It’s been 28 years since Sonic the Hedgehog first arrived on home gaming consoles. In some senses, a feature film is long overdue. But if history has taught us anything, that might be for the best. Take Sonic’s semi-contemporary, Mario, who was given the large screen treatment two years after Sonic debuted on Sega’s consoles.
It’s tough not to see echos of that Hoskins/Leguizamo adaptive train wreck in the first trailer for the upcoming live action Sonic, and yet here we are. It’s another furry fish out of water in a real world setting. This time it’s decked out in fuzzy blue CGI and voiced by the very funny Ben “Jean-Ralphio” Schwartz, who also “consulted” on BB-8’s bleeps and bloops.
Mercifully, the movie also gives Jim Carrey a reprieve from his political painting career, to mug like he hasn’t mugged in, well, decades, honestly as Doctor Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik.
Also James “Cyclops” Marsden, for some reason.
It’s hard to say what any of the thinking is here, right down to the inclusion of “Gangsta’s Paradise” (itself released a few years after the first Sonic), but at least Coolio’s getting some residuals, I guess. It’s nice to see a $90 million budget well spent.
The film and all it entails arrive in November.