To be honest, I was not super excited about seeing Sonic The Hedgehog. The screening was at 10 AM on a Saturday. I don’t have a strong personal connection to any of the video games, and some of the stink surrounding the initial uproar over the graphics left me assuming the movie was probably amateurish and poorly put together. Well, all those opinions were and are dumb, and I was dumb for ever doubting Jim Carrey.
To say Jim Carrey fully commits here is an understatement. His Dr. Robotnik might be the most outrageous character anyone gives us all year. He’s like a cross between the robot guy in Grandma’s Boy, which is a great movie by the way, and Tom Waits’ character in Mystery Men, which is also a great movie by the way. There are people in off-Broadway student plays who will look at this performance and admire how weird he’s willing to go.
There’s not a single second in which Carrey seems to waver or wonder if maybe his mustache is too pointy or his belittling personality might be coming on too strong. He just goes for it without fear or second thoughts, and as a viewer, you appreciate it and the trust director Jeff Fowler shows in him.
I mean look at this…
It makes me laugh just thinking about it, mostly because it’s so nice to have Jim Carrey back in a role like this. You know, much has been made about Adam Sandler over the past few months and his performance in Uncut Gems. We’ve had to hear from annoying writers like me about how he should be making movies like that all the time. And yeah, he should be doing it way more often, but I want to see a balance between silly and serious. It’s the same with Jim Carrey.
Carrey is a great actor. His performances in Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind and Truman Show to name a few are spectacular. He has the ability to play so many emotions, and he can generate a sadness behind his eyes that can be so moving. I love watching him in great projects with real depth, but I also love this stupid shit too. Sonic isn’t meant to be profound. It’s just meant to be a good time, and it’s exactly that.
Sonic is not the best film you’ll see this year. It probably won’t even be the best movie aimed at children. It is, however, a very solid movie that’s worth making the effort to see. It has some great voice work from Ben Schwartz. James Marsden is a very capable straightman. Tika Sumpter has some nice scenes, especially opposite her sister in the movie. The graphics are much better than I expected, and Jim Carrey is everything you want from Jim Carrey. Whether yelling at people about Costco cards or staring at the ground for clues, he injects energy every second he’s on camera, and I had so much fun watching him do his thing, as did the 8-year-old girl who sat next to me and laughed throughout.
Jim Carrey Forever.
