when a trailer dropped last April that portrayed
Sonic as more rat-like with creepy human teeth.
. An outcry led to the film being delayed for a
reset, resulting in a Sonic with a sleeker design,
larger eyes and fewer chompers.
While there’s no way to give a side-by-side
comparison, the film that emerges portrays Sonic
as a cute, naive teenager, prone to saying very
2020 things like “I am living my best life” and “I
can’t with that guy.” He has fled his own planet
with a warning to “never stop running” and a twist
on the “Spider-Man” proverb: “With great power
comes great power-hungry bad guys.”
In the script by Pat Casey and Josh Miller, Sonic is
naturally attracted to fast things — “Flash” comic
books and the movie “Speed” (Keanu Reeves is
“a natural treasure,” declares our heroic blue guy,
one of many lines that will go over your little
ones’ heads.)
Reeves isn’t the only celebrity to get a shout-
out: Vin Diesel, Will Smith and Obi-Wan Kenobi
are all invoked for laughs. Amazon and Olive
Garden also get some love. There’s a weird
urban-versus-rural tension throughout, with
the scriptwriters clearly putting their fingers on
the scale against life in the big city. One great
sequence ends with everyone agreeing on a
common enemy: hipsters.
The plot isn’t too far from the classic “ET” or the
more modern “Bumblebee” — an alien lands
on Earth to hide and soon must team up with
a kindly human (James Marsden, in a very
Marsden groove) to escape the clutches of evil
government scientists who want to dissect it.
In this case, Jim Carrey dons a Civil War
mustache and a black full-length leather coat to
play the baddie Dr. Robotnik as only he can —