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Minor hitches aside, «Fantastic Beasts 3» is simply magical
by Luca Fontana
Movie review: «Sonic the Hedgehog» – or, Jim Carrey Makes Himself Great Again
13.2.2020
Translation: Jessica Johnson-Ferguson
A movie which seemed destined to fail after a disastrous trailer in May 2019, has now hit theatres in a way that has left me feeling satisfied. This is, above all, thanks to one talented individual: Jim Carrey.
First off, let me be clear: there are no spoilers in this review. I’m not going to talk about anything that isn’t mentioned in the trailers.
Now, Sonic makes his debut on the big screen.
Now, we want to know: is this film, which is simply called «Sonic the Hedgehog», a train wreck along the lines of the «Emoji Movie»,, or does it hold a positive surprise in store, like «Pokémon Detective Pikachu»?
I'm a shooting star, leaping through the sky
Ten years go by.
The Sonic Search Taskforce is helmed by evil Doctor Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey). He’s already planning to control all of humankind with his fleet of machines – and Sonic offers exactly the power source he needs.
Reconstructing failure
Let’s be brief: «Sonic the Hedgehog» is great. And that’s coming from someone who is pretty sick of uninspired license marketing scams disguised as motion pictures. Films such as «Angry Birds 1+2» and «The Emoji Movie». I really don’t care that they are primarily geared towards a younger audience. A bad film is a bad film.Full stop
In other words: Sonic now has much larger eyes, bright-blue fur, and his beefy legs have been toned down. He also sports a torso of the same triangular shape as the original. And last but not least, he was given large gloves to cover up the white furry hands.
In short: the new Sonic is simply perfect.
Sonic’s new design is less realistic, but his more cartoonish look is a lot more expressive than the previous one. And above all: Sonic has facial traits which reflect emotions such as joy, sadness and anger. The distorting wax-like face which haunted the trailer back in May 2019 has disappeared.
The second obstacle: the chemistry between CGI Sonic and Sheriff Tom.
They hit it off – and I never expected it
This by no means implies that the film isn’t a lot of fun. The action and ultrasound sequences are still done well. Most jokes land. And whenever things get a bit too corny, the film gets back on track relatively quickly. Storyline? There’s hardly one at all. Whatever. The story’s good enough to justify one scene moving into the next. No more, and no less. And besides all that, «Sonic the Hedgehog» has a major trick up its sleeve:
Jim Carrey.
Jim Carrey returns to the spotlight
«[Comedy is] kinda like being a cliff diver in Acapulco: It's like the tide is coming in. The tide is coming in on this joke. If I don't do this joke it's not going to be good because the tide's going to go out and I'm going to hit the rocks.»
He’s back, the Jim Carrey who visibly enjoys acting once again.
It is exactly this joy which he lost for a while. And not for the first time either. Already back in 1999, he plunged into a serious existential crisis after «Man on the Moon». He often labels himself as a much more serious person than the public thinks he is, and even ended up denouncing his own film due to the excessive violence after making «Kick-Ass 2». It’s already been four years since Carrey’s last film appearance in gritty «True Crimes»
The highlight of a decade that had him in its crosshairs.
Before shooting «True Crimes», there was «Dumb and Dumber To» – another flick which saw Carrey struggling to find out where to take his career. No wonder, with train wrecks such as «Mr. Popper’s Penguins» and «Yes Man» ranking among the more successful projects of the last ten years.
In «Sonic the Hedgehog», however, Carrey returns to being Carrey, the loony comic whom we’ve grown to know and love in films such as «Ace Ventura» and «Bruce Almighty». And above all, it’s the Carrey who has fun with the camera, acting out his weird schtick as if in front of the mirror at home, modelling silly haircuts with foam.
To be honest, I’m not sure I’d enjoy the film as much as I did if Jim Carrey weren’t in it. But that also makes me all the more certain that there’s nobody around who could’ve played Robotnik any better than he did. I applaud thisperformance, in which 58-year-old Jim Carrey pulls out all the stops.
Verdict: By no means excellent but still fun.
What more is there to say? You’ll hardly be surprised that «Sonic the Hedgehog» won’t be in the running for any Oscars or Golden Globes this year – the chances for Best Screenplay are particularly slim.
You might be surprised, however, that the film is nowhere near as bad as a certain trailer released in May of 2019 might have led you to believe. This is all thanks to the actors, who squeeze every last drop out of a somewhat muddled story, which is just good enough to justify its own existence. And above all, this is thanks to Jim Carrey, the comic who finally seems to have emerged from his existential crisis.
Luca Fontana
Senior Editor
Luca.Fontana@digitecgalaxus.chI write about technology as if it were cinema, and about films as if they were real life. Between bits and blockbusters, I’m after stories that move people, not just generate clicks. And yes – sometimes I listen to film scores louder than I probably should.
