As I start to write this, I’ve just come out of the cinema from watching Sonic’s first big screen sequel, a film that is currently the highest grossing movie in the world, has a mostly positive critical score and an overwhelmingly positive audience reception.
Never mind when I said Knuckles is back, Sonic the Hedgehog, as a character and a franchise, is on top once again.
The hedgehog’s stock is arguably at its highest in close to 3 decades, when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (the game, not the movie) broke records and set industry standards, all while Sonic himself was apparently more recognisable than Mickey Mouse according to surveys at the time.
I went to the cinema with my three children, my wife and my mum. The kids were naturally excited to see it and came out loving it, but I was surprised how much my wife and mother enjoyed it.
It harkens back to his popularity during the early 90s. When my brother first got his Master System, it wasn’t just him, my sister and I that couldn’t put Sonic down. At night my mum would sneak in while we were asleep and try to get past the Jungle Zone. And she wasn’t the only one, aunts and uncles let me play Sonic on their shiny Mega Drives when I visited, before I had one myself, demonstrating that the appeal of Sonic went beyond that of children.
It’s hard to express how popular Sonic was 30 years ago. His arrival was a turning point for the gaming industry, when the stranglehold Nintendo had on the US market was loosened dramatically. This was no small feat, Sonic was a cultural phenomenon the likes of which we seldom see in the hobby, an impact comparable with the likes of family friendly franchises like Minecraft and Fortnite in an era where social media, youtube and widespread adoption of the internet didn’t exist.
Frankly I didn’t believe that Sonic would rise to such prominence again. With games that have been inconsistent in terms of quality and vision, where even great entries (such as Generations) would be overlooked or harshly criticised by the gaming press, and where media adaptions would prove to be just as divisive, the prospect of Sonic mixing with the industries heavyweights again seemed remote.
Even Crash Bandicoot, conceived as a “Sonic’s Ass game” managed to hold off the HD remaster of Sonic Colours with his own remake in several charts, and has somehow seemed to be more respected in some corners. It seemed as though even the hedgehogs imitators had become more relevant.
But as we left the cinema, every member of my family, all three generations, came away impressed.
The film is something of a marvel.
Is it a masterpiece, an exemplary example of high-calibre cinematography and film as an art form? No. It is, however, a fun movie with something for everyone.
I won’t go into spoilers, but I’ll speak generally for anyone that hasn’t seen it.
For me, the narrative stuck as closely to the games as could be expected, with plenty of amazing easter eggs and plot points for hardcore Sonic fans. For my kids, with more of a connection to modern Sonic and an affinity for CGI movies in general, they came out with huge smiles on their faces. My teenage son was asking about Sonic lore from the “old games” and looking to get into them. For my mum and wife, they enjoyed it and they were laughing hard at the scenes in Hawaii.
The bottom line is that it’s a solid family film for all, and if you haven’t seen it and have any sort of love for Sonic and Sega, then you need to go, especially if you have children.
It’s all helped by a cast who really give it their all, driven predominantly by Jim Carrey, who gives us a Dr Robotnik who blends the unhinged genius with an IQ of 300 and the personability of a narcissistic child so perfectly with Carrey’s 90’s zaniness. I only hope that he doesn’t retire and returns for the threequel.
And even though his origins, as expected, differed from the lore of the games, Idris Elba's depiction of Knuckles was outstanding.
The rest of the cast all perform well, James Marsden continues to be some sort of specialist when it comes to talking to CGI critters, something he has seemingly perfected from his time in Enchanted and Hop. Lee Majoub is exemplary as everyone's favourite new Robitnik sycophant. Ben Schwarz is once again excellent as Sonic and Colleen O'Shaughnessey is outstanding as she effortlessly brings Tails to the silver screen.
For someone who saw both the Mario Bros and Street Fighter films in the cinema in the early 90s, it was refreshing to finally have a videogame movie adaptation that respected the source material, respecting the spirit of the original while competently having the heart of a great family movie. If there was some sort of game to movie hoodoo, Sonic seems to have banished it.
With a sequel on the way along with a tie in Knuckles series, the future of Sonic in cinema looks bright indeed. Add to that the ongoing IDW series, new Sonic Prime show on Netflix, and new Sonic games in the shape of Origins and Frontiers, it’s arguably a more exciting time to be a Sonic fan than it has been for decades.
So long as Sonic Frontiers delivers (and Iisuka has been vocal about ensuring it is a quality product) then we could be in for another golden age of Sonic, where our favourite high speed hedgehog sits proudly once again at the top of the industry.
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