and some

Language is more rude than profane -- words include "butt," "fart," "hell," and

Sonic and Tom go into a bar where Tom drinks what appears to be beer; he drives

Any Positive Content?

Messages about the value of friendship: It's how we survive. Treat others like y

Deputy Tom Wachowski is the reliable rock of Green Hills but feels he could be o

Intended to entertain rather than educate.

Products & Purchases

Pop culture references fly; some mentions of brands like Mello Yello and Amazon feel like they're meant as easy jokes; others feel more like product placement. Recurring joke about Olive Garden involves characters saying the restaurant's catchphrase, mentioning a promotional dish, talking about how much they love it. A Toyota Tacoma is also shown in a light that seems like it could be advertising. Other brands mentioned/seen include Volvo, Invisalign. And, of course, the film serves as a long commercial for Sonic video games.

Violence & Scariness

Cartoonish fantasy violence includes drones that shoot lasers, bullets, and some type of explosive device. Punches are thrown both as a means of escape for main characters (they brag about it) and as a means of aggression for rough bikers. Two people fall off a building but are saved. A tranquilizer gun is used.

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Violence & Scariness in your kid's entertainment guide.

Language is more rude than profane -- words include "butt," "fart," "hell," and "freak." A couple of times, a profane expression is started, but the strongest word gets cut off/out (e.g., "son of a ..." and "what the ... ").

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Language in your kid's entertainment guide.

Drinking, Drugs & Smoking

Sonic and Tom go into a bar where Tom drinks what appears to be beer; he drives soon after (without incident).

Did you know you can flag iffy content? Adjust limits for Drinking, Drugs & Smoking in your kid's entertainment guide.

Positive Messages

Messages about the value of friendship: It's how we survive. Treat others like you'd like to be treated.

Positive Role Models

Deputy Tom Wachowski is the reliable rock of Green Hills but feels he could be of greater value in a big city -- he wants to help people facing life-or-death situations. His wife, Maddie, is the town veterinarian and has a big, kind, understanding heart. Their relationship is depicted as aspirational, supportive, loving and offers positive representation. Dr. Robotnik is a cartoonishly evil villain.

Educational Value

Parents need to know that Sonic the Hedgehog is a kid-targeted action/adventure movie starring the iconic Sega video game character. The famous blue hedgehog is also an alien with special powers that put him in danger in his world. While he's being pursued, his mama bird is shot with an arrow (she seems OK). For Sonic's safety, she pushes him through a portal to Earth with a warning that he must hide and stay on the run. Sonic never feels abandoned, but he is lonely. And the movie's messages, such as they are, revolve around the importance of companionship. Language is mostly mild ("hell"); it's more jokes about "butts" and "farts" than any actual swearing. One scene may raise eyebrows: Sonic and human hero Tom ( James Marsden ) stop at a roadside bar/restaurant where they get into a brawl (mostly punches), and Tom is seen drinking a beer and driving soon afterward, without incident. In general, the movie's violence is cartoonishly explosive, like an unrealistic video game: It's mostly drones shooting fireballs, lasers, and bullets. There are some moments of peril, but the audience is never in doubt that everyone will be OK -- even hysterically evil villain Dr. Robotnik ( Jim Carrey ). To stay in the loop on more movies like this, you can sign up for weekly Family Movie Night emails .

Where to Watch

Videos and photos.

Parent and Kid Reviews

• Parents say (45)
• Kids say (163)

Based on 45 parent reviews

Use of God's name in vain.

This is great, what's the story.

In SONIC THE HEDGEHOG, iconic Sega video game character Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz ) is on the run in rural Montana from Dr. Ivo Robotnik ( Jim Carrey -- how you've been missed!). Robotnik wants to steal Sonic's supersonic speed powers to take over the world. With the help of local cop Tom "Donut Lord" Wachowski ( James Marsden , who interacts with a CGI figure with ease and charm), Sonic takes off to evade his captor. Naturally, he gets into plenty of mischief along the way.

Is It Any Good?

Watching Carrey is an absolute delight; his comedic genius exudes more wattage than Sonic's moments of heated emotion -- and Sonic's outbursts cause power outages. Why did it take Hollywood so long to make Carrey a handlebar-mustachioed villain? His Dr. Robotnik is reminiscent of the over-the-top silly characters he famously created in movies like The Mask, Dumb and Dumber , and Ace Ventura: Pet Detective . Carrey's performance helps take Sonic the Hedgehog to levels of laughing you never expected. The best moment of all is when Robotnik does his Dance of Anarchy. Please, sir, may I have some more?

But as great as Carrey is, this is the story of Sonic, an animated alien hedgehog who's sent to Earth alone for his own safety. He's warned that if anyone sees him, they'll try to capture him for his special powers. So he settles in Green Hills, Montana, and watches those in the small town from the shadows with a wistfulness. Really, Sonic is like a little kid: He loves fart jokes, he can't keep quiet, he's (literally) bouncing off the walls, and he just wants a friend. It's a theme every kid can appreciate. Even if they don't relate to being alone, they can relate to being bored. As Tom, Marsden is a perfect companion to Sonic, popping off "dad jokes" and expressing his love for Olive Garden (the latter screams "product placement," but at least it's funny). The duo's evolving dynamic -- buddies, but really best friends, but really guardian and child, but really father and son -- make Sonic the Hedgehog a laugh-until-you-turn-blue fun film for the family to enjoy together.

Talk to Your Kids About ...

Families can talk about loneliness. Have you ever felt left out? Has anyone ever told you that you made them feel left out? Why is inclusion so important?

Dr. Robotnik says he was bullied as a child. Do you think he's now a bully ? What should you do if you're being bullied or see someone else being bullied?

Talk about how drinking is portrayed in the movie. Is it glamorized? Are there consequences? Why does that matter?

Did you recognize product placement in the movie? If so, did you find yourself thinking about that item or brand? What's the impact of advertising on kids?

Movie Details

• In theaters : February 14, 2020
• On DVD or streaming : May 19, 2020
• Cast : Jim Carrey , James Marsden , Adam Pally , Ben Schwartz
• Director : Jeff Fowler
• Studio : Paramount Pictures
• Genre : Family and Kids
• Topics : Adventures , Space and Aliens
• Run time : 100 minutes
• MPAA rating : PG
• MPAA explanation : action, some violence, rude humor and brief mild language.
• Last updated : June 21, 2024

Did we miss something on diversity?

Research shows a connection between kids' healthy self-esteem and positive portrayals in media. That's why we've added a new "Diverse Representations" section to our reviews that will be rolling out on an ongoing basis. You can help us help kids by suggesting a diversity update.

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‘Sonic the Hedgehog’: Film Review

The speed-demon Sega video-game mascot has been redesigned to satisfy fans, but no one figured out how to make him as fun as he is fast.

By Owen Gleiberman

Owen Gleiberman

Chief Film Critic

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For all the kerfuffle that erupted in the spring of 2019 over the visual design of Sonic the Hedgehog , the blue-furred speed-demon mascot of the Sega video game–turned–live-action kiddie adventure, you wish that the creators of “Sonic the Hedgehog,” who went back and redesigned the character after being pressured (I almost wrote bullied) by his fans, had been inspired to redo the character’s voice .

Sonic, who was attacked for looking too anthropomorphic for comfort (there was a great deal of attention paid to his unnecessarily human teeth), is now closer to the big-eyed, red-sneakered scamp with a stylized smirk who was launched by Sega in 1991 and wound up becoming a kind of Mario or Pac-Man for millennials. In the movie, he now approximates the cuddly Astro Boy look of Sonic from the game franchise. But he talks like the ultimate gratingly overfamiliar cartoon smart aleck — a little snide, a little nerdy, with a mild whine of attitude, though essentially he’s voiced (by Ben Schwartz of “Parks and Recreation”) to sound like your pal , as if the film had concocted some sort of vocal smoothie out of Garfield and Fritz the Cat and Owen Wilson and Patton Oswalt. Whatever Sonic now looks like, his soul is innocuous.

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Given the level of obsession with which Sonic’s fans regard him, the makers of “Sonic the Hedgehog” would have done well to turn the film into a slapstick theme park of video-game trickery, like the relentlessly imaginative “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” But no! Their truly epic bad decision, far worse than the original fussy humanoid design of Sonic, was to make the “Sonic” movie into one of those clunky live-action adventure comedies with a digitally animated generic weisenheimer plopped into the middle of it.

Popular on Variety

The trouble with this form is that the live-action setting inevitably results in a cloyingly cheerful camp-sitcom woodenness — in this case, the tale of how Sonic buddies up with Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), a sheriff in the small town of Green Hills, Montana. The two finally land in San Francisco, so that the film can have an action climax set atop one of the towering platforms of the Transamerica Pyramid. Wherever they are, though, they’re an odd couple rotely snarky enough to make your lids droop.

So how speedy is Sonic? He’s so fast that he jogs at 297 miles per hour, plays a baseball game with himself, and can effectively slow any situation to a standstill, crawling around inside it to make whatever adjustments are necessary. (This ability comes in handy, and entertainingly, when he’s stuck in a redneck bar.) He’s like the Road Runner without the silently amused mystique. Early on, he dashes around to the tune of Queen’s “Don’t Stop Me Now” (“I wanna make a super-sonic man out of you” ), which gives you a preview of the film’s product-tie-in idea of cleverness. Sonic has his gold video-game rings that allow him to teleport, and his mind zips around too, which means that he adds a spin of rapid-fire noodginess to lines like, “The face I was born with. The confidence I picked up along the way.”

“Sonic the Hedgehog” does perk up, sort of, when Jim Carrey is onscreen as the evil Dr. Robotnik, whose origin story this basically is. After the electric light from one of Sonic’s mad dashes shorts out the entire Pacific Northwest, the U.S. military is convinced that there must be some sort of alien invasion afoot. So they send in Robotnik, a freelance machine wizard, to investigate. Carrey, wearing a big waxed mustache out of an old Western, a long black coat with a lining of satanic red, and a haircut that can only be described as a Hitler fade, does a vintage Carrey turn — which is to say, he could have given the exact same performance in 1998, and maybe did, but there’s a giddy nostalgia to seeing him execute these routines with such timeless demon-sprite abandon.

Robotnik is a cracked tyrant genius who controls an army of sensor drones (they’re like the weaponized droids in “RoboCop,” except that they look like flying humidifiers), and his driving force in life appears to be to demonstrate, at every opportunity, his innate superiority. We all know that your average Hollywood comedy tends to include some on-set improvisation, but in this case the contrast between the leaden pseudo-brashness of the rest of the movie and the ping! of Carrey’s dialogue is so marked that it almost feels like he made up his entire character on the spot. (I’m not declaring that he actually did. I’m just sayin’.) When he leers, “It’ll be fun to take you back to the lab for a litany of invasive exploratory procedures,” it reminds you that the Carrey personality was always built around cheeky new ways to bring the pain.

A review like this one should probably come with a disclaimer: For all the borderline tedium I felt at “Sonic the Hedgehog,” I do realize this is a picture made for 8-year-olds. And they’ll probably like it just fine. Yet I would also call the overly kiddified tone of the movie a mistake. The protesters who rallied for the changes in Sonic’s design by treating it as a line-in-the-sand issue, thereby demonstrating at least one reason why Donald Trump will probably be re-elected (we now have a generation that thinks this is a cause), were not 8-year-olds. As a movie hero, Sonic could (and should) have been hipper and sharper, less megaplex arrested. Even as they fixed his face, the filmmakers strove so hard to make him “likable” that they never figured out a way to make him cool.

Reviewed at AMC Lincoln Square, New York, Feb. 8, 2020. MPAA Rating: PG. Running time: 100 MIN.

• Production: A Paramount Pictures release of a Sega Sammy Group, Original Film, Marza Animation Planet, Blur Studio production. Producers: Neal H. Moritz, Toby Adcher, Toru Nakahara, Takeshi Ito. Executive producers: Hajime Satomi, Haruki Satomi, Masanao Maeda, Nan Morales, Tim Miller.
• Crew: Director: Jeff Fowler. Screenplay: Pat Casey, Josh Miller. Camera: Stephen F. Windon. Editors: Debra Neil-Fisher, Stacey Schroeder. Music: Junkie XL.  
• With: Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Jim Carrey, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally, Neal McDonough.

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'Sonic The Hedgehog' Moves at a Safe, Family-Friendly Speed | Review

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If you're still looking for the first great film adaptation of a video game, I regret to inform you that Sonic the Hedgehog is not it. While the title character certainly looks far better than his horrifying first iteration, the overall film fits neatly into a safe buddy, road-trip comedy that kids can enjoy with a recognizable video game mascot being silly. While some video game properties have started to lean into their weirdness like Pokemon: Detective Pikachu and The Angry Birds Movie , Jeff Fowler 's adaptation works to be as palatable as possible, and on that level, it works. There's nothing offensively bad or outlandish about Sonic , but it's a movie that rarely takes any chances either, and you're left wondering what was so captivating about this character in the first place.

Sonic the Hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz ) comes from a dimension that heavily resembles his popular 1991 video game, but when masked bad guys come after him because of his super speed ability, he uses his magic rings to jump to a new world. Ten years later, he's been hiding out on Earth, specifically in Green Hills, Montana. When Sonic accidentally causes an energy surge from his speed, he gets on the radar of the government and the nefarious Dr. Robotnik ( Jim Carrey ). Sonic goes to the home of a local cop, Tom ( James Marsden ), but accidentally opens a portal that causes his rings to land on top of a building in San Francisco. Sonic and Tom must make their way from Green Hills to San Francisco while avoiding Robotnik and his powerful drone technology.

The opening minutes of Sonic are the most promising when the Paramount logo is surrounded by rings, the music plays a variation on the Green Hill Zone from the games, and we're taken into the checker-box, loop-de-loop world of Sonic's home. And then less than five minutes in, the film abandons that world to take us to Small Town, USA. Understandably, there are budget limitations and the budget went into Sonic (and probably cost more when he had to be redesigned to be cuddly instead of grotesque). But moving the action to our world makes Sonic less interesting. The character becomes more mundane and trapped by our conveniences (He likes comic books! He has a beanbag chair!) rather than the weirdness of his video game where woodland creatures are trapped in robots and power-ups are stashed in computer monitors.

To be fair, translating a 90s platformer to a feature-length film is exceptionally tough, and no studio wants to repeat the mistakes of the Super Mario Bros. movie. But Sonic the Hedgehog swings too far in the other director so that it's major accomplishment is adequacy. Sonic is funny and cute. His arc is that being on the run has made him lonely, so his friendship with Tom is important. They're a mismatched pair who learn to care for each other. And as far as PG family films go, that's good enough. The kids at my screening were very much on board, and parents should feel comfortable watching this picture with their little ones.

For me, the biggest highlight of Sonic the Hedgehog comes not from the nostalgia I have for the Sonic games, but the nostalgia I have for Jim Carrey. When I was a pre-teen, Carrey was my hero. I loved the way he would throw his entire face and body into a delightfully immature performance. We eventually learned that Carrey had acting range, but he spent most of the 2010s eschewing his typically broad performance to varying levels of success. Carrey seemed to consciously desire credibility as an actor, which meant moving away from hamming it up. The thing is—Carrey's really good at hamming it up! I'm sure for him it's not much of a challenge, and perhaps he even finds it unrewarding, but my biggest laughs in this movie came from Carrey doing his thing. It may not have been particularly new or revolutionary for him, but it was oddly comforting, especially when he hadn't approached a character in this way since 2013's The Incredible Burt Wonderstone . I'm not saying I only want this Carrey performance from now on, but it works to chew the scenery as the villain in a movie where the hero is a cartoon.

Sadly, the rest of Sonic the Hedgehog doesn't share the manic energy that Sonic and Robotnik bring to the picture. They're off in something that's sillier and goofier, but the overall movie demands that they play by the beats of a standard buddy picture/road trip comedy. That formula is fine for what it is, and it gets the job done here, but I wish the filmmakers had taken a bigger, more imaginative swing than settling for just using the Sonic IP, stuffing him into a one-size-fits-all narrative, and calling it a day.

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Sonic the Hedgehog Reviews

... the kind of good-hearted and likable film that makes you want the lives of its subject to continue being explored, even as the credits roll.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jun 29, 2011

Charming story and elaborate anime visualizations.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jan 2, 2011

Sonic the Hedgehog

“Sonic the Hedgehog” is the worst kind of bad movie: it’s too inoffensive to be hated and too wretched to be enjoyable. You might think that this movie’s sad limbo state has something to do with the extensive and well-publicized last-minute animation redesign that made titular woodland creature Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz ) look more like Sega’s famous video game character. You’d be wrong: “Sonic the Hedgehog” is rotten because it, like too many other modern blockbusters, was seemingly made by an imaginatively bankrupt creative committee with more ideas for jokes than actual jokes to tell, and more cookie-cutter, place-holder dialogue about the power of friendship than something (anything) to say about that boilerplate quality.

“Sonic the Hedgehog” is a bad action-adventure, video game adaptation, and buddy comedy. It feels almost completely impersonal, save for whenever James Marsden , playing Sonic’s human companion, tries to rescue the movie by being confident and graceful in the face of an otherwise dire send-the-magical-critter-back-home kiddy fantasy. I hope that everybody involved in the making of this movie got paid well and on time. Nobody else has an excuse to see “Sonic the Hedgehog,” especially now that easily defeated parents can park their kids in front of a computer or TV and let them watch some “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” gameplay videos on YouTube. Trust me: your kids’ happiness does not depend on them seeing this movie.

Still, if you must take your kids to see “Sonic the Hedgehog,” there are a few things you might want to know. For starters, this is a painfully bland “E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial” clone. Sonic, a magical critter who can run fast, teams up with nice guy/small-town cop Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) to regain the whatsit—in this case, a pouch of gold rings that open portals to any destination Sonic can think of—that will help him to escape goony mad scientist Dr. Robotnik ( Jim Carrey ), who wants to dissect Sonic. So Tom and Sonic go on a cross-country road trip from fictional Green Hills to San Francisco, because that happens to be the city on Tom’s shirt when he, in a panic, shoots Sonic with a bear tranquilizer, and then Sonic, now stunned on powerful wildlife drugs, accidentally throw his rings onto a Golden City rooftop. San Francisco also happens to be the city where Tom wants to move to, given his completely original dream of finding recognition and excitement beyond his quaint hometown.

But really, the set-up for “Sonic the Hedgehog” hinges on a bear tranq and some bad timing. The rest of the movie’s non-existent sense of urgency is provided by Dr. Robotnik, a hammy antagonist who likes to yell about how much smarter and more powerful he is compared to everyone else. Dr. Robotnik controls expensive-looking robot drones and has a flimsy waxed mustache that looks like one of those party favors you see every third wedding guest wearing in your Facebook friends’ wedding reception photos. Dr. Robotnik is not very interesting, but he’s in the “Sonic” video games, so he’s in this movie, too.

Also, there are some dull stranger-in-a-strange-land shenanigans involving Sonic’s bucket list, whose bullet points include “tame a wild animal,” “start a bar fight,” and “make a best friend.” Your kid could probably write a better scenario, given a little focus and the right motivation, two qualities that the makers of “Sonic the Hedgehog” seem to lack.

I don’t mean to be unnecessarily harsh, but based on the movie I saw, “Sonic the Hedgehog” doesn’t need to exist. Marsden does a lot of heavy lifting just by reacting to a computer-generated character whose only distinguishing feature is his resemblance to a beloved video game character that was never really interesting unto himself. But Marsden can’t save this movie from a deluge of uninspired chase scenes, dumb plot twists, and disposable pop culture references (wow, he’s doing the floss dance again, terrific). “Sonic the Hedgehog” is only as successful as the amount of time you want to spend watching its animated protagonist go on instantly forgettable adventures, and boy, is that unfortunate.

If you really want to know why you should skip “Sonic the Hedgehog,” try to watch the movie’s trailer, and see how much of Jim Carrey’s aggressively joyless performance you can take. Like Marsden, Carrey does a lot of acting, but unlike his co-star, Carrey is never as entertaining as he is energetic. Watching Carrey in “Sonic the Hedgehog” is like watching a drunk try to jumpstart a party that was well and truly dead upon his arrival. Unfortunately, Carrey’s laborious efforts only make things worse. I don’t know that “Sonic the Hedgehog” was ever salvageable, because ultimately, everything in it, including the good stuff, is depressing.

Simon Abrams

Simon Abrams is a native New Yorker and freelance film critic whose work has been featured in  The New York Times ,  Vanity Fair ,  The Village Voice,  and elsewhere.

• Ben Schwartz as Sonic (voice)
• James Marsden as Tom Wachowski
• Jim Carrey as Dr. Ivo Robotnik / Eggman
• Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski
• Lee Majdoub as Stone
• Frank C. Turner as Crazy Carl
• Adam Pally as Billy Robb
• Debra Neil-Fisher
• Stacey Schroeder

Writer (characters)

• Hirokazu Yasuhara
• Naoto Ohshima
• Jeff Fowler
• Josh Miller
• Patrick Casey

Cinematographer

• Stephen F. Windon

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• DVD & Streaming

Sonic the Hedgehog

• Action/Adventure , Comedy , Kids , Sci-Fi/Fantasy

Content Caution

In Theaters

• February 14, 2020
• Voice of Ben Schwartz as Sonic the Hedgehog; Jim Carrey as Dr. Ivo Robotnik; James Marsden as Tom Wachowski; Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski; Adam Pally as Billy Robb

Home Release Date

• March 31, 2020
• Jeff Fowler

Distributor

• Paramount Pictures

Movie Review

Sonic the Hedgehog once lived happily in a place called Sonic Island on some faraway planet. But he wasn’t your average little spikey-haired blue hedgehog (if there is such a thing). He had abilities and powers. Namely, he could run—fast! And all that speed generated a lot of excess energy.

It was the sort of super stuff that his mentor and protector, Longclaw Owl, instructed him to keep under wraps. But if you were a kid who could break the sound barrier every time you went out on a morning jog, would you play it safe and just lope along like any other barely moving cheetah or antelope?

Yeah, neither can young Sonic.

The only trouble is, with great power comes … a whole lot of unwanted attention. And before you can say Yikes!, a huge army of baddies is after our little blue speedster. So Longclaw does what she has to: she tosses out a magical gold ring to create a wormhole to a safe place and sent Sonic through, sacrificially staying behind to stop the screaming villians in his wake. (She also gives him a bag full of additional magic rings, in case Sonic ever needs to make another fast getaway.)

After plunging through that portal, Sonic finds himself on a little planet called Earth, in the little town of Green Hills, Montana. Longclaw obviously knew what she was doing, because Green Hills seems like the safest place in the universe. Sonic settles down in a cozy little cave in the woods outside town, a home where he’s unlikely to be discovered or disturbed. And speaking of those woods, they’re a great place for a super-fast hedgehog to zip around unseen to his heart’s content.

Sonic also discovers these friendly creatures called  humans . The lil’ blue guy is positively fascinated by them, secretly watching and admiring them as they eat things called  donuts  and watch things called  movies .

Truth is, however, Sonic is, well, a little lonely.  He  wants to eat donuts, and watch movies  with  the humans. He longs to play a game called  baseball . I mean, hey, he’s fast enough to play every position on the whole team …  at the same time . But Sonic isn’t sure how the human world would react to someone like him.

Of course, then there’s that “with great power comes great attention” thing, which Sonic keeps forgetting about. After one indulgent super-speed burst, Sonic unwittingly unleashes an energy blast that knocks out the lights in all of Green Hills. In fact, it knocks out all of the power in the Pacific Northwest.

Once again, before you can say Yikes!, Sonic attracts the attention of the U.S. government and a brilliant-but-dastardly scientist by the name of Dr. Robotnik.

Robotnik is a human who’s not satisfied with donuts and movies and a fun Saturday afternoon game of baseball. Robotnik wants … everything! And a super-charged alien hedgehog is now squarely in his power-hungry sights.

Positive Elements

Sonic is a good guy with a naturally rambunctious spirit. He’ll readily stop what he’s doing to help someone in need—he even rescues a slow-moving turtle from being hit by a car (and then takes the relaxed reptile on a hyper-speed run, just for fun).

But more importantly, this hot-wheels hedgehog is quick to appreciate the small joys of life. He understands the value of friendship, sacrificing for others and living in a safe place filled with good people. Even though he loves Green Hills, he’s willing to teleport away to someplace much more unpleasant if doing so protects those he’s come to care about.

Speaking of those folks, Sonic meets a local police officer named Tom. He has set his sights on getting away from small-town life and taking a police job in San Francisco. Tom believes that’s the only way to prove himself under real pressure and to help his fellow man. But Sonic points out that the people of Green Hills need Tom, too. “What could possibly be more important than protecting the people who you care about?” Sonic asks him.

Tom eventually realizes, along with his loving wife, Maddy, that a life of service in and around good people is exactly the kind of life and home that they need. And they also both agree that Sonic—a space alien creature just looking for a friend and a home—is not only a good friend, but someone they welcome as part of their family (which could be seen as a light, pro-adoption message).

Spiritual Elements

Longclaw’s little golden rings (a valuable commodity that the game version of Sonic always snatched up) turn out to be magical assets in this movie version of Sonic’s story. When tossed into the air, they expand into a short-lived portal that can transport someone anywhere, from distant lands to distant planets. Longclaw not only uses one to teleport Sonic to safety, she gives him a small bag of the rings for future use.

Maddy’s exasperated sister exclaims, “Little baby Lord Jesus!” at one point. She also cries out, “Oh thank God!” when something good happens.

Sexual & romantic Content

Maddy wears spaghetti-strap tops on occasion (though nothing too revealing). Dr. Robotnik tosses out snarky quips on a regular basis, including saying “I see you’ve taken a lover” when he spots Tom with his wife, Maddy.

Maddy’s sister is quite cynical about marriage. She thinks Tom’s not worthy of Maddy and repeatedly tries to convince Maddy to leave him (in scenes mostly played for humor).

Violent Content

An early scene in the film might potentially be the most unsettling for the youngest viewers. In it, Longclaw Owl gets hit by an attacker’s arrow (there’s no blood), and it’s implied that she gives her life to ensure that Sonic escapes.

From running battles with Dr. Robotnik’s many drones, autonomous vehicles and heat-seeking missiles; to leaping and battling on skyscrapers; to an out and out super-speed boss battle in Green Hills town square, this pic takes numerous opportunities to lend its live-action, thump-and-bash realism to Sonic’s video game roots. That makes for lots of explosions and super-speed bopping. Along the way, vehicles get cut up and crumpled up by lasers and crashes, with a couple of people falling off a tall building. But none of that destruction is too visceral. (When several cars get demolished in a chase, for example, the movie doesn’t want us to spend too much time thinking about who might have been in them.)

In fact, Dr. Robotnik’s snarling, fist-shaking pursuit of his little blue quarry (and Sonic’s friends) tends to feel more potentially harmful than the blasting attacks themselves. Robotnik vows to catch Sonic and neutralize him, for example. And if Sonic resists, Robotnik ominously promises to take him apart “piece by piece.” But even in these momentarily intense scenes, the film plays Robotnik’s threats and villainy more as a melodramatic joke than anything.

During their travels, Tom and Sonic go into a bar and end up inadvertently initiating a raucous bar brawl. But Sonic defuses the thrown punches and broken bottles with hyper-speed and a bunch of pranks. As the world around him is reduced to slow motion, Sonic wraps up the brawlers in ropy bonds and yanks on some underwear, too. We see one guy lose a tooth (in slow motion) after receiving a punch. Others careen about, smashing tables and chairs over each other.

[Spoiler Warning] There is one point in the film when Sonic falls to the ground after a large battle, and it appears that he may have succumbed to a blast. But, hey, this is Sonic the Hedgehog. He doesn’t stay down for long.

Crude or Profane Language

We hear one use each of “h—” and “h—a,” as well as several uses of “oh my god” and “oh my gosh.” Someone calls out the French profanity “sacré bleu.” Other outbursts include “What the heck?” and an unfinished “son of a … ” We also hear “suckers,” “geez” and a reference or two to someone’s backside.

Drug and Alcohol Content

Dr. Robotnik snarkily comments about small-town residents needing to “head off to get drunk and put the boat in the water.” Tom and Sonic go into a roadside bar filled with patrons (mostly bikers) who are drinking beer in a lengthy scene that eventually descends into roadhouse chaos.

Other noteworthy Elements

We hear a few crude giggles and gags throughout the movie’s script. These include jokes about being probed by aliens, being breastfed as a child, giving someone a high-speed wedgy, gas jokes, etc.

Maddy’s sister isn’t onboard with helping Sonic. So her own family (including, perhaps, her children) ties her to a chair to restrain her long enough to solve Sonic’s dilemma.

For many young kids, the superfast blue hedgehog Sonic and his archnemesis, Dr. Robotnik, are likely as inscrutable as every other Sega game character from the late ’90s: as unrecognizable as, say, the word inscrutable. But even if they don’t know Sonic from his platforming, super-speed, jump-and-spin gaming days or yore, they’ll likely still enjoy his new high-energy, live-action movie.

This big-screen take on Sega’s anthropomorphized cobalt cannonballer is mostly cute and cuddly. Sonic’s story is quick, involving, and packed with nice lessons about caring for the ones you love and being grateful for the blessings you have. And Dr. Robotnik—played with melodramatic, Ace Ventura-like panache by Jim Carrey—sports as much zany zeal as mellifluous menace as he squints out from behind his heavily-waxed mustache.

Granted, throwback Jim Carrey-isms can sometimes open the door to some slightly edgier moments. Parents, you’ll have to decide how many “OMGs,” “What the hecks,” winking giggles and “pickled farts” you’ll want your youngsters to endure. As for the film’s more intense moments, that early scene with Longclaw Owl taking an arrow is probably the only one with the potential to upset particularly sensitive viewers.

That said, these moments never feel as if they cross any truly uncomfortable lines or stray too far from the expected PG-rated, kid-pic loop de loops. And hey, for older game fans, there’s even gold-ring gathering and a big boss battle to boot. Woohoo.

After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.

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Sonic the Hedgehog

Dove Review

The story begins when Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is sent away from his world to Earth by his guardian so that he might be able to stay safe from those who saw his power and wished to use it for themselves. As he arrives in Green Hills, Montana, he takes his guardian’s advice to hide very seriously. He comes to know the townspeople, but they don’t know he exists. That is, until his frustrations and loneliness unleash a power that even the government notices.

Sonic suddenly finds himself on the run (quite literally) from the evil Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), but Sonic has the help of the Green Hills sheriff, Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). As their short but meaningful journey from Montana to San Francisco unfolds, the relationship between them grows into something that Sonic has wanted for his whole life: a friendship.

In many ways, Sonic the Hedgehog does a wonderful job of staying true to the video game past of its title character, in both personality and looks. (The original trailer for the film was under intense scrutiny for the design of the fully CGI Sonic, so much so that the filmmakers redesigned him for the film’s full theatrical release.) Even our villain, Robotnik, maintains his zany (if somewhat rude and elitist) personality from the games, much of which is due to the perfect casting of Jim Carrey for the role.

Overall, this film was more of a joy than I expected, as I experienced Sonic overcome the obstacles of his own loneliness to grow into the hero and friend he desperately wanted to be. For that reason, whether families are already familiar with the characters or not, Sonic the Hedgehog will be worth the watch for all.

The Dove Take:

While this film contains a number of explosions and comically violent scenes throughout, it is a film both children and parents (especially those familiar with the characters) can enjoy.

Dove Rating Details

Character shot by an arrow (no blood), playful illusion of a man being eaten by a virtual dinosaur, numerous explosions, a comic “bar fight”

Married couple briefly kisses

Single usage of “hell”

Alcohol shown on screen in a bar

Character repeatedly calls for her sister to divorce her husband (for nearly no reason), brief scene joking about potential child endangerment

More Information

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Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Review | From Hesitant to Loving It

February 13, 2020 By Ashley Leave a Comment

Sonic the Hedgehog is an entertaining ride from start to finish. If you are skeptical about the film or wondering if it lives up to fan expectations, you are in the right place. Read on for a spoiler free Sonic The Hedgehog movie review, including game play callbacks, recommendations for kids, and why this gamer went from hesitant to loving it. 

Sonic The Hedgehog Movie Review

Sonic The Hedgehog is a live-action adventure comedy based on the Sega game franchise. The film follows the adventures of Sonic as he navigates life on Earth with his newfound best friend Tom Wachowski, played by James Marsden. Sonic and Tom join forces along with Tom's wife Maddie, the talented Tika Sumpter, to try and stop the villainous Dr. Robotnik. Robotnik, perfectly portrayed by Jim Carrey, is out to capture Sonic and use his powers for world domination. 

The film opens and we meet a kid hedgehog named Sonic. He has these awesome powers and lives on a planet that looks familiar to anyone who has played the game before. Sonic is happy to run and like any child refuses to follow his guardian's rules about showing off his secret power. This leads to trouble and Sonic is forced to use a ring to travel to another world to stay safe. 

Related: Sonic the Hedgehog Post Credit Scene

Welcome to present day Earth and to a little town called Green Hills Montana. Green Hill is the first zone in the Sonic The Hedgehog video game.  Green Hills is the quintessential small town where nothing ever happens. That is until Sonic decides to make himself known to the local Sheriff and an evil genius bad guy shows up with nothing but malicious intentions.

What follows is a fast-paced, buddy movie full of laughs, awesome effects, and heartfelt moments that will put a smile on even the toughest critic's face. 

When a video game makes the jump from console to big screen the results can be either amazing or disastrous. The first glimpses of Sonic, before the fixes made most of us physically recoil. It was going to be bad. Like Super Mario Bros bad.

Fortunately for everyone involved, the studio listened. Sonic was redesigned and a new trailer released. Although the new trailer was 100x better than the first, as a gamer, big screen adaptations make me wary. Turns out, the skepticism was not warranted. Sonic the Hedgehog is an entertaining ride from start to finish. 

Whether you are a hardcore Sonic fan or have no idea who he is, this film is a whole lot of fun. Who wouldn't want to see a cute, funny, anthropomorphic character run super fast, crack jokes, make friends, and save the world? 

Paramount and Sega accomplished making a video game movie that did not feel like a video game. Sure it has a lot of callbacks to the source material, but it avoids the trap of trying to make something look and play out exactly like a game. That is where other films of this nature have failed…miserably. 

Visually the team knocked it out of the park. Sonic looks like he's suppose to, acts like himself, and yes dons the classic red shoes. The special effects while heavy in some parts aren't murky and are grounded nicely by the real locations that dominate the majority of the film.  

Instead of creating a plot that centers around Sonic leveling up and doing nothing but run around, they gave the little guy a backstory, goals, and emotions that the audience can relate to. Feelings such as loneliness, grief, happiness, and determination make up this ball of blue energy. The audience will feel for Sonic, want to be his best friend, and protect him at all costs. 

Who would Sonic need protection from? The evil Dr. Robotnik, aka Eggman. This 1 dimensional video game baddie comes to life thanks to the incomparable Jim Carrey. Robotnik leaps off the the screen in a way only Jim Carrey could accomplish. It might remind viewers of the Mask and Ace Ventura days in Carrey's career. 

Rounding out the human cast are James Marsden and Tika Sumpter. James and Tika play a devoted and loving couple who support each other no matter what. Even if that means helping a blue hedgehog looking alien get away from a weirdo sent by the government. The chemistry between them, as well as with Sonic, is believable and sincere. These characters genuinely care for one another and have nothing but the best intentions. 

Sonic the Hedgehog is a charming, entertaining film that the whole family will enjoy. For fans of the video game it has just enough nostalgia to make you happy. While those who have no attachment going in to this blue creature will leave loving him just as much as us gamers. 

At the end of the day, Sonic is just a lot of fun. With the potential there for a sequel, I hope we see more adventures of the fastest and funniest hedgehog around. 

Is Sonic The Hedgehog Kid Friendly?

100%, Sonic the Hedgehog is kid friendly. Like adults, even if your child has no idea about Sonic the game character they are going to enjoy seeing an adorable blue hedgehog run around causing laughter and chaos in his wake. 

The PG rating is for action, some violence, rude humor, and brief mild language. The brief language is just that, brief. The words used are “hella,” brain fart (which maybe more of the rude humor than language), hell, and son of a that is cut off before the other word is said. 

Also note to parents there is an entire scene shot in a bar. Sheriff Tom Wachowski is seen drinking beer and the word drunk is used in conversation to describe the behavior of certain characters. 

Sonic the Hedgehog is in theaters February 14, 2020

Rating: 10/10 for being a great family film

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My review of Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

By reading the plot summary, one can probably gather that this movie has a lot of thought and heart put into it. It largely deviates from traditional Sonic media wherein Robotnik is just a measly evil scientist looking to conquer the world who gets bested by Sonic at every turn; while extended media like the comics canon has gone out of its way to establish an origin for Sonic, Robotnik (or Eggman if you wanna call him that), and their enmity, this movie establishes everything in a way that introduces the characters, world, and lore of Sonic to a new audience. In this, Sonic comes from an unnamed distant planet in the universe where his home is basically Green Hill Zone from the games, creating an awesome tie-in to the game universe without being exactly like it. Granted, we only see the traditional Green Hill landscape for the first couple minutes of the movie, but the creators going out of their way to name the fictional town of Green Hills, Montana the way they did showed that they were willing to commit to the zany nature of named locations in the Sonic universe. Not only are there numerous references to the games' iconography in this movie, but they also commit to throwing some fun references to the games in the form of small Easter eggs and references such as the Hill Top Rd sign in Sonic's cave or Sonic falling off the San Francisco building during his fight with Robotnik and his Rings scattering on the ground before he picks them back up. What's more, a piano rendition of the original Green Hill Zone theme plays following the climactic as an fun little extra nod to that place. It's little moments like these that shows that the creators did some research to throw some fun little references into their product for the sake of appealing to long time and keen-eyed fans who may have noticed upon viewing once or even several times over.

A good video game movie is more than its references, of course; what most video game movies have been missing from their premise is good storytelling and heart and this movie delivers on those fronts. We are shown in the beginning that Sonic is a lonely space creature who secretly watches over people on Earth for fear of the population discovering his power and abusing it; this results in him never having any real friends and him realizing this is what kickstarts the plot with his accidental EMP burst he emits in a fit of distress. His circumstances unite him with Tom, a theme of their relationship being the idea of a bucket list after Sonic learns what that is to which he spends time at a bar to get a lot of living done; after they escape a bar fight and Sonic falls asleep at a hotel, Tom reads that the last thing on the former's bucket list is to make a real friend. Although they have a rough patch in the form of a disagreement on why Tom would want to leave Green Hills to join the SFPD, Tom and Sonic eventually unite to defeat Eggman, Tom proclaiming to the latter that Sonic is his friend, which fulfills that goal and gives Sonic the strength to defeat his soon-to-be arch nemesis. That developing friendship arc is honestly a refreshing one for a live human befriending a cartoon animal because they could have easily gone the cliche route of Sonic being so annoying to Tom before the former causes an incident that incites the latter to kick him out of his life before they reunite for the climax. Fortunately, the directors knew how to deliver a fresh take on the formula and did not make anything like that nor did they do a repeat of the movie, *Hop* -- another human befriending a cartoon movie starring James Marsden.

The actors also do a fine job of the roles they are given. James Marsden gives a good enough performance as Tom Wachowski and while it's nothing to write home about, I do enjoy the exchanges he has with other characters including his wife, Maddie (Tika Sumpter), Sonic, and Robotnik and he meshes well with the vibe of the movie. Ben Schwartz also gives a great voice performance as Sonic himself, being the embodiment of an energetic, hyper-active, confidence exuberating blue hedgehog who lives to have fun while also tending to his responsibilities of keeping himself safe. As a fan of the series, I found his voice and attitude to be a good combination of former Sonic voice actors, Ryan Drummond and Jason Griffith, while also implementing a snarky element similar to the current voice actor, Roger Craig Smith. The side characters such as Adam Pally's Wade Whipple and Frank C. Turner's Crazy Carl are some entertaining side performances and really highlight the charming, quirky lifestyle and character the residents of Green Hills have despite their limited screentime. The real highlight, though, is Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik/Eggman; at the time of this movie, it had been years since Jim Carrey had done a comedic, cartoonish role like he did mostly in the 90s and, I'll say, he really brought back that energy and nailed this take on the character. He is a quirky, selfish, but fun-loving scientist with fun characteristics such as an interest in lattes with Austrian goat milk and whose machines mean everything to him, and it's almost no question that Jim Carrey was picked to play such an entertaining villain. His interactions with his lackey, Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub), are also great and full of creative takes on the bad guy and his lackey tropes such as Robotnik confronting Stone first by telling him to pin himself to the wall, which the latter does most likely because they've done that trope so many times. It's the little things like that that give Jim Carrey's exuberance a unique touch to this character and make for a great modern movie villain.

The special effects and animation also became an excellent aspect of this movie after the studio redid Sonic's entire look. The biggest thing that people despised about this movie's first looks was the design of Sonic himself; it was an ugly, realistic take on Sonic that could have completely changed the vibe of the movie and maybe even resulted in it being unsuccessful and never getting a sequel. That said, what they ultimately did saved the movie; Sonic's design is not 100% accurate to the games, but the final design actually resembles the original character with his green eyes, pointy black nose, rounded, flesh colored face, and highly detailed blue fur. An interesting detail about this version of Sonic is that he originally wears what look to be cheap, possibly homemade shoes that have worn out over time until Tom and Maddie's niece, Jojo (Melody Nosipho Niemann), gives him his iconic red and white shoes so that he "won't hurt his feet anymore". The electricity Sonic emits from his quills to exemplify his speed and power is also visually appealing when it could have easily been cheap, blue electricity and showcases the hefty, mysterious power that this version of Sonic possesses (enough to create a powerful EMP burst that knocks out power throughout the northwest Pacific). Robotnik's machines may mostly be generic floating drones shaped like eggs, but the scene where he dances to Poppy Family's "Where Evil Grows" is full of some fun holographic visuals such as the part where he's running from a fake T. Rex that then "bites his head off". While the movie understandably limits itself to one animated Sonic character -- the star of the show I might add -- it also creates a decent-looking movie version of Tails (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessy) in the mid-credits scene when the latter appears out of a Ring portal to find Sonic. Interestingly enough, they did update the Tails model for the sequel, but the one they used here was likely a test so I won't hold that against this movie in retrospect.

Link to full review on my blog:

https://jasonicfavoritecharacters.blogspot.com/2023/11/jasonics-favorites-sonic-hedgehog.html?m=1

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Sonic the Hedgehog

After discovering a small, blue, fast hedgehog, a small-town police officer must help him defeat an evil genius who wants to do experiments on him.

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Beyond the Creepy Teeth: How Sonic the Hedgehog Saved Itself

Upon the film’s first trailer drop in April, online outcry toward Paramount Pictures’ live-action adaptation of Sonic the Hedgehog was immediate and unequivocal — nearly uniform in its meme-ified damnation. Among the cris de coeur against the CGI Sega character: that Sonic was “creepy” and “upsetting,” that his eyes were too un-conjoined, his features too dissimilar to those of his video-game counterpart. And singled out for most withering critique: that the blue blur’s teeth were “too big” and “terrifyingly human.”

As evidenced by recent pushback against Cats ’ Uncanny Valley–straining VFX extremes and the de-aging technology that failed to mask the old-man ricketiness of Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in The Irishman , hell hath no fury like a fan displeased with a movie’s visual effects. To wit: When it came to Sonic , Paramount took drastic measures to redress audience expectations, pushing the film’s release back by nearly a year and giving the go-ahead to an expensive, soup-to-nuts retrofitting of the character’s biodynamics in a bid to silence those who saw the trailer as a “ 200 mph slap in the face .”

“It was pretty clear on the day the trailer was released, just seeing the feedback and hearing the feedback, that fans were not happy where we were at,” Sonic director Jeff Fowler said in an interview this week with GamesRadar+ . (Paramount declined to make Fowler or any of the movie’s effects experts available to speak with Vulture.)

So where did Sonic go wrong in so many of the ways that last year’s Warner Bros. adaptation of the Pokémon spinoff Detective Pikachu didn’t? And how did Paramount go about reconsidering its character’s conspicuous imperfections? In keeping with a kind of FX omerta that surrounds this kind of emergency post-production overhaul, Hollywood’s major effects studios Digital Domain (which worked on “previz” for Sonic ), Industrial Light & Magic, and Weta Workshop also declined our interview requests (with ILM specifically refusing to “speculate or compare productions”).

As the spiny speed demon blasts toward a box-office debut that prerelease tracking estimates predict will fall in the $41–47 million range domestically — respectable numbers for a PG-13 film with a reported $95 million production budget — here is a timeline of the intention, dysfunction, and dental downsizing that brought Sonic to the brink of oblivion and back.

Sony and Fast and Furious franchise producer Neal Moritz announce they will team with Sega subsidiary Marza Animation Planet to mount a computer-animated/live-action hybrid of the Japanese video-game giant’s second-most iconic — read: non-Mario — intellectual property. With Sonic having sold 140 million games and grossed more than $1 billion by that point, the studio lays out its objective to “capture everything that fans know and love” about the character while also “growing his audience wider than ever before.”

February 2016

Sega chief executive Hajime Satomi reveals the adaptation will hit theaters in 2018.

October 2016

Deadpool director Tim Miller boards the family-friendly project — which will reportedly follow Sonic and “friends such as Tails and Knuckles, who run around collecting items and points as they attempt to foil the global domination plans of Doctor Eggman Robotnik” — as executive producer. And Fowler, a 2005 Best Short Film Oscar nominee for writing and directing the anthropomorphic animal romp Gopher Broke , is installed as director.

October 2017

After Sony puts the film in “turnaround” (Hollywood jargon for when a studio decides not to pour any more money into a project and accepts a tax loss), Paramount swoops in to acquire Sonic ’s distribution rights as part of its new first-look deal with Moritz. It’s a shaky bet given the box-office track record of such video-game-adapted super flops as Super Mario Bros ., Prince of Persia: Sands of Time , and Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li .

February 2018

Sega and Paramount release a joint statement that the film is now destined for theaters November 15, 2019.

Summer 2018

In May, James Marsden and Jim Carrey join the film’s non-animated cast with the latter portraying Sonic’s chief antagonist, Dr. Robotnik ( Parks and Recreation co-star Ben Schwartz provides the attitudinal hedgehog’s voice). Filming begins in and around Vancouver, Canada, the next month. In August, Paramount announces that Sonic ’s release date has been pushed up by a week to November 8, 2019.

December 2018

The first Sonic poster is revealed (well, not exactly revealed revealed — the woodland dervish is shown in silhouette) along with some elucidation by the movie’s creative quorum about how the character’s new iteration was partially inspired by Seth MacFarlane’s cocaine-sniffing CGI teddy bear in Ted . Sonic 2.0, meanwhile, swaps out the video-game character’s seemingly single floating eyeball with dual corneas for more ostensibly human, articulated orbs and gives him fur because … real animals. “I don’t think Sega was entirely happy with the eye decision, but these sort of things you go, ‘It’s going to look weird if we don’t do this,’” Miller tells IGN , adding: “For me, it’s always about keeping it grounded and keeping it realistic.”

Reaction within the gaming world is decidedly unsupportive. “The first Sonic the Hedgehog live action movie poster is creepy as hell,” blares a headline on PC Gamer .

Over the intervening year-plus, additional work-in-progress posters for the film leak, leading to an initial wave of Schadenfreude-driven memes . But when Sonic ’s studio-sanctioned, non-teaser poster appears on the movie’s official Twitter feed, fans freak out — a major complaint being that this weirdly swole, hairy-leg-having, Puma sneaker–wearing Sonic “does not resemble a hedgehog in the slightest.”

No less than former Sonic video-game lead programmer Yuji Naka takes to social media to register his displeasure with the poetic license taken over the character’s transition to movie form. “I feel like, with this Sonic here, visually, the important thing to look at is the head and body ratio and the roundness of the abdomen,” he says, according to a translation by Kotaku . “I wonder if they couldn’t have balance them a little better.”

Set to the tune of Coolio’s “Gangsta’s Paradise,” the first Sonic trailer is unveiled at the Las Vegas Cinemacon on April 4 and surfaces online late that month to a tsunami of negative buzz to the tune of 18.6 million views in its first two days and hundreds of thousands of YouTube “dislikes.” The gaming website Kotaku inveighs against the movie as “a blight upon this weary earth” while Twitter explodes with consternation over the character’s distressingly humanoid-like teeth.

Wired delivers a kind of coup de grace with the observation: “Everything that Detective Pikachu seems to be doing right in bringing a beloved video game franchise with a cartoonish aesthetic to life, Sonic seems to be doing wrong.”

Fowler responds to the outcry on Twitter with an admirably Clintonian “I feel your pain” ownership of the production’s FX missteps to date, and a pledge to placate fan expectations. “The message is loud and clear … you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes,” the director writes. “It’s going to happen.”

Artist Tyson Hesse — an old Sega hand who has worked on Sonic-branded video games, comics, and animated shorts — is brought on to spearhead the character’s extreme makeover. In the clearest indication of the seriousness with which the studio has processed escalating fan toxicity, Paramount pushes Sonic ’s release date to February 14, 2020 to “make Sonic just right,” according to another Fowler tweet.

November 2019

A second trailer is unleashed online, prompting what can only be described as a radical turnaround. The character’s bigger eyes and fewer, smaller teeth are greeted by outpourings of joy. “Sonic just looks smaller and cuter, just like you’d expect from a CGI version of the Japanese video game star,” opines the Verge . Even Naka walks back some of his early trailer criticism, although he stops well short of an unqualified endorsement of Sonic’s movie upgrades. “The design is more Sonic-like now that he’s wearing gloves,” the designer says on Twitter. “However, his eyes still aren’t joined together, as expected. I can’t help but feel weird about that one point. But I’m looking forward to the movie’s release.”

The trailer reportedly receives the highest like-to-dislike Google ratio of any official studio trailer released within the last three years; Paramount quietly removes the first Sonic trailer from its website.

February 2020

As the Sonic review embargoes lift, Movie Twitter registers its 69 percent freshness rating on Rotten Tomatoes with a collective shock. People “actually” kinda like the movie , including Vulture’s own Bilge Ebiri!

Looking back in an interview with USA Today , Fowler says, “I would not wish this experience necessarily on anyone, even though, at the end of the day, I really love that we engaged the fan base.” He notes that rumors “we had to redo the whole movie” were false and even points to the possibility of a sequel.

“There are so many more great characters to bring into the story if we’re able,” Fowler adds. “Nothing would bring me more happiness than getting another shot.”

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Sonic the Hedgehog (2020)

• Parents Guide

Certification

• Sex & Nudity (3)
• Violence & Gore (9)
• Profanity (4)
• Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking (2)
• Frightening & Intense Scenes (7)
• Spoilers (5)

Sex & Nudity

• None 191 of 256 found this to have none Severity? None 191 Mild 34 Moderate 3 Severe 28 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• No sex. Edit
• There is a kissing scene. But the scene is only 1 second long. Edit
• A man's stomach hangs out in a bar. Suggestive. Edit

Violence & Gore

• Mild 117 of 173 found this mild Severity? None 21 Mild 117 Moderate 17 Severe 18 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Dr. Robotnik has machines and drones with missiles and bullets aimed at Sonic. Edit
• One of Robotnik's drones cuts the top half of a car whilst it is moving. A family are driving in another car and they experience an electrical surge causing their car to spin on the road and causing panic within the car. Edit
• A bar fight starts, causing people to throw punches at one another. A man gets thrown through the same bar window in two separate scenes. It is mainly slapstick. Edit
• In two separate scenes, Dr Robotnik gets punched in the face. Edit
• Sonic gets shot by a laser beam and ends up falling down a building. He hits several branches of a tree and then hits the ground. However, he survives this. Edit
• People are punched and some are hit hard, and one man is given an atomic wedgie. Edit
• Tom and Robotnik engage in a brief fistfight during the climax. No blood is seen at any point during the film. Edit
• During a scene where Robotnik chases Sonic throughout San Francisco, Robotnik fires laser beams and misses Sonic, hitting driving cars, followed by their destruction, implying many people have died Edit
• Some action/peril and cartoon violence, but no blood. Edit
• Mild 105 of 192 found this mild Severity? None 51 Mild 105 Moderate 17 Severe 19 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• 'Hell' is said twice, both by the main villain. Edit
• One cut-off of "son of a-," but the phrase is incomplete. Edit
• "Suck," "god," "jesus," "hell," and an unfinished "SOB" comment respectively, as highlighted above, which ironically comes right after the second and final use of "hell" in the entire film. Edit
• A character says ''sacre bleu," which is ''Damn it" in French. Edit

Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking

• Mild 107 of 165 found this mild Severity? None 39 Mild 107 Moderate 7 Severe 12 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Tom is seen drinking a beer. Robotnik also references drunkenness early in the film. Edit
• 'Drug dealers' are mentioned in passing. Edit

Frightening & Intense Scenes

• Mild 94 of 158 found this mild Severity? None 29 Mild 94 Moderate 18 Severe 17 We were unable to submit your evaluation. Please try again later.
• Epilepsy Warning: Whenever sonic uses his powers during the night he emits lightning that strobes. While this doesn't go on for very long it can affect photosensitive viewers. Edit
• Two people are thrown off a high tower building in an attempt to save them from Dr Robotnik. They are eventually saved but at the very last second. Edit
• Sonic is knocked out by an explosion. He ends up being fine. Edit
• Toward the end of the 3rd act, Robotnik manages to knock Sonic out. His fur is roughed up and dirty. Everyone thinks he's dead, and Robotnik says they ought to get ice to keep the body cold (since he's said earlier that he plans to take Sonic to dissect.). That, plus the fact Sonic appears dead, could be upsetting to younger kids. Edit
• Sonic pushes Tom and Maddie off a building, however he saves them afterwards. Edit
• Sonic Design from Trailer #1 might be disappoint and unsatisfied for some, especially the Sonic fans. But they Redesign Sonic from Trailer #2. Edit
• None/Mild for neurodivergent viewers. Edit

The Parents Guide items below may give away important plot points.

• Tom shoots Sonic's leg with a tranquilizer, he faints and goes unconscious. Edit
• Sonic and Tom Wachowski go to a bar while there are no drunk people. It may make some people uncomfortable who have had some past experience with the situation. Edit
• Sonic is inject dart tranquilizer her leg shooting by Tom. Sonic his begins unconscious fainted. Edit
• At the start, Sonic's owl guardian/parental figure is shot in the chest with an arrow, then tell Sonic (a tiny kid) to run through a portal on his own. He runs, then turns back in time to see the owl about to be attacked by the same people who shot her moments back. He runs toward her, but the portal closes. It's implied the owl probably dies. Edit
• An EMP wipes out the whole town's electricity. The noise may be alarming to some. Edit

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Screen Rant

September will be a huge month for fans of sonic the hedgehog.

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The Umbrella Academy Season 4 Highlights A Problem With The Hargreeves' Powers With 1 Diego Scene

Incoming cast & character guide, umbrella academy shared universe season 4 teases surprise connection to another franchise.

Next month should be huge for Sonic fans as, in addition to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ’s marketing campaign starting soon, Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) is coming to Netflix on September 1. One of the most successful multi-media franchises of the last four decades, Sonic the Hedgehog started in 1991 with Sega’s Mega Drive game and has since spawned countless adaptations and products. Still, it was only in 2020 that Sonic made it to the big screen.

Starring Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, and James Marsden as Tom “Lord Donut” Wachowski , Sonic the Hedgehog brings its titular character into the real world. The movie has Sonic traveling from his universe to ours and making Green Hill his new home, a dynamic Sonic fans were no strange to thanks to Sonic X . Sonic lives a happy but unfilled life until he has to team up with Tom to stop Doctor Eggman in a hilarious, heartwarming live-action adaptation that even non-video game fans can enjoy once it arrives on Netflix on September 1st.

Did You Know: Sonic the Hedgehog ’s first trailer was released on April 4, 2019, and it featured the infamous “ugly Sonic” design. After fan backlash, the movie was delayed, Sonic was redesigned for the entire film, and the result was much better.

For Fans Of…

• Jim Carrey: He gives one of his most intense, chaotic performances as Eggman in an inspired adaptation.
• The Sonic franchise in general, particularly stories that bring Sonic to the real world like 2006’s anime series Sonic X .
• Video game adaptations, such as 2019’s Detective Pikachu starring Ryan Reynolds.
• Who Framed Roger Rabbit- type of movies where human characters interact with animated/CG ones.

Why You Should Watch Sonic The Hedgehog On Netflix

Sonic the Hedgehog

Video game adaptations have a complicated reputation, with films like Mortal Kombat: Annihilation and Street Fighter making a case against live-action versions of beloved properties. However, Sonic the Hedgehog works not only as a great take on the Sonic universe but also as a movie. It’s a fun adventure that works for the entire family , with hilarious moments ranging from Jim Carrey’s delivery to deep-cut jokes written specifically for fans of the source material.

While the idea of having Sonic in the real world paired with a lot of original characters seemed strange at first, it worked perfectly. Sonic the Hedgehog rightfully avoids leaning too heavily into Sonic lore and instead tells a straightforward yet engaging story about Sonic discovering his place in the world as he forges a strong bond with his new family. Sonic the Hedgehog has since received a theatrical sequel and a TV spinoff, with a third movie premiering later this year.

At a little over 90 minutes, Sonic the Hedgehog is a great adventure film that also happens to star one of the most beloved characters of all time. Ben Schwartz is perfectly cast as Sonic, and so is Jim Carrey as Eggman. Sonic fans who can’t wait to watch the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 3 can revisit where the live-action franchise started, whereas those not familiar with the series have the perfect opportunity to see what the Sonic movies’ success is all about.

What ScreeenRant has said about Sonic the Hedgehog :

Sonic the Hedgehog is great family fun, especially for those with kids and/or parents who grew up playing the Sega games. The Sonic redesign certainly helps to feed into the nostalgia of the film, giving the movie and character a visual style that's easily recognizable to fans. Sonic the Hedgehog Review: Cute & Heartfelt, If Uninventive Family Fun

How Sonic The Hedgehog’s Success Led To A Franchise

Sonic the hedgehog (2020) was only the beginning.

Considering the reception to the first trailer in 2019, the fact that Sonic the Hedgehog ended up being the first entry in a cinematic universe that already includes two sequels and a TV show is impressive. Sonic the Hedgehog grossed over $306 million at the box office on a budget of $95 million, proving that both fans of the source material and general audiences were interested enough to come back for more. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 brought everything that made the first movie back, including Jim Carrey’s Eggman .

While Sonic the Hedgehog 2 brought in more elements and characters from the games – particularly Tails and Knuckles – it kept the essence of the franchise established in the first movie. The 2020 film found a great balance between diving deep into Sonic’s extensive lore and making a film that works for everyone. The human characters in Sonic the Hedgehog , such as Tom, Maddie, and Wade, are all fun and compelling. Sonic 3 is expected to be the biggest entry in the series in terms of scale, but 2020’s Sonic the Hedgehog laid the groundwork for it to be possible.

Although the humor in Sonic the Hedgehog is designed to work for all ages, the movie never talks down on the audience, and it serves as a great introduction to the Sonic universe for new fans. The movie captures the sense of wonder and adventure from the games and the cartoons, which is why was largely embraced by the fanbase. Sonic's character model change dominated the conversation leading up to the movie's release in 2020, but in hindsight, everything worked out in the end.

5 Other Great Video Game Adaptations Or Adventure Movies On Netflix Right Now

• Ready Player One (2018)
• Detective Pikachu (2019)
• Mortal Kombat (2021)
• Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: The Movie (2022)

One shot from the Sonic 3 trailer has fans convinced a major character will die – and we're not talking about Maria

RIP Donut Lord?

Sonic the Hedgehog 3's trailer certainly delivered on the hype – but it's also given fans cause for concern over the fate of one major character.

From 1:36, you can see Tom (James Marsden) face down and screaming for Sonic. It may be only 0.5 seconds of footage, but it's something the community has latched onto. 

"They’re SO killing him. He’s [in] the Joel Miller pose," one fan wrote , referring to the eerily similar parallels to a climactic moment in The Last of Us Part 2 .

"Lowkey hope he does," one coldly replied . "Nothing on the character, but it'd be a good way to show Shadow isn't playing around. And no fake out death either. Fake out deaths are in every show/movie nowadays, it's annoying."

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time a character he played would die in the 3rd movie," another said , a nod to James Marsden's Cyclops being killed off in X-Men: The Last Stand.

So, is it game over for the Donut Lord? Others aren't as convinced, pointing to the fact that a movie aimed at children probably isn't going to kill off their human lead – even if the threequel has some darker undertones courtesy of Keanu Reeves' Shadow.

Previously, producer Toby Ascher teased the upcoming threequel in an interview with GamesRadar+ , saying that it "takes a lot" from 2001's Sonic Adventure 2.

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Ascher said, "It’s going to be this giant, fun, incredible movie that obviously takes a lot from Sonic Adventure 2 and some of the games that I know the core Sonic Team grew up loving."

Sonic the Hedgehog 3, starring Ben Schwartz, Jim Carrey, James Marsden, Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves, Colleen O'Shaughnessey, and Lee Majdoub, is releasing in cinemas on December 20, 2024. 

For more, check out our picks for the best Sonic games before looking ahead to more of the year's most exciting movie release dates .

I'm the Senior Entertainment Writer here at GamesRadar+, focusing on news, features, and interviews with some of the biggest names in film and TV. On-site, you'll find me marveling at Marvel and providing analysis and room temperature takes on the newest films, Star Wars and, of course, anime. Outside of GR, I love getting lost in a good 100-hour JRPG, Warzone, and kicking back on the (virtual) field with Football Manager. My work has also been featured in OPM, FourFourTwo, and Game Revolution.

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‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Trailer: Dr. Robotnik Joins the Good Guys to Take Down Shadow

Tony maglio, executive editor, business.

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Jim Carrey really goes for it in the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies. In the third of the trilogy, he’s not just (a shaggy, flabby) Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, he also plays the character’s own long-lost dad.

Things are about to get weird(er).

This time, Robotnik is forced to join the forces of good to help take down the powerful Shadow the Hedgehog (no relation to Sonic; this one is voiced by Keanu Reeves ). But before his does, Eggman has to shave his head and let out his form-fitting suit.

No spoilers, but we bet the strategy involves running really, really fast. And “Knuckles,” who has his own spinoff series on Paramount+, is probably going to punch some stuff.

Jeff Fowler returns to direct the Paramount Pictures film , which also stars James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, Adam Pally, and Lee Majdoub, along with newcomers Alyla Browne and Krysten Ritter. “ Sonic 3 ” marks Reeves’ debut as Shadow.

In addition to Paramount, Sega Sammy Group, Original Film (yes, that’s a production company’s name), Marza Animation Planet, and Blur Studio produce “Sonic 3.” Individually, it is Neal H. Moritz, Toby Ascher, Toru Nakahara, and Hitoshi Okuno who produce. Fowler, Haruki Satomi, Shuji Utsumi, Yukio Sugino, Tommy Gormley, and Tim Miller executive produce. The film’s story is by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who wrote the screenplay along with John Whittington.

The “Sonic the Hedgehog” films are based on the classic Sega Genesis video games.

“Sonic 2” the movie was not exactly a classic, according to critic Siddhant Adlakha. In an April 2022 review for IndieWire , Adlakha wrote that “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” was “lifeless” and “without charm or personality.” Adlakha believes a “rushed” CGI job was at least part of the problem.

In 2020, IndieWire’s chief film critic David Erlich gave the original “Sonic” film the same grade as Adlakha gave the sequel: C-.

“ Sonic the Hedgehog 3 ” zooms into theaters on December 20; watch the trailer for here:

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First 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' Movie Trailer Introduces Keanu Reeves as Shadow

The latest Sonic movie will be out in December.

Keanu Reeves voices Shadow in Sonic 3.

Fans of the Sonic movie series now have an official trailer to enjoy as they wait for the Dec. 20 debut of Sonic the Hedgehog 3. And they're getting their first earful of Keanu Reeves in the role of new nemesis Shadow the Hedgehog.

In the trailer, Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba) have a showdown with Shadow, who's presented as a kind of dark twin to Sonic, but who's fueled by grief and darkness instead of love and friendship.The gang enlists the help of Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who has grown his hair out. We also meet a new surprise character at the end of the trailer.

The series' mix of humor, CGI characters and top voice talent have made the first two videogame adaptations hits . The first movie , released in 2020, made $302 million worldwide and the sequel  performed even better, earning $405 million. Both are streaming on Paramount Plus .

The Shadow character was introduced in a mid-credits scene after Sonic 2, but the character didn't speak in that scene. The third movie in the trilogy was announced in early 2022 .

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