Sonic The Hedgehog review — 11-year-old critic Winston Ordoña explains what’s behind it, and what’s likely ahead for it.

Sonic The Hedgehog is a movie based on a Sega video game where a super-fast blue hedgehog from space runs from the evil Dr. Robotnik. This movie doesn’t have as much fan service as I expected, but there’s enough to keep it running.

Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) is being hunted by evil Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) for the government. Sheriff Tom (James Marsden) tries to stop the bad guy from experimenting on Sonic and possibly stealing his super-speed.

I felt that Schwartz’s acting was played at the same level the whole way. The innocence of Sonic is charming at first, but when they use that quality too much it gets repetitive. I was not expecting Carrey to be the second-best part about the film, but his performance was sly and he didn’t mug the way that actors sometimes do in kids’ movies.

The VFX were by far the best part. After fans hated the way Sonic looked in sneak trailers, he was redesigned and now looks really good. His fur was very textured and it blended quite well with the environment. But the beginning was really rushed and the transition to the rest of the story felt unnatural. I saw it with two other kids who felt the same way I did. But there are some nice action scenes, especially the super-speed ones that are like the Quicksilver scenes in the X-Men movies.

Unfortunately, the story is predictable, the characters aren’t too memorable and it’s not really funny. But it does a nice origin story which the fans might like because it fits with the character and uses a location that was in the game.

Overall, the film isn’t very good  and fans will be either wanting a sequel because there wasn’t enough to satisfy them in the first, or giving up on the franchise for them same reason. If you like the movie or game, stick around through the credits, because at the end there is a great tag.

Rated PG

1 Hour 29 Minutes

If Winston’s Sonic the Hedgehog review makes you want to zip out to see it, get times and tickets at Fandango.com.

Sonic The Hedgehog review — 11-year-old critic Winston Ordoña explains what’s behind it, and what’s likely ahead for it.