--- title: "Sonic the Hedgehog" year: 2020 kind: "film" canonical: "https://film.one/film/sonic-the-hedgehog" fi1m_score: 55 critics_score: 56 critics_reviews: 23 published: "2026-09-17T00:41:50.713688+00:00" updated: "2026-09-17T00:41:51.209903+00:00" region: "US" licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL." --- # Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) Directed by Jeff Fowler · 1h 39m · MPA PG · Action, Science Fiction, Comedy, Family **Fi1m score: 55** · Critics 56 from 23 reviews *In a sentence:* Jim Carrey does 1994 at full volume in a lorry; the hedgehog, poor thing, has to do the plot > The redesigned hedgehog is fine, the road trip is borrowed and Jeff Fowler’s film is forgotten within the hour. Jim Carrey, moustached and manic, is the one reason to sit through it, and he is a good reason. ## Synopsis Sonic (Ben Schwartz), a blue hedgehog who can outrun anything on Earth, has hidden for ten years in the woods outside Green Hills, Montana, watching the town and talking to nobody. One lonely night he runs so fast he knocks out the power across the north-west, and the government sends Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his drones to find the cause. Sonic takes refuge in the shed of Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), the sheriff, who is about to leave for a police job in San Francisco with his wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter). A dropped bag of gold rings opens a portal to the wrong city, and the two set off by road to get them back. ## Review Jeff Fowler’s *Sonic the Hedgehog* arrives with a story attached that is better known than anything in it: a first trailer with a hedgehog nobody could look at, an outcry, and a redesign that put him back the way the games drew him. The second attempt works. The hedgehog on screen is round-eyed, big-gloved and pleasant company. Having got him right, Fowler and his writers, Josh Miller and Patrick Casey, put him in a film any live-action cartoon of the last twenty years could have lent them. It is a fish-out-of-water road trip: an alien creature hides in a small town, is found by a decent man, and the two drive across America pursued by the government while learning to like each other. *E.T.* did the hiding and [*Midnight Run*](https://film.one/film/midnight-run) did the driving, and *Sonic* adds nothing either would want back. The plot runs from Montana to San Francisco with a roadhouse fight, a motorway chase and a lesson about friendship, said aloud more than once. Jim Carrey is why we would sit through it. His Dr. Robotnik is a government contractor who despises the soldiers he works with, the town he is sent to and anything that might be cleverer than he is. Carrey plays him at the pitch he last used in the mid-1990s: arms going, eyebrows going, every line a small aria. He has a dance alone in the back of his lorry that Fowler wisely lets run. We laughed out loud at Carrey four or five times, more than we expected, and each time we knew the line was not funny; the man saying it was. Sonic is a harder sell. Ben Schwartz voices him as a chatterbox who has spent a decade alone and means to make up for it, and the script hands him a quip for every second on screen. Small children, who are the audience, laughed at a fair amount of it, and we do not begrudge them. For anyone over twelve he is a fast thing that will not stop talking, and Fowler never finds the still moment that would turn the loneliness the film keeps mentioning into something we could feel. James Marsden is the other asset. His Tom Wachowski is a sheriff in a town where the worst crime is a raccoon, restless for a real job in a real city, and Marsden plays him as an ordinary man faintly embarrassed to be in a chase scene. Tika Sumpter, as his wife Maddie, a vet, is sensible and supportive and little else. Natasha Rothwell has two scenes as her sister Rachel and takes both. Stephen F. Windon shoots Green Hills in warm, even daylight, pine and clapboard, and the road in the flat sunshine of a car advert, which suits the film without giving it a look of its own. Sean Haworth’s best work is Robotnik’s mobile laboratory, a white gloss interior of screens and drones that unfolds from a lorry, the one place that looks designed rather than found. Debra McGuire’s costume tells Robotnik’s story, a black coat that turns redder and more military as his manners get worse. Tom Holkenborg’s score thumps under the chases and does its job. Debra Neil-Fisher and Stacey Schroeder cut the roadhouse brawl, in which Sonic rearranges a fight while everyone else hangs in the air, so we can always tell who is where. Against other films from video games this is respectable. *Detective Pikachu* (2019) had a stranger world and a better idea; *Sonic* has a better villain and less of everything else. Against Carrey’s own past it is a reminder rather than a return: [*The Mask*](https://film.one/film/the-mask) (1994) built a whole film around this energy; here it is a guest turn in someone else’s road trip. Around the hour mark we noticed we were checking the time and the children in front of us were not. That is the right way round for a PG. Take a child, or be prepared to be one for 99 minutes. Failing that, watch it at home and be honest about skipping to Carrey, who is not on screen nearly enough and carries the whole thing when he is. *Fi1m score 55, published 17 September 2026.* ## What the critics say The reviews split down the middle, with a slight lean towards forgiving. Most critics arrive braced for the worst after the trailer and the redesign, and find a light, inoffensive family caper that is better than they feared. Praise clusters almost entirely on one man: Jim Carrey’s Dr Robotnik, described as the film’s only real energy, a return to his 1990s mode that several critics call the funniest he has been in years. James Marsden’s sheriff gets a few kind words, and the redesigned Sonic is generally judged an improvement. The reservations are about everything else. The script is called generic, derivative and predictable, and several reviews file it alongside the forgotten live-action adaptations of the 2000s. The spread is wide, from warm four-star notices to outright dismissals. The British broadsheets are cooler than the American trade press, and Slant Magazine is the rare dissenter on Carrey himself, finding his mugging buries whatever the film had to say. ### Reviews we read (23) - **Little White Lies**, Anton Bitel (3/4/3): The critic finds the film fast and fun but forgettable, sustained mainly by Jim Carrey's scene-stealing performance as Robotnik. It praises the energetic pacing and pop-culture references but notes it leaves little lasting impression. [Read](https://lwlies.com/reviews/sonic-the-hedgehog) - **Evening Standard**, Charlotte O'Sullivan (70/100, inferred): The film avoids the pitfalls of other video game adaptations like Cats thanks to fan feedback on the design and Jim Carrey's cartoonish energy as Robotnik. It delivers cool effects and a fun car chase despite some unoriginal moments. [Read](https://www.standard.co.uk/culture/film/sonic-the-hedgehog-review-hyper-hero-escapes-the-curse-of-cats-in-big-screen-debut-a4362011.html) - **Los Angeles Times**, Katie Walsh (70/100, inferred): The critic is pleasantly surprised that the film is legitimately funny, heartwarming and entertaining after the redesign. Jim Carrey's campy, over-the-top performance as Dr. Robotnik is singled out as the standout element that elevates the odd-couple road movie. [Read](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/movies/story/2020-02-13/sonic-the-hedgehog-review-jim-carrey) - **The Hollywood Reporter**, John DeFore (70/100, inferred): The film is a light-hearted, inoffensive throwback kids' adventure that hopes nostalgia for the Sega character will draw audiences. Flesh-and-blood performers like Jim Carrey's full-tilt Dr. Robotnik and James Marsden's genial sheriff help keep the simple story afloat despite its video-game origins. [Read](https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-reviews/sonic-hedgehog-review-1279100/) - **Vulture**, Bilge Ebiri (70/100, inferred): The movie is a modest, unassuming throwback to simpler blockbusters that feels like it could have been a hit in 1996. Jim Carrey's wildly committed, golden-era performance as Dr. Robotnik is the standout delight that makes the routine endeavor worthwhile. [Read](https://www.vulture.com/2020/02/sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-review-jim-carrey-is-back.html) - **Total Film** (65/100, inferred): The film exceeds its initially low expectations with frenetic fun for younger viewers and nostalgic Jim Carrey as Robotnik. VFX work salvages it into something enjoyable though it will not top any best-of lists. [Read](https://www.gamesradar.com/sonic-movie-review/) - **Screen Daily** (60/100, inferred): The review describes it as mildly entertaining but weighed down by an overbearing central character; it singles out Jim Carrey and James Marsden for praise while criticizing the protagonist's tiresome humor and derivative nature. [Read](https://www.screendaily.com/reviews/sonic-the-hedgehog-review/5147066.article) - **Empire**, Amon Warmann (50/100, inferred): The new Sonic design improves on the trailer but the film remains largely forgettable. Jim Carrey's Robotnik is note-perfect and the funniest he has been in years, but the bromance and emotional beats fall flat. [Read](https://www.empireonline.com/movies/reviews/sonic-hedgehog-review-2/) - **The New York Times**, Ben Kenigsberg (50/100, inferred): The critic finds that the redesigned Sonic and improved visuals do little to salvage a generic script in this video-game adaptation. The film is seen as a missed opportunity that fails to rise above standard family fare despite the director's efforts. [Read](https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/13/movies/sonic-the-hedgehog-review.html) - **Slant Magazine**, Jake Cole (40/100, inferred): The film feels like a 1990s throwback focused on Sonic's loneliness and desire for friends but is let down by condescending storytelling, awful jokes, and Carrey's over-the-top mugging that buries any subtext. It shows some understanding of the source material but lacks greater depth or meaning. [Read](https://www.slantmagazine.com/film/review-sonic-the-hedgehog-doesnt-rock-even-after-a-new-paintjob/) - **The Telegraph**, Robbie Collin (2/5): The film sidelines Sonic’s distinctive speed and fun for a drab ET retread with bland real-world settings. Jim Carrey’s 1990s-style Robotnik provides the only real energy amid mostly joyless choices. [Read](https://www.telegraph.co.uk/films/0/sonic-hedgehog-review-video-game-speed-freak-slowed-drab-joyless/) - **The Times** (★★): The film returns to cursory plots and cartoonish characterisation typical of poor video-game adaptations. It offers enough to divert children briefly but is bland and unengaging for parents. [Read](https://www.thetimes.com/culture/film/article/sonic-the-hedgehog-review-a-big-blue-blur-of-blandness-xnmvk36n5) - **The Guardian**, Peter Bradshaw (35/100, inferred): The film is a predictable, derivative caper that feels like a rush job after the trailer redesign. Jim Carrey’s over-the-top Robotnik is the standout, far more animated and entertaining than the charmless hero. [Read](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/feb/13/sonic-the-hedgehog-review-jim-carrey) - **The Independent** (35/100, inferred): The redesign makes Sonic look like the character but too sharp and artificial to feel real. It is filed alongside other forgettable live-action video game adaptations like Alvin and the Chipmunks, relying on dated jokes and product placement. [Read](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/sonic-the-hedgehog-review-cast-director-redesign-video-game-sega-character-a9333101.html) - **HeyUGuys**, Emily Breen (4/5): The film succeeds in balancing nostalgic appeal with new elements through clever storytelling and strong performances. It stands out for its energetic action sequences and chaotic mayhem that provide silly, entertaining fun. [Read](https://www.heyuguys.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-review/) - **The Wrap** (80/100, inferred): The critic finds the film a delightful surprise and solid family entertainment despite initial skepticism. They single out Jim Carrey's energetic, comedic performance as Dr. Robotnik for particular praise. [Read](https://www.thewrap.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-film-review-2020-movie-jim-carrey/) - **The Playlist**, Asher Luberto (B): The movie overcomes its troubled production history to deliver a kinetic buddy comedy full of charm and heart. It excels thanks to Jim Carrey's manic energy and the heartfelt friendship at its core. [Read](https://theplaylist.net/sonic-hedgehog-review-20200216/) - **Digital Spy**, Ian Sandwell (70/100, inferred): It's a diverting and entertaining family watch aimed at kids, with a good redesign of Sonic and fun elements, but predictable plot and broad humor that won't stick in memory; better than feared for a video game adaptation. [Read](https://www.digitalspy.com/movies/a30890397/sonic-the-hedgehog-review-sonic-movie/) - **Polygon** (70/100, inferred): The movie is a weird kids’ film elevated by Jim Carrey’s chaotic performance and some audacious gags like a prominent fart joke. It entertains with Saturday-morning-cartoon energy and a message about loneliness but is not aimed at longtime fans. [Read](https://www.polygon.com/2020/2/13/21136742/sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-review) - **Collider**, Matt Goldberg (C): The film is a safe, palatable buddy road-trip comedy suitable for kids but not the first great video game adaptation. It benefits from a redesigned Sonic who is funny and cute, along with a solid mismatched friendship arc. [Read](https://collider.com/sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-review/) - **Den of Geek**, David Crow (2 out of 5): The critic finds it a disposable, mediocre family film reminiscent of 2000s adaptations, with bland gags and dated Jim Carrey performance, though it satisfies young fans and nostalgists with its visuals and some moments. [Read](https://www.denofgeek.com/movies/sonic-the-hedgehog-review/) - **/Film**, Josh Spiegel (3/10): The film struggles with an identity crisis and fails to land its constant quips and pop-culture references. It improves the character's CGI but remains exhausting due to weak humor and scripting. [Read](https://www.slashfilm.com/572299/sonic-the-hedgehog-review/) - **The Ringer**, Miles Surrey (30/100, inferred): The film is a formulaic, boring, and bland disappointment rather than a memorably bad classic. It sticks to a by-the-numbers fish-out-of-water tale instead of embracing its potential weirdness. [Read](https://www.theringer.com/2020/02/17/movies/sonic-the-hedgehog-review) ## Details - **Director:** Jeff Fowler - **Director:** Jeff Fowler - **Screenplay:** Josh Miller, Patrick Casey - **Cinematography:** Stephen F. Windon - **Editor:** Debra Neil-Fisher, Stacey Schroeder - **Music:** Tom Holkenborg - **Production design:** Sean Haworth - **Costume design:** Debra McGuire - **Producer:** Takeshi Ito, Toru Nakahara, Neal H. Moritz - **Cast:** Ben Schwartz as Sonic (voice); James Marsden as Tom Wachowski; Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski; Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik; Natasha Rothwell as Rachel; Adam Pally as Wade Whipple; Neal McDonough as Major Bennington; Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone - **Runtime:** 1h 39m - **Certificate (MPA):** PG - **Release (the US):** 14 February 2020 - **Genres:** Action, Science Fiction, Comedy, Family - **Budget:** $85 million - **Box office:** $320 million - **Trailer:** https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szby7ZHLnkA ## Where to watch in the US - Paramount+: streaming, hd - Hulu: streaming, hd, leaving 2026-10-01 - Amazon Prime Video: add-on, uhd - Apple TV: add-on, hd - The Roku Channel: add-on, hd - Amazon Prime Video: rent $3.99, uhd - Apple TV: rent $4.99, hd - Amazon Prime Video: buy $16.99, uhd - Apple TV: buy $16.99, hd *Checked 2026-09-17.* Also available in: AE, AR, AT, AU, BE, BG, BR, CA, CH, CL, CO, CZ, DE, DK, EC, EE, ES, FI, FR, GB, GR, HK, HR, HU, ID, IE, IL, IN, IT, JP, KR, LT, MX, MY, NL, NO, NZ, PA, PE, PH, PL, PT, RO, RS, SE, SG, SI, SK, TH, TR, UA, US, VN, ZA. Add `?region=XX` to this URL for another country. ## Awards - Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie 2021: Kids' Choice Award for Favorite Movie (nominated) ## If you liked this - *E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial* (1982), Fi1m 91: The hiding-an-alien-in-the-house film this one borrows from, done with real feeling. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/e-t-the-extra-terrestrial.md) - *Paddington* (2014): A digital creature among decent humans, and the jokes are written rather than shouted. - *The Mask* (1994), Fi1m 71: Carrey at this pitch for a whole film, with the film built to hold him. — [Fi1m page](https://film.one/film/the-mask.md) - *Speed Racer* (2008): Speed as subject and style; the Wachowskis’ family film is stranger and braver. - *Detective Pikachu* (2019): The other film from a game that works: odder world, gentler jokes, less shouting. --- © Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/film/sonic-the-hedgehog