Joseph Schuhmann

Sonic pointing to the poster for his first movie.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 has been out for a good bit now, and it’s a great movie that Sonic fans and general audiences have enjoyed. Although, it’s pretty interesting to think about the fact that we might not have gotten this movie, much less an entire trilogy. The first Sonic the Hedgehog movie is turning 5 years old this year, and it’s a very interesting movie not just for how this movie came to be, but also the impact it’s had on the entire Sonic franchise, giving it new life. In this article, I will be talking about just that.

As much as I don’t want to beat at this dead horse, I feel I need to bring up Sonic 06, as that’s where Sonic became more of a laughing stock in the public eye for more than a decade, due to rushed development, splitting up the development team to work on another game, and an outdated engine that led to the rushed game that left a permanent stain on the Sonic franchise.

A Sonic film as been a concept that has existed since 1993, and in 2014, it was announced that a live action Sonic movie would be made, with Paramount Pictures taking the film rights in 2017. However, things weren’t looking that great for the film when the first teaser poster for the movie was revealed on December 9th, 2018, which teased how Sonic would look in the movie. Things looked even worse for the film when that first trailer for the movie released on April 30th, 2019, revealing what everyone has dubbed “Ugly Sonic.” Sonic fans and casuals alike united online to roast the design to oblivion. It appeared that the movie was going to fail, and Sonic as a franchise was doomed to be a laughing stock forever.

Then, something unexpected happened. Jeff Fowler, the director of the Sonic Movie Trilogy, made a post on Twitter saying that they were going to delay the movie and fix Sonic’s design. This was completely unheard of: the people making the movie listening to fan feedback and actually making an effort to make it right while it’s in production. It turned out to be the right choice though, as on November 12th, 2019, the second trailer was released and featured the new Sonic design, which looked much more like Sonic, and was met with a much more positive reception. The movie actually looked like it would be good.

Now on to the actual movie. Released on Valentine’s Day in 2020, the movie follows Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) in hiding on Earth in the small town of Green Hills, Montana after fleeing from his home planet at a young age. Sonic accidentally gets on the government’s radar after having an emotional breakdown on a baseball field, causing his powers to overcharge and knock out the power grid. The government sends Dr. Ivo Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey) to find the source of the problem. Sonic attempts to flee, but he is caught by the town sheriff, Tom Wachowski (played by James Marsden), who tranquillizes Sonic, causing him to drop his portal ring, opening a portal to San Francisco, where Sonic drops his ring pouch. Now, Sonic and Tom have to get the ring pouch all while avoiding the pursuing Robotnik, who wants to use Sonic’s quills for their power.

While it doesn’t fully embrace the source material (something later films do better), it’s still a good film that the whole family can enjoy. It brings a unique take on Sonic’s character, making him more of a kid who has got a lot of growing up to do and becoming the hero he is in the games. The film also gives Sonic an origin story, something he doesn’t really have in the games. Sonic has a guardian owl named Longclaw, who sends him to Earth after a tribe of Echidnas attempted to capture Sonic to use his power. It’s a nice origin story that really helps Sonic develop as a character and separates him from his game counterpart. I liked Sonic’s character arc throughout this film, as due to being alone for so long, he longs to have a friend and at the end of the film, he gets a new family as Tom and his wife Maddie (played by Tika Sumpter) essentially adopt him.

One of the biggest highlights of the film was Jim Carrey as Robotnik, or Eggman as he’s known in the games. This film basically shows the Doctor in his early stages of his character before becoming the maniacal genius he’s known to be. Carrey does bring a lot of the goofiness he’s known for to his version of the character, but he also does add a bit of a sinister vibe to the character with the way he talks down to characters and he shows off a lot of the intelligence that Eggman is known for. You can see his descent into madness as the movie goes on as at the beginning he’s got a full head of hair, a well groomed mustache, and a calmer demeanor, and at the end in the mid credits scenes after he’s been banished to the Mushroom planet Sonic was planning to flee to, he’s shaved his head, his mustache has grown wild, and he’s gone a bit crazy, vowing to return to earth get revenge on the hedgehog. Carrey really made the character a treat to watch, and he was great in the sequels, which is something he normally doesn’t do (be in sequels, I mean).

The film’s biggest success was that it reignited interest in the Sonic franchise. People started to take the franchise more seriously. We got two more great movies and great games in the form of Sonic Frontiers and the recent Sonic X Shadow Generations. The franchise started embracing the more less-well received aspects of it. Characters like Black Doom from Shadow The Hedgehog and Mephiles The Dark from Sonic 06 have made a return in Shadow Generations and fans have been happy to see them. The third movie got Keanu Reeves to play Shadow the Hedgehog. It’s just a great time to be a fan of the franchise.

The first Sonic film is far from perfect, but it’s still a good movie that Sonic fans and families can enjoy as it teaches great lessons about loneliness and friendship. It also works well as a movie to watch for couples who are both Sonic fans on Valentine’s Day because that’s when it was released. Overall, the first Sonic movie is a good movie that I recommend. Happy 5th Anniversary, Sonic Movie 1.