Movie Review

Sonic the Hedgehog speeds to the front of video game adaptations

Movies based on video games are notoriously bad. This Vulture headline following the 2018 release of the reboot of the Tomb Raider series — “All 33 Video-Game Movies, Ranked from Least Bad to the Absolute Worst” — underscores that point. Only films that play off the video game aesthetic — the Jumanji series, the upcoming Free Guy — seem to work.

The latest movie to take a video game character from the arcade to the big screen, Sonic the Hedgehog, is no masterpiece, but it has enough going for it that it could arguably vie for the title of best video game adaptation ever. In this story, Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) is an alien creature who was transported to Earth by magical rings that let him escape danger whenever it draws near.

He lives in the wilds of Montana, unbeknownst to anybody but Crazy Carl, the local kook. But when he inadvertently unleashes a massive electrical burst, he grabs the attention of local sheriff Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), as well as government official Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey), who’s sent to investigate the mysterious disturbance.

The film, directed by Jeff Fowler and written by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller, goes above and beyond expectations by delivering a coherent storyline with emotions that go more than skin deep. Sonic’s plight — he’s essentially banished from his home planet and lives for years alone in a cave — grabs at the heartstrings right from the start. Tom is also given a nice backstory with his professional ambitions and marriage to local veterinarian Maddie (Tika Sumpter).

Sonic and Tom’s unwitting friendship is naturally played for laughs, but the filmmakers for the most part keep things on the up-and-up, eschewing the ultra-lowbrow humor that populates many movies aimed at children. That’s not to say that the comedy is all that sophisticated, but none of it will make adults groan or feel bad for finding it funny.

There was much hue-and-cry over the look of Sonic when the first trailer was released in April 2019, bemoaning his weird eyes, teeth, and toned body. After a complete reworking of the character, he comes off much better, with big, expressive eyes (though not as big as the original character), regular teeth, and a normal body. It’s his speed that’s most impressive, and the film does a great job of showing it off, including a couple of scenes that echo those of Quicksilver in recent X-Men movies.

Aside from his current Showtime series Kidding, Carrey has been in the Hollywood wilderness for a while. He’s back as his manic best here, almost matching Sonic for sheer energy. While he’s not everyone’s cup of tea, there are few who can equal his ability to entertain just with his body movements and facial expressions. Dr. Robotnik is supposed to be over-the-top, and Carrey is the ideal actor to portray him as such.

Schwartz, perhaps best known for playing Jean-Ralphio on Parks and Recreation, has an extensive voiceover filmography, and he does a great job at making Sonic relatable and fun. Marsden and Sumpter, as well as co-stars Adam Pally and Neal McDonough, give the film more acting talent than it actually needs, elevating even relatively mundane scenes.

A mid-credits stinger strongly teases a second movie is already in the works, and it’s hard to be mad at the filmmakers’ chutzpah. Sonic the Hedgehog is a much better movie than expected, and if they deliver anything near this level the next time around, moviegoers will have much to cheer.

Sonic (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog.

Sonic (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog

Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Sega of America

Sonic (Ben Schwartz) in Sonic the Hedgehog.

Movie Review

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first but not by much

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse

Five Nights at Freddy's 2

Blumhouse Productions first made their name with the Paranormal Activity series, establishing themselves as a leader in the horror genre thanks to their relatively cheap yet effective movies. In recent years, they’ve added on “soft” horror films likeM3GAN and Five Nights at Freddy’s to draw in a younger audience, with both films becoming so successful that each was quickly given a sequel.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 finds Mike (Josh Hutcherson) and his sister Abby (Piper Rubio) still recovering from the events of the first film, with Abby particularly missing her “friends.” Those friends just so happen to be the souls of murdered children who inhabit animatronic characters at the long-defunct Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, children who were abducted and killed by William Afton (Matthew Lillard).

A new threat emerges at another Freddy Fazbear’s location in the form of Charlotte, another murdered child who inhabits a creepy large marionette. Mike, distracted by a possible romance with Vanessa (Elizabeth Lail), fails to keep track of Abby, who makes her way to the old pizzeria and inadvertently unleashes Charlotte and her minions on the surrounding town.

Directed by Emma Tammi and written by Scott Cawthon (who also created the video game on which the series is based), the film tries to mix together goofy elements with intense scenes. One particular sequence, in which the security guard for Freddy Fazbear’s lets a group of ghost hunters onto the property, toes the line between soft and hard horror. That and a few others show the potential that the filmmakers had if they had stuck to their guns.

Unfortunately, more often than not they either soft-pedal things that would normally be horrific, or can’t figure out how to properly stage scenes. The sight of animatronic robots wreaking havoc is one that is simultaneously frightening and laughable, and the filmmakers never seem to find the right balance in tone. Every step in the direction of making a truly scary horror film is undercut by another in which the robots fail to live up to their promise.

It doesn’t help that Cawthon gives the cast some extremely wooden dialogue, lines that none of the actors can elevate. What may work in a video game format comes off as stilted when said by actors in a live-action film. The story also loses momentum quickly after the first half hour or so, with Cawthon seemingly content to just have characters move from place to place with no sense of connection between any of the scenes.

Hutcherson (The Hunger Games series), after being the true lead of the first film, is given very little to do in this film, and his effort is equal to his character’s arc. The same goes for Lail, whose character seems to be shoehorned into the story. Rubio is called upon to carry the load for a lot of the movie, and the teenager is not quite up to the task. A brief appearance by Skeet Ulrich seems to be a blatant appeal to Scream fans, but he and Lillard only underscore how limited this film is compared to that franchise.

Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 is better than the first film, but not by much. The filmmakers do a decent job of making the new marionette character into a great villain, but they fail to capitalize on its inherent creepiness. Instead, they fall back on less effective elements, ensuring that the film will be forgettable for anyone other than hardcore Freddy fans.

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Five Nights at Freddy's 2 opens in theaters on December 5.

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