'Sonic the Hedgehog': Movie Review

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG is a delightful, family-friendly movie based on the beloved character from Sega Video Games. Sonic comes to Earth to escape those trying to steal his speed. One day, Sonic’s super-speed channels an electric current that turns off the electricity for the entire Pacific Northwest. Sonic teams up with a small-town police officer named Tom to run away from an evil doctor the U.S. government hired to find the source of the outage. SONIC maintains a strong moral worldview that stresses friendship and merits light caution for some action violence and light but brief foul language.

SONIC begins as Sonic runs through the streets of San Francisco to evade Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Sonic stops the action to tell viewers he has to start from the beginning. Cut to Sonic’s early days on a faraway planet. A female Owl takes care of Sonic in his youth until one day, news breaks of his super-speed. The owl gives Sonic a bag of rings that will transport him to far away planets for his safety. The owl meets her end at the hand of the characters that pursue Sonic, who’s now on his own.

Cut to a rural town in Montana. Tom Wachowski, a local police officer, is bored by the lack of action in his town. When he comes home from a day’s work, he discovers he just has one step left in the process to qualify for a transfer to the San Francisco PD. His wife, Maddie, is excited about their new adventure.

Meanwhile, Sonic is now on Earth, in the same town as Tom, but he’s lonely. When he plays a solo baseball game, he runs so fast that he takes out the entire power of the Pacific Northwest because he channels electricity through his speed. The U.S. government takes notice and calls on Dr. Ivo Robotnik to find the source.

At home, Tom readies a tranquilizer gun to stun some pest racoons in his trash when he accidentally shoots Sonic, who was about to use one of his rings to a planet full of mushrooms to remain incognito. Unfortunately for Sonic, his rings fall through the portal and into San Francisco because of the text on Tom’s t-shirt that Sonic read when he was preparing to leave. After Sonic wakes up and barely avoids Dr. Robotnik, Tom agrees to help Sonic travel to San Francisco and get his rings.

Sonic is grateful to have a partner and his speed comes in handy during most parts of their trips. During this time, Sonic creates his first bucket list and begins to cross off things on the list. In doing so, he uncovers that he might not want to leave Earth just yet.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG is delightful. Jim Carrey makes the perfect supervillain. James Marsden is convincing as a small-town cop who hopes to venture to the big city. Humorously, SONIC is jam-packed with funny pop culture references and other similar things that serve as fun nuggets to amuse teenagers and adults.

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG maintains a strong moral worldview with an emphasis on friendship, protecting others and going out on a limb to help a friend in need. Sonic didn’t know how lonely his life was until he found some friends. The movie also extols the commitment of marriage and overcoming the chaos of each season with your spouse. The movie has some light humanist elements where the villain relies heavily on science to bolster his own narcissism and thinking his technological achievements make him better than everyone else. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG is a fun, uplifting family movie. MOVIEGUIDE® advises a light caution for some light foul language and action violence.