SONIC THE HEDGEHOG Review

Sonic the Hedgehog is the kind of straight-down-the-middle piece of live-action family entertainment that we just don’t get as often as kids fed on this particular genre in the nineties were once accustomed to. At a certain point in time, it seemed as if audiences on the verge of puberty, but not quite there, were delivered a sports-themed adventure or underdog story featuring kids their own age on an annual basis-whether it was The Sandlot, The Little Giants, The Mighty Ducks, The Big Green, A Kid in King Arthur’s Court or Angel’s in the Outfield-the point is there were plenty of options not only for the youngest of youngsters, but for tweens before people even knew what tweens were. Lately though (and when I say lately I mean the last twenty-five years or so lately) that demographic has been lumped in with the more sophisticated audiences required to digest the lofty animated expectations of studios such as Pixar. That said, having never been a fan or player of Sonic the Hedgehog there was no real emotional or nostalgic connection to the original Sega property or its many animated incarnations over the years. As a live-action adaptation of a popular nineties video game is the closest we get to any of those aforementioned titles these days though, director Jeff Fowler’s feature directorial debut then fills the nostalgic void left by the absence of such titles by default. Fowler and/or Paramount Pictures seems to have known this to be the case thus their main objective becoming to not only entertain the kiddos of today with an updated take on a character they might have seen an episode of or played a game with at one time or another, but also to hone in on the same fan base that threw a fit when the first, original trailer for the film was released and the design of the titular character garnered such backlash that the studio delayed the release of the film and re-designed its CGI star completely. That is to say, not only did Paramount realize there was a large fan base for this property, but a passionate one as well and one that was not only anxious to see a childhood favorite get the live-action treatment, but to re-capture the feelings this character inspired and to re-live this time in their lives that Sonic represents. To this extent, Paramount went the extra mile and hired Jim Carrey to play the role of the antagonist in the evil Dr. Robotnik. This isn’t the Jim Carrey of Mr. Popper's Penguins or even Yes Man though, no, this is the Jim Carrey of The Mask or Ace Ventura as the fifty-eight year-old pulls off his most physically comedic role in what feels like forever to what I can only imagine is the pure joy and delight of thirty year-olds everywhere. It is this combination of Carrey playing the hits combined with the genre re-vamping that leads to Sonic the Hedgehog being as appealing as it ends up being, for despite not having any nostalgic connections to the character itself, these elements make up for this as Fowler’s film more or less accomplishes what it sets out to accomplish and will satisfy any resident of the 16-bit gaming era while still not mustering enough excitement to write home about it…and if I remember anything about The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog from my Saturday morning binges in 1993 that feels about par for the course.

First Trailer for SONIC THE HEDGEHOG

The first trailer for the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie has been released and well...it's actually a movie. The film, based on the video game franchise first released in 1991 and originally conceived by Sega to replace Alex Kidd to compete with Nintendo's Mario as their main mascot, the game went on to become uber-successful spawning many sequels and helping define Sega as one of the leading video game companies during the golden 16-bit era. Like other video games of this heyday, Sonic has crossed many platforms and animated series, comic books, and no doubt countless other media adaptations, but never has the character had its own feature film production...until now. In a move that feels like it's being made twenty or maybe even twenty-five years too late, Paramount has decided to follow suit per Warner Bros. new Pokemon movie and give birth to beloved video game character in the real world where they look like real animals and function as members of our present society. Enough about how everything about this film seems to be working against it though, as the screenplay from Patrick Casey and Josh Miller (a duo with nothing but what seem to National Lampoon knock-offs on their resume) is being directed by Jeff Fowler (making his feature debut after having served in the visual effect dept. on Where the Wild Things Are) with the story following Sonic (voice of Ben Schwartz) as he tries to save the world alongside human pal, Tom (James Marsden), to stop the villainous Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey). While the involvement of someone like Carrey in a role that is literally a cartoon come to life is enough to be intriguing the film otherwise doesn't look to be doing anything outside of what that string of "live-action" Alvin and the Chipmunks films did a few years back. I imagine Sonic is about as hot right now as the Chipmunks were in 2007, but at least they had a Christmas special to bank on. It will be interesting to see how this one plays out and if the quality of the film can actually rise above the inherent cynicism that comes with its existence at the moment. Sonic the Hedgehog also stars Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Neal McDonough, Adam Pally, and opens on November 8th, 2019.

DIRTY GRANDPA Review

Dirty Grandpa is the kind of movie that longtime fans of Robert De Niro will scoff at and that others will see as Zac Efron continuing to hang his movie stardom on the only game in town that seems to work for him: R-rated comedies. By this point in time though, De Niro isn't hurting his legacy as much as he is simply continuing to do what he loves, but with less demanding material. The guy's legacy is cemented in the films he made and the roles he personified in his prime that are still discussed today. Dirty Grandpa won't hurt his legacy because no one will remember Dirty Grandpa two months from now. Efron, on the other hand, has been testing this reliable formula since Charlie St. Cloud and the indies he attempted didn't hit. The moment that not only The Paperboy failed to connect, but both At Any Price and Parkland failed critically and commercially it was as if Efron told his agent to only send him one type of script. Over the past two years Efron has starred in That Awkward Moment, Neighbors, We Are Your Friends and the movie we're discussing in this review. Just around the corner, the actor has four movies in some stage of production all of which are comedies, and all likely rated-R. So, what does this tell us about Dirty Grandpa? Well, it tells us to expect nothing more than the tried and true formula that has kept Efron afloat and that will continue to give De Niro paydays in the vein of The Intern and Last Vegas. These are perfectly fine, broad comedies that do what they are intended to do and little more. They open up with an accessible premise, do their job for an hour and a half, and wrap everything up nicely so we can go home feeling good about the ten bucks we invested in it. Dirty Grandpa certainly tries too hard in certain moments and director Dan Mazer (I Give it a Year) doesn't know how to balance the raunch with the heart very well, but I laughed often enough to qualify it as more of a win than a waste of time. At the very least there is genuine character development happening as the arc of the film depends on it and there is clear effort being made to craft a legitimately funny movie which is more than I can say for the total cash grab that is Ride Along 2.