Movies based on video games aren’t exactly a noble institution. But Hollywood keeps making them anyway.
Name recognition is everything in Hollywood. If there’s a recognizable property, a film studio will try to see if people will go see a film about it, even if it seems like an objectively bad idea to make a “Super Mario Bros.” featuring nightmare-inducing, “realistic” turtle-men.
The floor for video game films are about as low as films can go, quality wise, whereas the ceiling for films such as “Mortal Kombat” and “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” tend to tap-out at the level of enjoyable B-film, which is nothing to sneeze at.
Of course, the “Super Marios Bros.” along with anything directed by Uwe Boll, the auteur behind bonkers video game adaptations such as “BloodRayne” and “In the Name of the King 3: The Last Mission,” all have cult followings for being so terrible they’re amazing.
So against this backdrop, the relatively positive critical and audience response to the 2020 “Sonic the Hedgehog” film was a bit surprising at the time, as was the film’s box office total in an admittedly weird year for the film industry.
Sonic Has Long Been Sega’s Signature Character
Sonic the Hedgehog, a blue creature with super speed powers, was first introduced in 1991 as Sega’s answer to Nintendo’s (NTDOY) flagship character Mario.
“Sonic the Hedgehog” was an immediate hit, spawning a Saturday morning cartoon and endless sequels.
Even as Sega and the video game industry has evolved and mutated in all kinds of ways, Sonic has remained one of the most recognizable video game characters in the world.
Every few years there’s another game with him in it, usually on a mad dash to collect rings and avoid the evil Dr. Robotnik.
A live-action film featuring a CGI version of Sonic, featuring A-List actors like Jim Carrey is, on paper, a weird idea that shouldn’t have worked. But it was also inevitable in a film industry built on recognizable intellectual property and franchise.
Paramount (PARA) doesn’t have access to the Marvel Universe or the Harry Potter books, so it needs to build its tentpole films on something, after all.
Paramount Pictures
So What Are Critics Saying About Sonic The Hedgehog 2?
Given the basement level expectations for video game films, the first Sonic the Hedgehog generally pleased critics and audiences for being fun and light on its feet.
It was the sort of well-executed family entertainment parents always appreciate having around.
As is always the case when Carrey goes over-the-top, audiences tended to appreciate his performance more than critics.
So far, the critical response to “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is mixed. Some critics like it.
Other critics find that it has some level of diminishing returns, but overall it should keep the kids happy, even if there's also plenty of reviewers who just can't get on board with the film at all.
Also, even the New York Times couldn't help but point out … isn’t it weird that Idris Elba did a voice for this? Isn’t he a bit overqualified for this sort of thing?
But What Is The Rest Of Twitter Saying About 'Sonic the Hedgehog 2'
On Twitter, fans seem to mostly like the movie, though there's plenty of people who are baffled that it even exists.
