I love watching Science Fiction/Fantasy movies/TV shows, like I’ve said a thousand times. Even though I’m new to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise and its characters, I went to go see the live action movie with one of my friends a few days after its release.

Sonic the Hedgehog was originally going to come out some time in 2019, but because fans complained about Sonic’s bad design in the first trailer the animators reanimated the entire film (the nonhuman characters were CGI animated), so the release date changed to Valentine’s Day 2020.

At the very beginning of the movie, Sonic is chased around San Francisco by Dr. Robotnik (the main antagonist), and has one of those “Yup, that’s me. Wondering how I got into this situation?” Moments. The scene then rewinds to Sonic’s childhood which reveals why Sonic is on Earth in the first place. 

As kid Sonic is running around his home planet older Sonic voices over, saying how he was told that his powers were special so he has to keep it a secret or others will want it (like all kids, he didn’t keep it a secret). That same day, a tribe of echidnas came after him because of his power. 

His guardian (Longclaw, an owl) gives him a bag of rings that can create portals to other planets, telling him to protect the bag and use another ring if he is found out. Longclaw uses a ring to send Sonic to Earth, while she holds the echidnas off to cover Sonic’s escape.

Ten years later, Sonic now has a secret life in the small town of Green Hills, Mont. Even though he enjoys his secret life (nobody knows he exists), Sonic is longing to make actual friends. One night, Sonic plays a game of baseball by himself after watching some kids play it earlier that day. Realizing he really is lonely Sonic gets upset, and runs in a circle around the baseball field. As his speed increases, he starts to charge up creating an electromagnetic pulse causing the power across the Pacific Northwest to go out. 

The government enlists Dr. Robotnik to find out what caused the power outage and he sends out his drones to investigate. Meanwhile, Sonic meets Thomas “Tom” Wachowski (the sheriff of Green Hills, who he calls “Donut Lord” and idolizes) while on the run (his secret cave was discovered) whom he leaves Green Hills (in search of his bag of rings, which ended up on top of a building in San Francisco) on a road trip, and are now on the run from Dr. Robotnik and the government. 

Tom reveals  to Sonic that he and his wife (Maddie Wachowski, a veterinarian who loves animals, who Sonic calls “Pretzel Lady”) are moving to San Francisco because he got an acceptance letter from the San Francisco Police Department. Sonic is unhappy that Tom is moving away because he has been protecting Green Hills for a long time, even if it was doing something small like helping animals cross the road, or change tires. 

During the conversation they’re attacked by one of Dr. Robotnik’s drones, which eventually blows up knocking Sonic out. Tom takes a knocked out Sonic (covering him with a blanket) to Maddie’s sister’s (Rachel) house in San Francisco, where Maddie asks him what happened (Tom being a fugitive was was all over the news, worrying Maddie to her Rachel’s disapproval (she disapproves of Tom and wants Maddie to leave him). Ozzy pulls the blanket off a still unconscious Sonic, to Maddie and Rachel’s shock and to the delight of JoJo (Rachel’s daughter, Tom’s and Maddie’s niece). 

While Tom fills Maddie in on what’s happening JoJo gives Sonic (who Maddie revived) a new pair of shoes, which also happen to be his trademark shoes. Sonic, Tom, and Maddie take Rachel’s car to the building and take the elevator to the top where Sonic retrieves his bag of rings. Dr. Robotnik attacks the trio with a hovercraft, forcing Sonic to use one of the rings to send Tom and Maddie back to Green Hills. 

Sonic takes off with Dr. Robotnik right behind him, leaving off where the beginning of the movie was. In the end, Sonic uses a ring to send Dr. Robotnik to a mushroom planet. Tom and Maddie decide to stay in Green Hills, and let Sonic stay in their house too. In the end there’s also an end credit scene, where Tails emerges from a ring portal on earth in search of Sonic.

Sonic The Hedgehog is good as it has a lot of comedy, and comedies usually do well in theaters. Even though it is currently the second highest grossing 2020 film at $295,322,219 and  speeding past Pokémon: Detective Pikachu (2019) as the highest opening weekend for a film based on a video game and has a good soundtrack, it should have been PG-13 instead of PG because it had some cursing and adult humor.

Other than that it was pretty fun to watch. I also hope there will be a second one in the future.