I never cared much about Sonic. I didn't grow up with either Nintendo or SEGA, but rather various PS3 games that captivated my interest growing up. But I'd certainly heard of and watched online footage depicting a chubby Italian plumber coated in a scarlet cap and blue overalls, along with a speedy blue Hedgehog that defied all known natural laws. So, I came into this movie essentially blind about everything from premise to background history. Whether that's an advantage or loss is completely up to you, but while I certainly didn't gain a comprehensive knowledge of the entire Sonic lore from this movie, I got a fun kids adventure, with a myriad of plotholes and inconsistencies that didn't bother me, because the main character and main villain were simply that captivating.
The movie's plot is concerning a hedgehog that fled his home planet after being provided inter-dimensional golden rings by his adoptive mother, an owl named Longclaw. Chased out by villainous tribespeople onto planet Earth, Sonic carves out a lonely existence, on the edges of Green Hills, a backwater Montana town with kind, normal citizens, including a police officer named Tom and his wife Maddie. Sonic's loneliness is quite pronounced, he lives without meaningful contact with any humans out of fear of being discovered and captured, so merely watches their great achievements, lives, and idle entertainments transpire from hidden corners, only being noticed by Crazy Carl, a local conspiracy theorist. Sonic's powers remain an untapped well, until he finally realizes them after a night of sadness and anger at his situation, causing a major power outage in the town and incensing the hand of Doctor Ivo Robotnik, a technocrat played by the ceaselessly hilarious Jim Carrey. After a buddy-cop adventure with Tom, Sonic decides to remain on Earth instead of fleeing to another dimension, and Eggman is skyrocketed into another dimension, though surviving, with an ending certainly hinting at a sequel.
Honestly, the movie is cliched in every aspect. There's plotholes which make absolutely no sense. For example, Tom is labeled a domestic terrorist after physically assaulting Eggman, but is able to walk into a densely populated city with security cameras and make his way up to a tall building's roof with relative ease. Doctor Eggman's henchmen and influence is never really explained, and his personality is sort of stock. Were he played by any other actor besides Jim Carrey, he'd have most likely fell short and been another mustache twirling villain that falls short of his goals constantly and comically whines about it. Jim makes the character into a lovable goof that even despite his sadistic tendencies, is never really seen as a serious threat. This still remains a predominately kid's movie, so having the lead antagonist be extremely serious, grim, and generally uninteresting or 'scary' wouldn't rake in audiences that easily. This logic is also brought along with Sonic. He's everything you'd expect, a quirky, funny, lovable oaf who wants to protect those whom he loves. Really, the only criticism I have of Sonic is his initial treatment of Tom. Tom, living a comfortable life as a policeman prepared for retirement, decides to help a fugitive alien despite all knowable risks of treason and death being the consequence, and Sonic berates him for his desire to move up in life and become a San Franciscan Police Officer. While ultimately, Tom decides to stay in Green Hills, I found those scenes a bit disheartening, considering Tom displayed nothing but self-sacrifice for Sonic. Well, I was sorta on Sonic's side. I can't imagine anyone nowadays that wants to move to San Francisco willingly.
Nonetheless, this movie has also accomplished what few others could. It successfully adapted a videogame IP into a movie format. This flick certainly wasn't remarkable in any aspects, but it was an extremely fun ride. The entire narrative was clearly designed for children, and in the theater, I heard them giggling at practically every gag and comical moment. Personally, I simply enjoyed the ride rather than think critically, considering it knew what it was and hit the target spot on. While Sonic is certainly not 2020's greatest hit, it certainly is a fun film and fantastic redemption story for videogame adaptations into cinema. 6/10, go watch it as a weekend activity if you want.