After some delay, Sonic The Hedgehog is finally hitting US theatres tomorrow. The movie was originally scheduled for release in November 2019 but it was pushed back after fans called out Sonic's creepy human-like teeth. Though the new Sonic design is closer to the videogame's adorable character, film critics are still saying that the movie isn't all that good.
According to first critic reviews, Paramount Pictures was so busy trying to make Sonic look better that they overlooked the character's dialogue, personality, and overall plot. Some even think the creepy-looking Sonic would have helped save the movie. They all agree on one thing, though — Jim Carrey's Doctor Robotnik character was the best part of the film.
Sonic The Hedgehog is landing at movie theatres on February 14. Watch the trailer below, and scroll down for some of the best reviews.
The redesign didn't help too much
Time OutParamount famously reworked Sonic’s initially teeth-sporting look when the first trailer triggered something akin to online panic; perhaps fans should have been consulted on the script as well.
The New York TimesSonic now resembles a cartoon hedgehog instead of a spray-painted marmot. But if anything was done to de-genericize the script, it hasn’t helped. Not that the Sega games — in which the fleet-footed hero zips around doing flips and collecting gold coins (which here encircle the Paramount mountain) — gave the director, Jeff Fowler, much to work with.
VarietyAs a movie hero, Sonic could, and should, have been hipper and sharper, less megaplex arrested. Even as they fixed his face, the filmmakers strove so hard to make him “likable” that they never figured out a way to make him cool.
USA TodayIt’s like Sonic got stuck somewhere between hand-drawn "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" territory and the photorealistic “Lion King” animals, though there are some eye-popping sequences with him doing his speed-demon thing, especially a chase between Sonic and Robotnik that hits various international landmarks and uses the Great Wall of China as a racetrack.
Some think they should've used *that* creepy-looking Sonic
MashableI believe if Sonic looked that weird throughout the whole movie, it would have tipped the scale in its favor. As it stands, the movie is pretty forgettable. But with an awful-looking protagonist, it might have been bad enough to actually start to become good, like how The Room or other similar so-bad-they're-good movies manage to find fans.
Jim Carrey was the real star
VultureCarrey is the film’s most prized weapon, letting us wallow in the ridiculousness of this whole enterprise without ever holding himself above it. Quite the contrary, he overcommits in the best possible way. It’s like he never left us; you could half-imagine Sonic as a third Ace Ventura entry, only now the pet detective has lost his marbles and wants to experiment on small animals.
Washington PostThis version of Carrey has been missing from screens for a while. The last time we saw anything remotely similar was in 2014’s “Dumb and Dumber To.” It’s easy to forget that his rubber-faced antics do work when used in the right setting.
The GuardianIf this movie has an ace in the hole, it’s Jim Carrey, playing government-sponsored inventor Doctor Robotnik. Carrey gives his cartoon villain the full treatment: darting eyes, twirlable moustache, withering superiority complex, and movements so balletically exaggerated they verge on interpretive dance. He’s far more animated than Sonic. And far too good for this.
In the end, it's light-hearted fun
The Hollywood ReporterThe production may have riled the internet months ago, with furor over the look of its first trailer sending FX crews back to work on a character redesign; but what's made it to the screen is light-hearted fun unlikely to offend anyone.
