Sonic the Hedgehog Review

"Sonic the Hedgehog," the first Hollywood adaptation of the popular video game franchise, is far better than it has any right to be. It straddles the line between cheesy, funny, cliche, and fun from scene to scene, just like a good Saturday morning cartoon. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but the titular hedgehog certainly rolls like one.

The plot is just an excuse for Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) to cause all sorts of trouble while being chased by Dr. Robotnik, played by Jim Carrey in full Jim Carrey mode. And honestly, this is Jim's movie. He snarls, smirks, and overacts every line in every scene not only like a cartoon character come to life, but also the Jim Carrey we all know and love, and it's great to have him back.

Sonic lives in a small Montana town, where he watches the townsfolk, pretending to live among them. But of course, like only in the movies, he must live in secret or risk his powers, here superspeed, being exploited by the bad guys. And during a revelation of solitude after a solo baseball match, he runs so fast he releases so much energy that it knocks out all the power, catching the attention of a certain not-yet-egg-shaped doctor.

To escape persecution, Sonic has a sachle of rings that act as portals to wherever the blue blur is thinking of. But when trying to depart, he bumps into a local sheriff Tom (James Marsden), who shoots him with a tranquilizer gun, causing him to drop his bag of rings into a portal over California. And so with Jim Carrey hot on their tails, pun intended, the two roadtrip it out to retrieve his magic pouch and get him off Earth.

It is a terribly unoriginal story, but hey, this is a cartoon; it's a world where a hedgehog runs, and runs his mouth, super fast. And it gives Carrey plenty of freedom to make faces, noises, riff, and at least once, speak in another language. He is without a doubt the best thing here, who's frequent appearances breakup what could have been just another derivative franchise adaptation.

Director Jim Fowler wisely keeps things moving fast, pun also very well intended; we're rarely in one place for very long, and the script by Pat Casey and Josh Miller set up plenty of situations for our duo of heroes to cause havoc in. Kids will likely enjoy the candy visuals, longtime fans will appreciate the plethora of winks towards the video games, and for everyone else, we have Jim Carrey. And that is more than enough for me.

The Rhythm Section Review

"The Rhythm Section," which opened this weekend, is essentially a direct-to-video revenge thriller with occasionally high production values. Starring Blake Lively as Stephanie Patrick, a self-destructive woman who turns to vigilantism after her family is killed in a plane crash, which turns out to be not an accident. Yawn...

We find her a prostitute, enjoying her favorite controlled-substance when a reporter knocks on the door at her brothel, who informs her of the plot that ended her family. What follows are the obligatory scenes of her seeking revenge, taking up the role of a dead assassin under the eye of B (Jude Law), after tracking him down on her smartphone (how she affords the data plan is beyond me, prostitution must pay well).

There are layers of prosaic politics that fail to give the narrative anything its own, boiling down to a deadened exploitation flick without the exploitation. It is too interested in globetrotting the samey streets of too few unexciting locations for the next contract hit, getting bogged down with hollow declarations about who's involved in the plane crash and who they work for- this is half "James Bond" and half "Death Wish," only not nearly as slick or sleezy as either of those two series be worthwhile.

Blake does a good job with her face and body, expressing the grief she's going through, but her origins are underbaked, and her current directive is as rote as they come. Her performance is strong enough to keep me awake, but it isn't enough to keep viewers invested in the story the filmmakers are selling.

Perhaps premiering on Netflix would have helped "The Rhythm Section," which faces theatrical competition from the continued cinema juggernaut that is the supremely entertaining "Bad Boys for Life," as well as the Super Bowl on the living room screen. But alas, it fades from the projector as quickly as it does from memory.