Sonic the Hedgehog (film)



Sonic the Hedgehog is a 2020 superhero comedy film directed by Jeff Fowler. It stars Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, and James Marsden as Tom Wachowski. The film's release date was delayed from November 2019 to February 2020 due to how poorly received Sonic's inital design was. The film was an unexpected success and greenlit a sequel intended for a 2022 release.

""This is my power, and I'm not using it to run away anymore! I'm using it to protect! My! Friends!""
 * Absurdly Ineffective Barricade: After tranquilizing him in a panic, Tom thinks that he can safely contain Sonic in a dog kennel when he tries to figure out what his deal is. Sonic proves him very wrong by easily unlatching it when he wakes up.
 * Action Prologue: The movie opens in the middle of Sonic fighting Robotnik in San Francisco, only to quickly flash back to Sonic's childhood and properly starting from there.
 * Adaptational Attractiveness: Dr. Robotnik in the games is a goofy looking fat man with the proportions of an egg, no hair on his head, and a crazy bushy mustache. In the movie however, he's slimmer, sports a full head of hair, and his mustache is stylish and well-groomed.
 * Adorkable: Sonic is a goofy, hyperactive little spaz, and is all the more endearing for it.
 * Alien Sky: The Mushroom Planet's got one filled with other planets and moons.
 * Ambiguous Disorder: Sonic's hyperactivity, issues with thinking things through, and Motor Mouth tendencies could be indicative of ADD or ADHD. Though it's just as likely that they're simply a product of him being a rambunctious little kid with super speed.
 * Art Evolution: Sonic himself went through this: during the film's pre-release period, he was a grotesque, nightmarish-looking abomination with realistic proportions and eyeballs. Thankfully, fan outcry led to him getting heavily redesigned, resulting in a Sonic that hits a nice middle ground between realistic and game-accurate.
 * Badass Adorable: Sonic's a cute kid, but he's also fast and powerful enough to go toe-to-toe with Robotnik's dangerous machines.
 * Badass Normal: Tom. Green Hills may be a safe neighborhood, but he's a competent cop who manages to get the drop on Robotnik. Twice!
 * Bar Brawl: One breaks out at the bar Sonic and Tom stop at during their trip to San Francisco.
 * Big Bad: Dr. Ivo Robotnik.
 * Big Badass Rig: Robotnik's lair is a huge big rig that houses his lab, charging stations for his drones, and a hangar for his personal flying machine.
 * Big Friendly Dog: Tom owns one, and Sonic doesn't get the appeal. At least, not until he starts licking him. His opinion on the pooch does a complete 180.
 * Black Comedy: Tom and Sonic's trip up an elevator is full of this, with Tom creeping out everyone else on board due to looking like a child abductor thanks to Sonic being stuffed in a bag.
 * Bullet Time: Sonic experiences this when his super speed is active, and he uses to great effect during a bar fight and the rooftop fight against Robotnik.
 * Butt Monkey: Poor Agent Stone. He genuinely likes and respects Robotnik, but it seems that the good doctor only keeps him around so he can have someone to insult and belittle (and make delicious lattes).
 * Canon Foreigner: Everyone not named Sonic, Robotnik, the Echidna Tribe, and.
 * Cheerful Child: Jojo, Maddie's adorable niece. She's very friendly, and gives Sonic his famous shoes when she notices how worn down his old ones are.
 * Sonic himself was this back when he was living with Longclaw. He's still a happy guy, but he's also a Sad Clown due to the trauma of living such an isolated life.
 * Comically Small Bribe: As thanks for taking care of the Robotnik situation, a US general slips Tom some hush money...
 * Crazy Homeless People: Crazy Carl, the only guy privy to Sonic's (or as he calls him, the blue devil) existence before he met Tom.
 * Donut Mess with a Cop: Tom's a lot fitter and trimmer than your stereotypical donut-munching cop, but he still fits the bill.
 * Downer Beginning: The movie begins by giving us a look at Sonic's childhood, which goes from happy to heartbreaking when his mother figure is fatally wounded and forced to send him to Earth, where he spends most of his childhood isolated out of a need to hide himself from others.
 * The Dragon: Agent Stone, Robotnik's lackey and Professional Butt-Kisser extraordinaire.
 * Fair Cop: Tom Wachowski. It's hard not to be attractive when you're played by the same guy as Cyclops.
 * The Friend Nobody Likes: Despite being a government-sponsored scientist, Robotnik's colleagues hate the guy (and for good reason). When, they're all relieved.
 * Hate Sink: Rachel. While Robotnik's just as big a Jerkass as she is, he's also deliciously hammy and fun to watch. Rachel, however, is an obnoxious bitch who's obsessed with ruining her sister's love life for no real reason other than to be a jerk.
 * With that being said, Robotnik himself crosses into this territory in a Love to Hate sort of way. His cruelty, sadism, and Jerkass behavior combined with Jim Carrey's hilarious and entertaining performance make him a villain that's fun to actively root against.
 * Humans Are Morons: Dr. Robotnik doesn't have a high opinion of his fellow humans. As far as he's concerned, they're useless, stupid, and irrelevant when compared to his superior machines.
 * Jerkass: Dr. Robotnik. Yeah, he's the villain, but he's also an insufferable douche who can't resist insulting the intelligence of everyone around him completely unprovoked.
 * Rachel. She hates Tom for no good reason aside from possible racism, and keeps trying and failing to get Maddie to break up with him.
 * Kid Hero: While he's technically one in the games (or more of a teen hero, since he's officially 15 years old), Sonic doesn't really act the part. In this movie, however, being a lonely hyperactive kid is a major point of his characterization.
 * Killer Robot: Robotnik's specialty, as you'd expect.
 * Lack of Empathy: Robotnik's got this in spades. He's incredibly flippant about people getting caught in the crossfire in his battle against Sonic, and even smirks when he calls Tom and Maddie "Collateral Damage".
 * Large Ham: Dr. Robotnik. Comes with the territory when you're played by Jim goddamned Carrey.
 * Macross Missile Massacre: Robotnik's main strategy during his fights with Sonic is to send a ton of missiles his way and try to overwhelm him with sheer numbers.
 * Mentor Occupational Hazard: Sonic's caretaker Longclaw falls victim to this at the start of the movie.
 * Morality Pet: Despite his willingness to abuse the poor man, Robotnik does seem genuinely fond of Agent Stone. Though since this is Robotnik we're talking about, it's less him liking Stone as a person and more like him treasuring an amusing pet (that can make excellent lattes).
 * Mythology Gag: In the middle of a bar fight, Sonic takes the chance to devour a bunch of chili dogs before they hit the floor.
 * Green Hills, Montana, is an obvious sendup to Green Hill Zone, a recurring location in many Sonic games.
 * The Echidna tribe hunting Sonic at the beginning of the movie is the same tribe that was in Sonic Adventure, complete with Pachacamac as the leader.
 * As it is in most Sonic games, the weakpoint of Robotnik's machine is its cockpit, which Sonic rams into repeatedly during the final battle.
 * The mushroom planet Sonic considers escaping to is the Mushroom Hill Zone in all but name.
 * Agent Stone plays the same role that Snively did in Sonic Sat AM: being the long suffering Butt Monkey assistant to Robotnik. Though while Snively had plans to dispose of his cruel boss, Stone is nothing but loyal to him, which brings some similarities to Grimer Wormtongue into the mix.
 * When Maddie wakes Sonic up with smelling salts, the very first thing he says is "Gotta go fast!"
 * Nice Guy: Tom's got a family of Nice Guys (and Rachel): he himself is a kind and gentle cop willing to stick his neck out to help an alien he barely knows, his fiancee Maddie, likewise, is a kind veterinarian who's every bit as helpful, and his future niece Jojo is a sweet little girl who gives Sonic new shoes so he won't hurt his feet.
 * The Nicknamer: Sonic hands out nicknames like candy. He calls Tom Donut Lord, Maddie Pretzel Lady (because of her yoga routine), and Robotnik Eggman.
 * Non-Standard Character Design: Longclaw sticks out like a sore thumb compared to other characters from Sonic's world. Unlike Sonic himself, the Echidna Tribe, and, she looks a lot more like a realistic animal instead of a cartoony approximation of one.
 * The Owl-Knowing One: Longclaw, Sonic's adoptive mother back on his homeworld. She was a wise anthropomorphic owl, and very protective of her ward before the Echidna tribe's attack forced them to separate.
 * Police Are Useless: Averted with Tom, but played straight with Wade, his dim-witted friend in the police force.
 * Reality Ensues: Sonic learns the hard way that beer bottles don't break as easily as they do in movies. When some thugs accost him and Tom at a bar they stop at, he hits one over the head with one in hopes of shattering it and knocking him out. It doesn't shatter, and all he does is piss the guy off.
 * Sassy Black Woman: Rachel, Maddie's loud and obnoxious sister who tries and fails to keep her and Tom from getting hitched.
 * Shock and Awe: Along with his superspeed, Sonic now has the ability to generate lightning inside his quills, which makes him faster and more destructive. It also has EMP properties, and it shuts down an entire power grid when Sonic accidentally lets loose a burst of energy during an emotional meltdown.
 * Small Town Boredom: As a cop stationed at a quiet, sleepy town, Tom is this. While he loves Green Hills, he's also unsatisfied with not being able to help anyone due to how peaceful it is, and wants to move to San Francisco so he can put his abilities to good use.
 * The Sociopath: As per series tradition, Dr. Robotnik. While Jim Carrey's as wonderfully hammy and goofy as always, the mad doctor is defined by his sneering disdain for everyone around him, his sadistic cruelty towards his enemies, and his inability to see the people around him as anything more than tools to use or annoyances to dispose of.
 * Starring Special Effects: The main protagonist is a CGI hedgehog.
 * Stepford Smiler: Sonic seems like a happy-go-lucky guy on the surface, but it's clear that under his hyperactive nature and goofy bluster, he's ultimately a sad and lonely kid who's been seriously hurt by the reclusive life he's been forced to live.
 * The Stinger:
 * Surprise Creepy: Robotnik in spades. For the most part he's as goofy and over the top as you'd expect a character played by Jim Carrey can be, but every now and then he'll drop a dead-serious threat to remind you that he's a sadistic nutcase not to be trifled with. It's pretty in line with how the character is portrayed in the Sonic franchise in general.
 * Tired of Running: Invoked by Sonic during the final battle.