I honestly can't remember a time when Sonic didn't even play a small part in my life. I have been playing his video games for as long as I remember, I watched his TV shows growing up (and the very fun Sonic Boom as an adult) and I even read some of his comics. Though I am hardly as obsessive as some fans are, I enjoyed the blue hedgehog as a kid and I enjoy him now. However I came into this movie with little hope. The trailers (even after the famed redesign) looked awful. I thought this movie was going to annoy me with non-stop noise and a too obnoxious version of the main character. Still I felt I had to go out of a sense of obligation. I grew up with this guy, I needed to see his big screen debut. The last thing I excepted was that I would actually enjoy myself. However to my surprise this film is a lot of fun.
Just like Sonic himself, this movie is one giant ball of energy. Though this film has a lot of action and a little heart, it is first and foremost a comedy and it never forgets that. It provides us with one gag after another and if you don't like one joke perhaps you might like the next. This is hardly smart or sophisticated comedy. To put it bluntly this is a pretty dumb comedy. However dumb comedy does not automatically equally not funny. This movie made me laugh out loud a surprising number of times. After a bizarre and rather weak start (Sonic being raised by an owl is ummmmm…. something that happens), the film immediately picks up with some good humor. Seeing Sonic give a turtle "the time of his life" made me laugh out loud and know just what sort of movie I was in for. After this the humor keeps it coming at a steady pace with more jokes that hit than miss. Most of these jokes range from amusing to laugh out loud funny. However even the jokes that miss keep the pure comic energy going.
Sonic himself is as likable as ever. Though he is quite a chatterbox, he is one of the rare modern movie chatterboxes that is charming rather than annoying. That is heavily because this movie keeps in mind that under Sonic's huge ego and boisterous personality is a good heart and that is fully on display here. This also makes the rather cliché emotional scenes somewhat work. His human sidekick is also pretty likable and his Hallmark like dilemma of whether to move to the big city for his job or stay in a small town with those he loves actually kind of work. Usually when this type of side-plot is doing in an action movie or comedy it just doesn't mesh with the rest of the film, but it works reasonably well here. I have never been much of a fan of Jim Carrey's over the top schtick, but here he manages to make me laugh a few times and not distract all that I like about the movie in the other times.
This movie is not high art, but its Sonic the Hedgehog and Sonic is just meant to be escapist fun. This film is certainly that.
-Michael J. Ruhland
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