First off, let me just say that I really loved the Sonic The Hedgehog movie. In terms of the greatest video game movies of all time, I would put Sonic The Hedgehog right at the top of that list, knocking Detective Pikachu off the top spot. It was seriously that good.
But I grew up with Sonic and went into the movie having a deep appreciation for his history and lore. My kids on the other hand, aged 3 and 4, did not. Sure, they already knew about Sonic since I’ve introduced them to most of the stuff I love. But they have a different perspective on the blue blur than I do, and that couldn’t be more apparent in the aspects that they loved about the movie, but more importantly, in the aspects that they hated. Hopefully, you’ve already seen the movie for yourself, but if you haven’t, spoilers ahead.
Spoilers from Sonic The Hedgehog ahead!
LOVED: Sonic, obviously
Every time Sonic was on the screen, my kids leaned forward in their seats with rapt attention. Sonic, by early indications, could have been a disaster if Paramount had stuck with its original design for him. But the current version of Sonic looks very similar to how he does in other mediums, and my kids loved him. Every joke he cracked, every time he zoomed across the screen, my kids ate it up.
And even after the film ended, my son ran up and down the movie theater lobby saying, “Gotta go fast!” as he zipped around. And he wasn’t alone. Lots of kids after my showing were doing the exact same thing, throwing their arms back and running around just like Sonic. In other words, the Hedgehog was a hit with the kids.
LOVED: Miles “Tails” Prower
If the MCU has taught a whole generation anything, it’s not to leave your seat when a movie ends. And after some cool animated credits, we were blessed with our first look at Sonic’s best buddy, Miles “Tails” Prower. When I tell you that my kids flipped out when Tails came on the screen, you have to believe me. They flipped. The freak. Out.
Because I haven’t just told my children about Sonic the Hedgehog, I’ve let them play Sonic 2 on my Switch, I've shown them every TV version of Sonic that’s ever aired (their favorite is the most recent one, Sonic Boom), and I've even bought them the Sonic comics. In all honesty, my kids are probably more well versed in Sonic the Hedgehog than they are on maybe anything else in pop culture. My kids know their Sonic. And they know their Tails, too. So even that brief few seconds of Tails at the end went over huge with my two kids.
LOVED: When Sonic got his trademark red and white shoes
Are you noticing a trend? Anything close to the actual video games and cartoons, they loved. And anything not… well, I’ll get to that in the hated section. But there’s a cute scene in the movie when Tika Sumpter’s character, Maddie Wachowski, takes care of Sonic after he's hit by an explosion. When he’s convalescing, Maddie’s niece comes in and gives Sonic a pair of red and white shoes since his own shoes throughout the movie are torn to hell. My kids loved that scene.
In fact, after the movie, I asked my daughter what her favorite scene was, and she didn’t say when Sonic beat the hell out of Dr. Robotnik, or when he ran all over the world. Instead, she said the scene where “that nice girl gave Sonic his shoes.” Because that’s the kind of daughter I have.
HATED: Jim Carrey
This kind of blew my mind, but my kids hated, hated, hated Jim Carrey. I was born in 1983, so I grew up watching Jim Carrey in the 90s. Ace Ventura, The Mask, Liar Liar, you put Jim Carrey on the screen for me when I was a kid, and the whole rest of the world could disappear for all I cared. And I loved him in this movie, too! ! It was a return to form for the comedic actor, and I couldn’t have picked a better Dr. Robotnik/Eggman if I tried.
But my kids could not stand him. Anytime he was on the screen, my son would get fussy. And at one point, I even had to ask him if he wanted to leave since he kept making all these noises when Jim Carrey was on the screen with James Marsden’s character and Sonic was hiding somewhere in the house. In fact, I actually missed what happened in that scene since I had to carry my son out of the theater since he was kicking and screaming. My daughter said that Jim Carrey was “okay,” but then asked me why he wasn’t round like he was in the game. She was just being nice. She wasn’t a fan, either.
HATED: “Where are Sonic’s friends?”
Remember when I mentioned earlier that my kids loved seeing Tails? Well, one thing my daughter kept leaning over and asking me throughout the movie was, “Where are Sonic’s friends?” Going into the film, I knew that none of Sonic’s major friends like Knuckles, Amy Rose, or Sticks (she’s from Sonic Boom) would be in the movie, but I didn’t think their absence would affect my children’s enjoyment of the film as much as it did, either.
When I asked my kids certain things about the movie they didn’t like since I knew I would be writing this article, my son wanted to know if “Knuckles would be in the movie if we see it again,” and my daughter wanted to know why Sonic was in the movie, “but Amy wasn’t.” So if you’re listening Paramount, please include some more of Sonic’s friends in the sequel! My daughter wants Amy Rose. But honestly, who doesn’t want more Amy Rose in their life? Besides Sonic, of course.
HATED: Pretty much all of the human characters, actually
Besides that little girl who gave Sonic his shoes, all of the human characters fell flat for my kids. Maybe if they were older, my kids would have actually enjoyed James Marsden’s character, Tom Wachowski, having an existential crisis in his small town and wanting to move to San Francisco for a more exciting job, but my kids did not like that story line at their young age. They also got bored any time Sonic was absent from the screen, so there were brief portions when my daughter would tap me on the arm and just smile up at me because she had nothing else to do.
And as for my son, well, he kept asking my mom for gummies when Sonic wasn't on screen. But she wouldn’t give him any since they’re “bad for your teeth. Just be quiet, and watch the movie.”
But overall, my kids liked a lot more about the movie than they disliked, namely because Sonic was in the movie for most of it. But what did your kids think? I’m always interested to hear about other parents’ experiences. Sound off in the comments if you have any interesting or funny stories.
