Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie

First things first.  I'm really glad that they spent all that money fixing Sonic's appearance, because the charming visuals are about the only thing that made this movie enjoyable.  If they'd kept his original design, Sonic would have been the next "Cats".  

Okay, so I was never a Sega fan.  And the Sonic games, while beautiful, never really did it for me.  The controls just weren't as tight as Mario, and therefore the games just weren't as fun.  I know basically nothing about Sonic's personality, so I have no idea how faithful this movie was to the original media.  So in case that's not clear enough: I am not this movie's target audience.

So anyway, Sonic has your basic "E.T." plot.  A creature comes from another planet or dimension or exotic location, befriends a human, and the human has to hide them from the rest of society, while they try to find a way to get back home.  There's really more movies that fit this format than you might think.  It's not just E.T. and Mac & Me, and it's not always a space alien.  It could be a sasquatch or a fugitive robot, basically any creature you'd want to keep away from the FBI.

Garbage Pail Kids, Masters of the Universe, Beastmaster 2, Howard the Duck, The Smurfs... Most of these movies could have taken place in the title character's home planet/dimension/environment, but they had them come to Earth and meet a human instead.  Maybe it was for budget reasons, maybe the writers wanted a human connection to make you care more, or maybe it's just easier than writing a real plot.  

I mean, who knows how to write a Sonic movie that takes place on Sonic's own homeworld?  I guess it's too much trouble to pick up a Sonic comic book and find out what kind of plotlines they have there.  Instead, let's just throw Sonic at Earth and have a standard "fish out of water" story.

There's nothing wrong with the Sonic movie (except the scene with the obligatory fart joke - I know kids love that stuff, but I hate easy humor).  It moves at a solid pace, it has a few cute jokes, and the cast seems to have fun with it.  Like I said in my blog about "The Stand", James Marsden is the perfect everyman.  Jim Carrey leaves no scenery unchewed, as expected.  The other actors... exist, I'm almost sure of it.

Anyway, Sonic is an okay movie, but nothing you haven't seen before.  When compared to other E.T. movies, it's one of the better ones, but that's a low bar.  When compared to other video game movies, it's still one of the better ones, but that's an even lower bar.  It runs rings around the Mario Bros movie, but that's the lowest bar of all.