Sonic the Hedgehog (movie)

Sonic the Hedgehog
Directed by	Jeff Fowler
Screenplay by	Patrick Casey Josh Miller Oren Uziel
Story by	Patrick Casey Josh Miller
Based on	Sonic the Hedgehog by Yuji Naka Naoto Ohshima Hirokazu Yasuhara
Produced by	Takeshi Ito Mie Onishi Toru Nakahara Neal H. Moritz
Starring	Ben Schwartz James Marsden Tika Sumpter Jim Carrey
Cinematography	Stephen F. Windon
Edited by	Stacey Schroeder
Music by	Junkie XL
Production companies	Sega Marza Animation Planet Blur Studio Original Film DJ2 Entertainment
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release dates	January 25, 2020 (2020-01-25) (Paramount Pictures lot) February 14, 2020 (2020-02-14) (United States) June 26, 2020 (2020-06-26) (Japan)
Running time	99 minutes
Countries	United States Japan
Language	English
Budget	$95 million
Box office	$319.7 million

Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 adventure movie. It is based on the video game series of the same name by Sega. It is directed by Jeff Fowler from a screenplay by Patrick Casey, Josh Miller, and Oren Uziel.

It was originally going to be released on November 8, 2019, but had been delayed because the old design for Sonic was criticized by fans. The movie was released on February 14, 2020. A sequel to the movie titled Sonic the Hedgehog 2 released on April 8, 2022.

Plot

The film begins with Sonic running away from Dr. Robotnik. The movie then rewinds to the beginning.

Sonic is shown running in Green Hill Zone, bringing back a flower to Longclaw, Sonic's guardian. Longclaw warns Sonic that somebody could have seen him, but Sonic doesn't believe her. It turns out she is right and multiple echidnas had seen him, and they attack them for his speed. Longclaw gives Sonic her rings, and tells him that they can travel between dimensions, and that Sonic should use them if he is ever spotted. Sonic uses the ring and goes to another dimension. He tries to get back to his home realm, but the gateway closes before he could do so.

Ten years later, Sonic eventually finds his way into Earth. There, Tom Wackowski, on parking duty, is bored and is waiting for a car to speed. He finds a turtle, and his speed gun reads "0.01". Then, Sonic passes by, with his speed gun reading 296. He passes by again, this time his gun reads 300. The turtle is in the street, about to get run over when Sonic saves him, and brings him to a forest, and returns home.

Sonic tells the viewers his life, then accidentally drops his rings. He picks them up, and then tells us that if he gets spotted, he will have to migrate to a mushroom planet.

After watching a baseball game, that night, he plays baseball by himself, but realizes that he is alone and runs fast, accidentally causing an explosion that shuts down the electric power across the entire Pacific Coast. The government suggests Dr. Robotnik to figure this out.

Dr. Robotnik joins the investigation, insulting the workers. He uses his technology and one of his drones finds a blue hair left from Sonic. Robotnik identifies this as a "new species".

Seeing he is being hunted, Sonic plots to leave Earth for a different planet; he is reluctant to do so as the planet only consists of fungi. However, Tom discovers Sonic in his shed and tranquilizes him, causing Sonic to accidentally create a portal to the Transamerica Pyramid's tower roof upon reading the writing on Tom's shirt. Sonic accidentally drops his bag of rings on the tower's roof through the warp ring before he passes out. Tom hesitantly agrees to help Sonic and the two flee when confronted by Robotnik, who falsely labels Tom a domestic terrorist. The two slowly bond, with Tom relating to Sonic's desire for friends. Sonic creates a bucket list and Tom helps him complete several entries along their journey.

Meanwhile, Robotnik, discovering that one of Sonic's quills holds an almost limitless amount of electrical energy, plans to capture Sonic to use his powers for his machines. As he tracks them down, Sonic and Tom manage to fight off several mechanized drones called Badniks sent by Robotnik, but Sonic is injured in the battle.

Arriving in San Francisco, Tom brings Sonic to Maddie, who treats him at her sister Rachel's home. Sonic receives a new pair of red sneakers to replace his ruined ones from Rachel's daughter Jojo. The group heads to the roof of the tower and recovers the rings as Robotnik arrives in an advanced attack hovercraft powered by the quill, now decked in a red and pink flight suit and red flight goggles. Sonic fights off Robotnik's Badniks, hastily using one of his Warp Rings to send Tom and Maddie back to a Green Hills farm to protect them after pushing them off the tower; however, Robotnik uses the quill's power to match Sonic's speed. Sonic fights Robotnik in a chase across the world utilizing the Warp Rings before Robotnik subdues Sonic in Green Hills. Tom and the townsfolk intervene, and Tom acknowledges Sonic as his friend, causing Sonic to regain his power. Sonic takes back his quill's power from Robotnik, weakening Robotnik's hovercraft. Sonic also promises himself that he will always use his power to protect his friends. Using his powerful spin attack, Sonic obliterates Robotnik's hovercraft and defeats him by banishing him into a warp ring portal to the mushroom planet.

Following the incident, Tom and Maddie decide to stay in Green Hills and let Sonic live with them, treating him as a surrogate son. The government erases all evidence of the events, including records of Robotnik's existence, rewarding Tom and Maddie with an Olive Garden gift card as a small token of gratitude. Three months later, Robotnik, now bald and with a larger moustache, is still in possession of Sonic's quill and usable equipment salvaged from the remains of his hovercraft, planning his return and revenge against Sonic.

Cast

Voice cast

• Ben Schwartz as Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic is an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog with superhuman speed. He finds himself on the run from Dr. Robotnik and the United States government. After Sonic meets Tom and they team up, he decides to use his super-speed to stop Robotnik from taking his speed powers and using them to take control of the world. Schwartz also provided the motion capture for Sonic's face.
• Benjamin L. Valic as young Sonic.
• Donna Jay Fulks as Longclaw. Longclaw is an anthropomorphic brown owl. She is Sonic's caretaker.
• Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Miles "Tails" Prower, an anthropomorphic yellow-orange two-tailed fox who appears in the mid-credits scene where he emerges into Earth to find Sonic. O'Shaughnessey, who has voiced the character in the video game series since 2014, is the only voice actress to reprise the role from the video games.

Live-action cast

• Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, a very smart robotics expert and mad scientist. He works with the United States government. Robotnik wants to use Sonic's abilities for personal gain. He becomes the arch-enemy of Sonic. Carrey compared his character to his role as the Riddler in Batman Forever. He said "I wouldn't put one against the other. I think they'd be a great team. But you know, it's like Robotnik and every super-villain basically comes from a place of neglect with a feeling of absolute worthlessness that manifests itself in magnificent creations that are designed to control the world, put their brand on everybody, and maybe even get inside your bloodstream with some nanotechnology occasionally".
• James Marsden as Thomas "Tom" Michael Wachowski: Tom is the sheriff of Green Hills. Sonic calls him "Donut Lord". Tom wants to join the San Francisco Police Department. He becomes friends with Sonic and helps him to stop Robotnik.
• Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski. She is a veterinarian and Tom's wife. Maddie helps Tom and Sonic stop Robotnik. Sonic calls her "Pretzel Lady."
• Natasha Rothwell as Rachel: Rachel is Maddie's older sister. She does not like Tom and often tells Maddie to leave him.
• Adam Pally as Wade Whipple. He is a deputy sheriff in Green Hills and Tom's closest friend.
• Neal McDonough as Major Bennington. He is a soldier who is given the job of helping Robotnik capture Sonic. He does not like Robotnik
• Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone. He is a government agent who works for Robotnik.
• Melody Nosipho Niemann as Jojo. She is Rachel's daughter and the niece of Maddie and Tom.
• Tom Butler as Commander Walters, the Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Walters orders Robotnik to investigate the problems caused by Sonic.
• Frank C. Turner as Crazy Carl. He is a conspiracy theorist. Carl want to prove the Sonic exits. He refers to Sonic as the "Blue Devil".
• Garry Chalk as the U.S. Navy Chief of Staff. Chalk provided the voice for Grounder in Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and Robotnik in Sonic Underground.
• Michael Hogan as the Air Force Chief of Staff.

Production

The first trailer for Sonic the Hedgehog movie was released to YouTube on April 2019. However, on the video, it received many more dislikes than likes on the trailer. Many fans were concerned that the Sonic design in the trailer looked too human-like, which made it too creepy to them. Paramount had to delay production of the movie so that they could redesign Sonic.

In the second trailer, many fans praised the new design of Sonic. Sonic now appears more similar to how he appears in the original Sonic games.

Reception

Box office

Sonic the Hedgehog has earned a total earning of $149 million in the United States and Canada, and $170.7 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $319.7 million. It was the sixth-highest-grossing movie of 2020. It was also highest-grossing superhero movie of the year. It was the first time in a decade that Marvel did not make the top grossing superhero movie of the year. It was also the only year between 2008 and 2021 that Marvel did not release a movie.

Other websites

• Media related to Sonic the Hedgehog (film) at Wikimedia Commons