‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ or — High-Speed Silliness ?
“What on earth am I doing here?” I muttered to myself as I sat in a completely empty cinema this morning waiting for ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ (2020), a film about a super-sonic hedgehog (called Sonic) who arrives on Earth from outer-space and lives isolated from companionship so constantly talks to himself, to begin. And here I was a middle-aged man sitting all alone, no family or children sitting happily by my side, my only companion being a copy of the documentary ‘Grey Gardens’ (1975) I’d picked-up second-hand on blu ray before coming in just in case I needed an emergency culture fix afterwards. I’d also only had fifteen olives and a triple espresso for breakfast so I was vibrating like an over-excited, high-speed hedgehog so I knew how the poor little dude felt. We were both alone, together. Was I already empathising with this character and the opening credits hadn’t even started? I was getting worried.
Turns out there’s nothing really to worry about with ‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ because despite being stupid, silly and annoying it’s obvious the filmmakers know perfectly well they’re making a movie that is stupid, silly and annoying. Besides, it suits the character. Plus, even though ‘Sonic’ is stupid, silly and annoying it doesn’t commit the biggest sin a lot of these movies make nowadays — i.e. it isn’t obnoxious. Yes, Sonic never shuts up and, unlike a super-sonic hedgehog, you can see a lot of the jokes coming a mile off but the film never descends into outright irritation or contains any trace of that cynical, heartless swagger that can infect so many films of its ilk. Like the title hedgehog itself this is a short, fun, spirited ride and it wants you to have fun too.
I also really liked Jim Carrey as Dr Robotnik, a “psychological tire-fire” of a baddie, who seems to be having a blast playing a living cartoon character, something he’s pretty much done throughout his entire career anyway. It’s very much a Carrey performance, is suitably over the top and with maybe just a touch of Jeffery Combs in Peter Jackson’s underrated ‘The Frighteners’ (1996). He’s genuinely fun to watch and his fate at the end left me mildly excited about a sequel.
‘Sonic The Hedgehog’ is exactly what you’d expect — bright, colourful and silly — and moves fast enough that it just about gets away with existing… which is more than can be said for a lot of movies. Kids will more than likely love it and you’d have to be a pretty grumpy grown-up to not smile during a lot of it. Unless you’re an evil genius, of course, in which case you’ll hate it.
