Sonic the Hedgehog might not be top-tier family entertainment but even as someone who doesn’t quite have the same sort of nostalgia, I still found it to be a lot of fun, mostly to an almost old-school performance from Jim Carrey.
Sonic the Hedgehog
(2020)
Genre(s): Adventure, Comedy, Fantasy
Paramount | PG – 99 min. – $34.99 | May 19, 2020
Date Published: 05/16/2020 | Author: The Movieman
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Paramount provided me with a free copy of the Blu-ray I reviewed in this Blog Post.
The opinions I share are my own.
Note: The screen captures were taken from the Blu-ray disc and do not represent the 4K Ultra HD transfer.
THE MOVIE — 3.5/5 |
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Plot Synopsis: The world needed a hero — it got a hedgehog. Powered with incredible speed, Sonic (voiced by BEN SCHWARTZ) embraces his new home on Earth — until he accidentally knocks out the power grid, sparking the attention of uncool evil genius Dr. Robotnik (JIM CARREY). Now, it’s supervillain vs. supersonic in an all-out race across the globe to stop Robotnik from using Sonic’s unique power to achieve world domination. Review: Growing up, while I played the “Sonic” game, like many things, I don’t really have much of an emotional connection with these sorts of things from my childhood. So, with that when the first design came out, though it indeed looked awful, it never offended me because frankly, really didn’t have high expectations for this film adaptation anyway. However, with the filmmakers going back to the drawing board, the redesign was a vast improvement. But my expectations were basically unchanged.
I will admit. I was wrong. Sonic the Hedgehog is a fun, all-around entertaining light, fluffy family adventure film. There’s nothing terribly noteworthy about the story or even the humor, which was quite safe and inoffensive. Even so, sometimes it’s nice to just watch something that you can smile at, and this movie is successful in that regard. The actors involved were fine, with one standout. James Marsden is the kind of actor who certainly has okay talent, but never really impresses, as noted in the X-Men movies where he was pretty bland. Ben Schwartz voicing the titular character had fun energy but to the point of being annoying. And it’s never a bad thing seeing Tika Sumpter, even in a smaller, thankless role as the wife to Marsden’s Tom Wachowski character.
Nevertheless, the highlight of this film is Jim Carrey. Not only Jim Carrey but classic Jim Carrey. From the 1990s where he just went for it, in an over-the-top manner that was goofy and yet oh so funny. Here, he has shades of Batman Forever’s Riddler with a mixture of The Mask. It looks like he was having a whole lot of fun, more than he has in the past decade it seems, and in turn as a viewer, it was a blast seeing this Mr. Robotnik come to life. |
SPECIAL FEATURES – 3.0/5 |
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This two-disc set comes housed in a black HD case and comes with a glossy slip cover. Inside is a redemption code for the Digital HD copy. Audio Commentary — Director Jeff Fowler and Ben Schwartz have a fun time breaking down the production with Schwartz focusing on finding the voice for Sonic. Around the World in 80 Seconds (1:48) — Geared at kids, rough animation with Sonic traveling the world. Deleted Scenes (13:23) — Here we get five scenes removed and includes a short introduction by Fowler. Bloopers (2:13) filled with some line flubs. Got me to chuckle a few times, especially with Carrey. Music Video (3:43) — “Speed Me Up” For the Love Sonic (4:00) — The cast (including Marsden, Carrey, Sumpter) and crew discuss their memories of the video game and translating to feature film form. Building Robotnik with Jim Carrey (4:02) looks at bringing to life the villain with the veteran comedy actor. The Blue Blur: Origins of Sonic (6:21) — Featurette on the history of the speedy hedgehog. Sonic on Set (3:27) — Behind the scenes with Ben Schwartz doing facial motion capture work. |
4K VIDEO – 4.5/5, BD VIDEO – 4.75/5 |
| Sonic the Hedgehog rolls onto 4K Ultra HD and Blu-ray presented in its theatrical 2.39 widescreen aspect ratio and given a 2160p and 1080p high-definition transfers, respectively. All told, I can’t say this is the best looking movie on the 4K format, it does appear the natural noise is still there and compared with its Blu-ray counterpart, is perhaps slightly sharper and maybe a bit brighter due to the HDR. That said, the differences or gap isn’t all that great. |
AUDIO – 4.75/5 |
| Both the 4K and Blu-ray discs come with a Dolby Atmos track which does offer a wide range, as the film does feature plenty of action and even explosions, which utilize every available channel. Dialogue does come through with good clarity and there is some fine depth, like when Sonic is speeding through the frame. The LFE turns on to add some extra rumble for the action sequences. |
OVERALL – 4.0/5 |
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Sonic the Hedgehog might not be top-tier family entertainment but even as someone who doesn’t quite have the same sort of nostalgia compared with others, I still found it to be a lot of fun, mostly to an almost old-school performance from Jim Carrey. This 4K/Blu-ray combo pack has great video and audio transfers and, outside of the commentary and deleted scenes, a thin selection of features. |
The screen captures came from the Blu-ray copy and are here to add visuals to the review and do not represent the 4K video.