Natasha Rothwell Archives

Review: ‘Wonka,’ starring Timothée Chalamet

December 16, 2023

by Carla Hay

Calah Lane and Timothée Chalamet in “Wonka” (Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures)

Directed by Paul King

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed island city in England, the musical “Wonka” (which is inspired by Roald Dahl’s 1964 “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” children’s book) features a predominantly white group of characters (with some black people and a few Asians) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: Willy Wonka, a young chocolate maker, attempts to make his dream come true of opening his own chocolate shop, but he is opposed by various villains, including a three-man cartel that wants to have a monopoly on selling chocolate in the area.

Culture Audience: In addition to appealing to the obvious target audience of fans of Dahl and previous “Chocolate Factory” movie adaptations, “Wonka” will appeal primarily to fans of star Timothée Chalamet and family-friendly musicals that have messages about following your dreams, even when faced with obstacles.

Mathew Baynton, Matt Lucas, Keegan-Michael Key and Paterson Joseph in “Wonka” (Photo by Jaap Buittendijk/Warner Bros. Pictures)

“Wonka” is best enjoyed if viewers know in advance that it’s a cartoonish musical that tells an adoring origin story of chocolate maestro Willy Wonka. Scene stealer Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa brings some amusing saltiness to this saccharine spectacle. “Wonka” is inspired by Roald Dahl’s 1964 children’s book “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” which has previously been made into two feature films featuring Willy Wonka as a middle-aged man: 1971’s “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” (starring Gene Wilder) and 2005’s “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” (starring Johnny Depp), with each of those movies presenting Willy Wonka as an eccentric loner who has somewhat bitterly shut himself off from the rest of the world.

Directed by Paul King (who co-wrote the “Wonka” screenplay with Simon Farnaby), “Wonka” depicts Willy Wonka as an earnest and idealist American in his 20s. Willy wants to make his dream come true: opening his own chocolate shop at a place called Galeries Gourmet in an unnamed island city in England. As such, the tone of “Wonka” is much more lighthearted and doesn’t have any of the dark comedy that was in previous “Chocolate Factory” movies.

Neil Hannon wrote the music and wrote or co-wrote the lyrics for the six original songs written for “Wonka,” whose songs are pleasant enough but won’t be considered exceptional classics. The original songs in the movie are “A Hatful of Dreams,” “Scrub Scrub,” “Sweet Tooth,” “For a Moment,” “You’ve Never Had Chocolate Like This” and end-credits tune “A World of Your Own.” The lyrics are occasionally trite, but that could also describe the movie’s screenplay.

When the young version of top-hat-wearing Willy Wonka is first seen on screen, he’s on a shabby-looking ship and singing “A Hatful of Dreams,” as he bounces and dances on the ship with enthusiastic optimism. The movie takes place in an unspecified year, but the costumes indicate that the time period is in the late 1800s or early 1900s. There are also fantasy elements in “Wonka” that use competent-looking visual effects.

Viewers find out that Willy, who is an orphan, has been living at sea for the past seven years, but he now wants to permanently relocate to the city where Galeries Gourmet is located to open his own chocolate shop. In a “A Hatful of Dreams,” Willy sings: “I’ve poured everything I’ve got into my chocolates. Now, it’s time to show the world my recipes.”

A flashback a little later in the movie reveals that Willy as a boy (played by Colin O’Brien) was raised by a single mother (played by Sally Hawkins), who doesn’t have a name in the movie. Willy’s mother is the one who taught him how to make chocolate. She was also the one who told Willy about Galeries Gourmet, which she described as the best place in the world to sell and make chocolate.

As a boy, Willy told his mother that his dream would be for them to have a chocolate shop together at Galeries Gourmet. However, his mother died of an unnamed illness before Willy became an adult. She also died before she ever told him a big secret. It’s at this point in the movie that you know Willy will eventually find out his mother’s secret near the end of the film.

As soon as he arrives in this unfamiliar place, Willy finds out that there’s literally a price to be paid for dreaming. The city’s basic monetary unit is called a sovereign which come in the form of a coin. (It’s similar to what a dollar would be in the United States.) At the retail space where he hopes will be the location of his chocolate shop, there’s a sign that says “No Daydreaming,” with the penalty being a fine of three sovereigns.

Willy dreams about his hoped-for chocolate shop in a musical sequence, but he gets a rude awakening when a cop named Office Affable (played by Kobna Holdbrook-Smith) tells Willy that he has to be fined for this daydream. Willy pays the fine, but that doesn’t stop him from dreaming. Soon after he arrives in his new place, a homeless Willy is offered a place to stay by a gruff-looking brute named named Bleacher (played by Tom Davis), who meets Willy when Bleacher’s pit bull Tittles accosts Willy on a street.

Bleacher takes Willy back to the place where Bleacher works with the cruel and uncouth Mrs. Scrubitt (played by Olivia Colman), who owns a laundry service with Bleacher. Their place of business is also a boarding house, where Mrs. Scrubitt is raising a curious and intelligent orphaned girl named Noodle (played by Calah Lane), who ends up becoming Willy’s closest companion, in a big brother/little sister type of relationship. Noodle is about 12 or 13 in the story. She was raised by Mrs. Scrubbitt since Noodle was a baby.

Upon arriving at the guest house, Mrs. Scrubitt wants to Willy to sign a contract document with several pages. Noodle whispers a warning to Willy to “read the small print” before he signs the document. Mrs. Scrubitt rudely dismisses Noodle and tells Willy that Noodle is overly pessimistic because Noodle is an orphan.

A gullible Willy is so happy that he’s found a place to live, he doesn’t listen to Noodles advice, and he signs the document. Of course, it’s obvious that Mrs. Scrubbit is up to no good. She later uses that contract to punish Willy and force him to work for her in miserable conditions.

Before that happens, Willy seems to be on the right track to opening his chocolate shop. In the town square, he gives out free samples of hover chocs, which are magical chocolates that give people the ability to temporarily float in the air. The hover chocs wear off when the chocolates complete their journey in a person’s digestive system. The hover chocs and Willy are a big hit with the crowd of onlookers who sample the chocolates.

But three wealthy businessmen in the audience don’t like what’s happening and want to crush Willy’s dream of opening a chocolate shop. Mr. Slugworth (played by Paterson Joseph), Mr. Prodnose (played by Matt Lucas) and Mr. Fickelgruber (played by Mathew Baynton) are in a long-running cartel that has been prevented anyone else besides themselves from selling chocolate in Galeries Gourmet. Slugworth is the ruthless leader of this dastardly trio, and he tells Willy that the hover chocs are the worst chocolate he’s ever had. Prodnose is the goofball of the group, while Fickelgruber is the elitist snob, who slightly retches whenever someone says the word “poor.”

Willy’s successful promotional event then gets shut down by the Chief of Police (played by Keegan-Michael Key), who doesn’t have a name in the movie. This police chief is a chocolate addict who is later approached by the cartel to threaten Willy to not open a chocolate shop and get out of town. The cartel offers large amounts of chocolate as bribes to the police chief, who is initially reluctant to accept these bribes and do the cartel’s bidding. The police chief changes his mind because he can’t resist the temptation of this large supply of chocolates.

A running “joke” in the movie is how the police chief gains a lot of weight because of his chocolate addiction. It’s not fully mean-spirited body shaming, but it’s questionable comedy for a family film to make someone’s body size the butt of some not-very-funny jokes. Food addiction, which is an eating disorder, should not be made into something that deserves to get cheap laughs for a movie.

“Wonka” also has the problem of being too overstuffed with villains. In addition to Mrs. Scrubitt, Bleacher, Slugworth, Prodnose, Fickelgruber, and the Chief of Police, there’s a corrupt cleric named Father Julius (played by Rowan Atkinson), who works at a place called Benedict’s Cathedral. The movie also crams in a subplot about an adorable animal that befriends the protagonist, as if it’s a requirement to put a token adorable animal in a family film. In this case, the friendly animal is a giraffe that Willy names Abigail, whose milk Willy needs to make a special type of chocolate.

And there’s more. “Wonka” would have plenty to work with if it only focused on the friendship of Willy and Noodle. But then, there’s a subplot involving four of Mrs. Scrubitt’s employees who form an alliance with Willy. These employees are Abacus Crunch (played by Jim Carter), the skeptical elder of the group; talkative plumber Piper Benz (played by Natasha Rothwell); struggling comedian Harry Chucklesworth (played by Rich Fulcher); and quiet communicator Lottie Bell (played by Rakhee Thakrar), who used to work as a phone operator.

“Wonka” takes very little risks in the story, except for a few things that go outside the norm of these types of movies. Instead of making Willy a super-smart protagonist, “Wonka” makes him illiterate and uneducated. He is taught to read and write by Noodle, who actually comes up with some of the smart ideas that help Willy. However, this unconventional part of the story is overshadowed by many moments that are very easy to predict.

The movie doesn’t have enough of Grant’s Oompa Loompa character (a miniature humanoid with orange skin and green hair), whose sarcastic and grumpy attitude is the perfect counterpart to Willy’s sincere and sunny attitude. The screen time for the Oompa Loompa is less than 15 minutes in “Wonka.” Viewers who like this Oompa Loompa character will wonder if a better movie would’ve been made if this Oompa Loompa, not Noodle, had been Willy’s main sidekick. (Grant previously worked with “Wonka” director King on the first two “Paddington” movies.)

As for the musical numbers in “Wonka,” they are good enough but not mind-blowing. Chalamet performs in the movie like he’s in a stage musical, not a movie, which is another way of saying that he tends to over-act as if he’s playing to the back of a room. It doesn’t ruin the movie, but some people might find it annoying, while others will find it very charming. Lane gives an appealing performance as Noodle. The rest of the supporting characters are written broadly and are a tad generic.

Without question, the strongest asset in “Wonka” is the movie’s production design, which excels in immersing viewers in this vibrant and unique world that often looks like a candy-coated and imaginative playground. Speaking of imagination, toward the end of “Wonka,” there’s a nostalgic nod to the beloved song “Pure Imagination” from “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.” It’s a moment in “Wonka” that will remind “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” fans that “Wonka” acknowledges the 1971’s film’s influence, but “Wonka” (for better or worse) is intent on having its own unique place in cinema history.

Warner Bros. Pictures released “Wonka” in U.S. cinemas on December 15, 2023.

Review: ‘Wish’ (2023), starring the voices of Ariana DeBose, Chris Pine, Alan Tudyk, Angelique Cabral, Victor Garber, Natasha Rothwell and Jennifer Kumiyama

November 17, 2023

by Carla Hay

Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose), her pet goat Valentino (voiced by Alan Tudyk) and Star in “Wish” (Image courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios)

“Wish” (2023)

Directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn

Culture Representation: Taking place on a fictional Iberian Peninsula island called Rosas, the animated film “Wish” features a racially diverse cast of characters white, black, Latin, and Asian) representing the working-class, middle-class and wealthy.

Culture Clash: A 17-year-old girl battles with an egotistical and corrupt king over his control of granting people’s wishes.

Culture Audience: “Wish” will appeal primarily to people who are fans of Disney animation and don’t mind watching an extremely formulaic Disney film.

Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose) and King Magnifico (voiced by Chris Pine) in “Wish” (Image courtesy of Walt Disney Animation Studios)

As a Disney animated film, “Wish” is more forgettable than iconic. Even with a talented cast, the movie’s plot, characters, and songs are generic and derivative. Its references to other Disney movies look more like shameless shilling than fond reminiscing.

Directed by Chris Buck and Fawn Veerasunthorn, “Wish” is a movie that blandly goes through the motions with its simple plot and Disney self-promotion. The movie’s very formulaic screenplay was co-written by Jennifer Lee and Allison Moore. Buck and Lee are the directors of Disney’s Oscar-winning 2013 blockbuster “Frozen” and 2019 mega-hit “Frozen II.” Unfortunately, “Wish” is nowhere near the quality of these two “Frozen” movies.

The protagonist and narrator of “Wish” is 17-year-old Asha (voiced by Ariana DeBose), who lives on a fictional Iberian Peninsula island called Rosas. Asha lives with her widowed mother Sakina (voiced by Natasha Rothwell) and her paternal grandfather Sabino (voiced by Victor Garber), who is about to turn 100 years old. You know you’re watching a Disney animated film about a plucky heroine if at least one of her parents is dead.

The ruler of Rosas is King Magnifico (voiced by Chris Pine), a sorcerer who abuses his magical power to grant wishes for people, by allowing only one person a month to get a wish. These wishes look like bubbles, where Magnifico can envision what the wishes are. Sabino is still waiting to get his wish granted.

Not knowing how corrupt and vain King Magnifico is, Asha applies for a job to be his assistant. During the interview process, Asha sees Magnifico’s nasty temper and his obsessive need for control. Asha’s best friend is a royal servant named Dahlia (voiced by Jennifer Kumiyama), who is a cook in the kitchen at the king’s palace.

King Magnifico’s loyal and loving wife Amaya (voiced by Angelique Cabral) is very supportive of him, because she doesn’t see his true personality. It’s a little hard to believe that a queen whose entire life seems to revolve around her king (Amaya isn’t shown doing anything else but being a wife) hasn’t noticed how he abuses his power with these wishes.

And because “Wish” is a very predictable Disney animated film, there’s a wisecracking talking animal or non-human sidekick for the protagonist. It’s a donkey named Valentino (voiced by Alan Tyduk), who is Asha’s constant companion. Another Disney animation cliché: a cute and mute ally to the protagonist. In “Wish,” it’s a golden star named Star, who is summoned from the sky after Asha makes a wish.

Asha has several friends who are mostly forgettable. Here’s how these characters and their voice cast members are described in the “Wish” production notes: “Harvey Guillén as the outspoken-but-heartfelt cynic Gabo; Niko Vargas as quick-with-a-smile optimist Hal; Evan Peters as strong-but-sleepy guy Simon; Ramy Youssef as Asha’s allergy-plagued pal Safi; Jon Rudnitsky as her kind and wiggly-eared friend Dario; and Della Saba as shy-but-surprising sweetheart Bazeema.” One of these pals will betray Asha in a plot development that has absolutely no suspense.

“Wish” also has no surprises, as it plods along from one scene to the next. The action sequences are unremarkable. The dialogue is often terribly written. The voice performances are average overall, although DeBose’s singing is among the few highlights of “Wish.” The movie’s visuals are not very impressive.

“Wish” also fails to have one outstanding song that will become a beloved classic. (Julia Michaels and Benjamin Rice co-wrote the seven original and disappointing songs for “Wish.”) If a Disney animated musical film does not have at least one amazing song that can be easily be remembered after the movie is over, then you know how lackluster and unimaginative the movie is.

Walt Disney Pictures will release “Wish” in U.S. cinemas on November 22, 2023. A sneak preview of the movie will be shown in U.S. cinemas on November 18, 2023.

Review: ‘Wyrm,’ starring Theo Taplitz, Lulu Wilson, Sosie Bacon, Natasha Rothwell, Paula Pell, Azure Brandi and Tommy Dewey

January 15, 2023

by Carla Hay

“Wyrm”

Directed by Christopher Winterbauer

Culture Representation: Taking place in an unnamed U.S. city in the mid-1990s, the comedy film “Wyrm” features a predominantly white cast of characters (with a few African Americans, Latinos and Asians) representing the working-class and middle-class.

Culture Clash: In an alternate reality where people have to wear electronic collars until they get their first romantic kiss, a nerdy freshman in high school tries to get rid of the stigma of being the only person in his school who’s still wearing this collar.

Culture Audience: “Wyrm” will appeal primarily to people are interested in watching quirky coming-of-age comedies.

Azure Brandi, Dan Bakkedahl, Theo Taplitz, Natalia Abelleyra and Tommy Dewey in “Wyrm” (Photo courtesy of Vertical Entertainment)

Amid the overabundance of comedies about nerdy teenage guys who want to be more sexually experienced, “Wyrm” is memorable for its unique story and quirky characters. This movie doesn’t try to have broad appeal because it’s for people who are interested in low-budget, independent films about eccentrics. The comedy in “Wyrm” is also mixed with a touching story about grief and how people choose to remember the deceased.

“Wyrm” (pronounced “worm”) is the feature-film debut of writer/director Christopher Winterbauer, who based the movie on his 2017 short film “Wyrm.” The feature film “Wyrm” (which takes place in an unnamed U.S. city) had its world premiere at the 2019 edition of Fantastic Fest in Austin, Texas, but the movie wasn’t released until 2022. Most of the comedy is deadpan and almost satirical, so don’t expect the typical formula of teen comedies where a geeky male outcast is trying to date his “dream girl.”

According to the “Wyrm” production notes, the movie is set in an “alternate reality” in the mid-1990s. It’s a reality where people’s sexuality is monitored in terms of levels. To reach Level One sexuality, someone must experience a romantic kiss. People have to wear an electronic collar that can’t come off until they reach Level One sexuality.

Wyrm Whitner (played by Theo Taplitz), who’s about 14 years old, is a freshman in high school with his twin sister Myrcella (played by Azure Brandi), who has a prickly relationship with Wyrm. Wyrm and Myrcella had an older brother named Dylan (played by Lukas Gage, shown briefly in flashbacks), who died in a car accident when Dylan was about 16 or 17. Dylan has been dead for less than a year.

Wyrm and Myrcella’s parents are emotionally absent. Their father Allen (played by Dan Bakkedahl) spends most of his time either at work or in the parents’ bedroom. Wyrm’s mother Margie (played by Rosemarie DeWitt) is on a trail hiking trip for an undetermined period of time. (Paula Pell has a cameo as a park ranger named Tanya.) Although there isn’t much information about the Whitner family dynamics before Dylan died, it’s implied that these parents are avoiding spending time with Wyrm and Myrcella because it’s the parents’ way of grieving.

For now, Myrcella and Wyrm are essentially being raised by their bachelor uncle Chet (played by Tommy Dewey), who met his current girlfriend Flor (played by Natalia Abelleyra) in an Internet chat room. In an early scene in the movie, Chet tells Wyrm: “I just think with the right girlfriend, you’d really be happy.” Chet also paints a portrait of Wyrm.

Wyrm has become preoccupied with interviewing people on his portable tape recorder about their memories of Dylan and about their thoughts on romantic relationships. Experiencing his first romantic kiss (preferably from his first girlfriend) soon becomes another preoccupation for Wyrm. He’s getting pressure to have his collar “popped” (unlocked) for various reasons.

When Wyrm and Myrcella entered high school, they both had Level One sexuality collars. However, Myrcella has recently had her collar “popped” because she’s been dating a Norwegian immigrant student at the school named Mads Nillson (played by Ky Baldwin), who was Myrcella’s first romantic kiss. Wyrm is now the only person at the school who has a Level One sexuality collar.

An early scene in “Wyrm” shows what type of comedy that the movie has about teen sexuality. Wyrm’s friend/classmate Charley (played by Samuel Faraci) tells Wyrm: “Mads Nillson fingered your sister at the cinema yesterday.” Charley then asks Wyrm if Wyrm feels the same things at the same time as Marcella does because they’re twins. Wyrm says about twin telepathy, “I think that’s only [with] identical twins.”

Wyrm and Myrcella, who share the same room, soon clash over how her level of sexual experience will now affect their living situation. Myrcella reads to Wyrm a formal declaration of why she wants to move into Dylan’s former room so that she can have more privacy. Wyrm thinks it’s disrespectful and too soon for anyone else to have Dylan’s former room.

However, Wyrm tells Myrcella that if Mads comes over to visit: “I don’t want Mads Nillson fingering anyone in my room.” Myrcella replies, “I don’t want to be related to the only freak in ninth grade who can’t get his collar popped.”

Wyrm’s level of sexual experience will also affect whether or not he can graduate from ninth grade. He’s called into a meeting with his school’s child development specialist Reginald “Reggie” Corona (played by Davey Johnson), who tells Wyrm: “You are literally the last incoming freshman to complete their Level One sexuality requirement. We’re collecting collars on Picture Day.”

Wyrm asks for an extension on when he can get his collar popped. Reggie agrees to the extension but cautions that time will soon run out for Wyrm. Reggie advises Wyrm to play on people’s sympathy to find a girlfriend: “A death in the family should work in your favor.” Wyrm gets even more pressure from the school’s vice-principal Cynthia Lister (played by Natasha Rothwell), who has a separate meeting with Wyrm in her office and ominously says to him: “Lonely people are dangerous, especially lonely boys.”

Wyrm doesn’t get any sex education from his parents, who avoid talking to him about it. There’s an intentionally amusing scene were Wyrm asks his parents: “How do kiss a person? And how do you finger them?” Each parent tells Wyrm to ask the other parent. Myrcella, now feeling sexually superior to Wyrm, wants to distance herself from him and treats him like an outcast at school.

Teen movie cliché alert: A student has recently transferred to the school from Florida. Her name is Izzy (played by Lulu Wilson), who is a sassy non-conformist. Wyrm is immediately attracted to Izzy, and wants to date her, but there’s a problem: Izzy has a boyfriend named Kyle, who’s in Florida, and Izzy wants to stay loyal to Kyle. Izzy doesn’t care about Wyrm being an unpopular student and school, because she’s not part of the popular crowd either, not does she want to be part of the crowd.

Thus begins the “will they or won’t they get together” part of the Wyrm/Izzy relationship. Along the way, Wyrm spends time with two other teenage girls who give him more insight into male/female relationships. Lindsey (played by Sosie Bacon) is a 17-year-old sarcastic student, who uses a wheelchair and who knew Dylan very well. Wyrm’s friend Charley introduces Wyrm to his sister Becky (played by Cece Abbey), who’s about 15 or 16, and is kind-hearted and appreciates Wyrm’s quirkiness.

“Wyrm” has some familiar story arcs found in many teen comedies, but they’re slightly off-center enough to avoid being completely predictable. The Level One sexuality collar is a symbol of the pressure that is put on teens to have certain sexual experiences by they time they’re a certain age. Whether or not people agree with this pressure, it exists, and those who are deemed sexually inexperienced are often unfairly labeled as social failures.

“Wyrm” doesn’t pass judgment on its title character, nor does it assign blame to any particular person for why Wyrm desperately tries to get his first romantic kiss, or risk getting the stigma of “being left behind.” Instead, the movie’s “alternate reality” is used as a mirror to show people how much it reflects what many teens experience in real life to a different degree.

The movie also has a meaningful depiction of how people cope with death and how their memories of someone who’s deceased can be altered for various reasons. The interviews that Wyrm conducts about Dylan are ostensibly so that Wyrm can make a tribute to Dylan. But as time goes on, viewers can see that these Wyrm is using these interviews to deal with his grief and to get to know Dylan better, since Wyrm and Dylan weren’t very close to each other.

As social misfit Wyrm, Taplitz gives a commendable performance that solidly carries most of the emotional wright in the movie. The rest of the cast members are perfectly fine, but the movie lives or dies on whether or not viewers will be interested in Wyrm. Some of the movie tries too hard to be offbeat, but there are enough moments of genuine humanity that can make “Wyrm” resonate with viewers who might not have much in common with the characters.

Vertical Entertainment released “Wyrm” in select U.S. cinemas, on digital and VOD on June 10, 2022.

Review: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2,’ starring James Marsden, Jim Carrey and the voices of Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba

April 9, 2022

by Carla Hay

“Sonic the Hedgehog 2”

Directed by Jeff Fowler

Culture Representation: Taking place in Green Hills, Montana; Oahu, Hawaii; Seattle and various parts of the universe, the live-action/animated adventure film “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” features a nearly predominantly white cast of characters (with some African Americans and Asians) and representing the working-class and middle-class, along with some outer-space creatures.

Culture Clash: Sonic the Hedgehog battles again against the evil Dr. Robotnik, who wants to take over the world and gets help from Knuckles the Echidna, who is searching for the all-powerful Master Emerald.

Culture Audience: “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” will appeal primarily to fans of the video-game franchise and people who like high-energy, comedic adventures that combine live action and animation.

Jim Carrey and Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” (Photo courtesy of Paramount Pictures and Sega of America)

“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” does almost everything a sequel is supposed to do in being an improvement from its predecessor. While 2020’s “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie looked like a middling TV special, 2022’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” has a much more engaging story and more impressive visuals that are worthy of a movie theater experience. “Sonic the Hedgehog” panders mostly to children, while “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is an adventure story with wider appeal to many generations. To enjoy “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” you don’t have to be a video game player, and you don’t have to be familiar with Sega Genesis’ “Sonic the Hedgehog” video games on which these movies are based.

Several of the chief filmmakers from the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie (including director Jeff Fowler) have returned for “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who wrote the “Sonic the Hedgehog” screenplay, are joined by John Whittington for the “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” screenplay. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” has an obvious bigger budget than its predecessor, since the visual effects are far superior to what was in the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. What hasn’t changed is that Sonic (voiced skillfully by Ben Schwartz)—a talking blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds—is still a brash and wisecracking character with an unwavering purpose of doing good in the world.

Thankfully, “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” avoids the pitfall that a lot of sequels make when they assume that everyone watching a movie sequel has already seen any preceding movie in the series. It’s easy to understand “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” without seeing the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” also picks up where “Sonic the Hedgehog” left off: The evil Dr. Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey), Sonic’s chief nemesis, has been banished to the Mushroom Planet, where he has been isolation for the past 243 days.

The first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie showed how Sonic was raised in another dimension by a female guardian owl called Longclaw (voiced by Donna Jay Fulks), a benevolent and wise character. When an apocalyptic disaster struck happened, Longclaw saved Sonic by opening up a portal to Earth and telling him that Earth would be Sonic’s permanent home. Longclaw also gave Sonic a bag of magical gold rings which could open portals and do other magic.

In the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie, Sonic settled in with happily married couple Tom Wachowski (played by James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (played by Tika Sumpter) in the fictional city of Green Hills, Montana. Tom is the sheriff of Green Hills, while Maddie is a veterinarian. Tom and Maddie also have a (non-talking) Golden Retriever named Ozzy, who is a friend to Sonic.

In the beginning of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” Sonic (who acts and talks like a human teenager) has been “adopted” by Tom and Maddie. Sonic sees himself as a hero who is on a mission to fight crime, just like Tom. However, Sonic’s efforts often lead to a lot of unintended wreckage.

The movie’s opening scene shows Sonic in Seattle, as he interferes in an armored car robbery taking place at night. When Sonic shows up, the car driver, who’s been taken hostage in the back, asks Sonic: “Why don’t you let the police handle it?” Sonic replies confidently, “Because that’s not what heroes do!”

It leads to a high-speed chase and car crashes, but thankfully no fatalities. The robbers are apprehended, but the Seattle Police Department is annoyed that Sonic’s excessive eagerness to stop the robbery and catch the criminals resulted in thousands of dollars in damages. All of this wreckage makes the news, so Tom inevitably finds that Sonic snuck out that night and went all the way to Seattle to be involved in these crime-stopping shenanigans.

Tom takes Sonic on a fishing trip on a small boat, where he lectures Sonic about being too reckless in Sonic’s attempts to be a big hero. Sonic gets defensive and says, “You’re supposed to be my friend, not my dad.” Tom looks a little hurt and miffed, but he and Sonic agree to a compromise that Sonic should be more careful if he ever gets involved in any more crime busting.

Sonic won’t have long to wait before he gets involved in something bigger than stopping an armored car robbery. Back on the Mushroom Planet, Dr. Robotnik has been biding his time by experimenting with mushroom juice. He says out loud to himself, “I’ve been striving to make funghi a functional drink of choice, with limited success.”

Dr. Robotnik has kept one of Sonic’s quills, which he finds out has magical energy, so Dr. Robotnik uses the quill as a conduit that summons up a portal that goes to another dimension. Just as Dr. Robotnik declares that he’s about to leave this “shiitake planet” (pun intended by the filmmakers), Echidna soldiers fly through the portal to the Mushroom Planet. The soldiers are soon followed by their red-colored leader: Knuckles the Echinda, who has superstrength in his fists. Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) is the guardian of the Master Emerald, a gemstone that controls the Chaos Emeralds, but Knuckles has lost the Master Emerald and is searching for it.

When Knuckles tells Dr. Robotnik about his quest, the evil doctor seizes the opportunity to get Knuckles’ help in going back to Earth to get revenge on Sonic and take over Earth. When Knuckles sees that Dr. Robotnik has Sonic’s glowing quill, Knuckles asks Dr. Robotnik where he got the quill. Dr. Robotnik says that he got it from Earth. “I’d be happy to show you the way,” Dr. Robotnik sneers before he and Knuckles enter the portal to go to Earth.

Eventually, Dr. Robotnik and Knuckles decide to team up so that they can both get what they want: Knuckles wants the Master Emerald to restore power to his tribe, while Dr. Robotnik wants revenge on Sonic and to take over Earth. Of course, a double crosser such as Dr. Robotnik can’t completely be trusted, but Knuckles needs Dr. Robotnik’s vast knowledge of Earth, which is a completely unknown and foreign planet to Knuckles.

Meanwhile, Tom and Maddie are leaving Sonic at home to take a trip to Oahu, Hawaii, for the wedding of Maddie’s older sister Rachel (played by Natasha Rothwell), a single mother who clashed with Tom in the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. Rachel is marrying a man named Randall (played by Shemar Moore), who is completely devoted to her. Rachel’s daughter Jojo (played by Melody Nosipho Niemann), who’s about 11 or 12 years old, is the wedding’s ring bearer. Maddie is Rachel’s maid of honor.

Because of this trip, Sonic and his human family are not together as often as they were in the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie. It’s a refreshing departure that frees up Sonic to have some adventures on his own. While Maddie and Tom are in Oahu, Sonic is at home in Green Hills with the family dog Ozzy when Dr. Robotnik shows up at the door.

In “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” Sonic also meets a new ally coming from another universe: Miles “Tails” Prower (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey), an adolescent, two-tailed yellow fox who hero worships Sonic. Tails becomes a major asset in the battle against Knuckles and Dr. Robotnik.

Two supporting characters from the first “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie return in this sequel and continue their roles as being some of the comic relief: Stone (played by Lee Majdoub), a former government agent, is an obsessively loyal assistant to Dr. Robotnik. Wade Whipple (played by Adam Pally) is the deputy sheriff of Green Hills. Both are essentially buffoon characters. Stone is seen working as a barista at a place called the Mean Bean Coffee Co. when he ecstatically finds out that Dr. Robotnik has returned to Earth.

The “race against time quest” in this movie takes Sonic to various places, ranging from a dive bar filled with Russian-speaking, rough-and-tumble characters; a ski slope for an adrenaline-packed chase on snowboards; and Oahu for the wedding. Because “Sonic the Hedgehog” has a lot of comedy, you can bet that there will be mishaps that this wedding, where Rachel hilariously turns into a “bridezilla” when things go wrong.

“Sonic the Hedgehog 2” seems to be more mindful than the first “Sonic” movie that much of this movie franchises’ target audience consists of adults who remember when the “Sonic the Hedgehog” video games first became popular in the early 1990s. Therefore, this sequel has more pop-culture jokes that adults are more likely than children to understand. The wedding scenes are almost a spoof of wedding scenes in romantic comedies, while Rachel turning into a “bridezilla” will look familiar to anyone who knows about the reality series “Bridezillas.”

At one point in the movie, it’s mentioned that owls and echidnas have been fighting each other for centuries. Sonic then quips, “Like Vin Diesel and the Rock.” In another scene, Dr. Robotnik tells Knuckles of their shaky alliance: “You’re as useful to me now like a backstage pass to Limp Bizkit.” People who know about rock band Limp Bizkit’s peak popularity in the late 1990s/early 2000s are most likely to understand that joke. Carrey’s gleefully over-the-top performance as Dr. Robotnik is reminiscent of his rubber-faced, mugging-for-the-camera roles that made him a star in the 1990s.

Sometimes, sequels can be hindered by introducing too many new characters in the story. However, Knuckles is a welcome addition, since his character is one of the best things about “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” with Elba diving into the role with gusto. Knuckles is a pompous know-it-all who feels out of his element because he doesn’t know much about Earth. Much of the comedy about Knuckles is when his ignorance about Earth is showing, and he tries to hide his embarrassment with more ego posturing.

The character of Tails also brings some more personality to this movie franchise. Tails is the perfect complement to Sonic, who likes feeling as if he can mentor someone. Depending on your perspective, O’Shaughnessey’s voice makes Tails sound androgynous or like a boy whose voice hasn’t reach puberty yet. The movie has a mid-credits scene that shows another well-known character from the “Sonic the Hedgehog” video games will be introduced in the third “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie.

The pace of “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is very energetic without rushing the plot too much. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is a two-hour movie that could have edited out about 15 minutes, but the two-hour runtime will fly by pretty quickly because the movie doesn’t get too boring. This is not a movie with any big plot twists or major surprises, but it fulfills its purpose of being family-friendly entertainment that might pleasantly surprise viewers who normally don’t care about movies based on video games.

Paramount Pictures released “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” in U.S. cinemas on April 8, 2022. The movie will be released on digital, VOD and Paramount+ on May 24, 2022. “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” is set for release on 4K Ultra HD, Blu-ray and DVD on August 9, 2022.

Review: ‘Wonder Woman 1984,’ starring Gal Gadot, Chris Pine, Pedro Pascal and Kristen Wiig

December 24, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Wonder Woman 1984”

Directed by Patty Jenkins

Culture Representation: Taking place in 1984, primarily in Washington, D.C, plus other parts of the world, the superhero action flick “Wonder Woman 1984” has a predominantly white cast of characters (with some Latinos, African Americans and Asians) representing different classes of people.

Culture Clash: Diana Prince, also known as superhero Wonder Woman, battles against a power-hungry business mogul who wants to rule the world, while one of her female co-workers falls into the mogul’s seductive trap and becomes his ally.

Culture Audience: “Wonder Woman 1984″ will appeal primarily to people who like family-friendly, comic-book-based movies that blend action with social issues and goofy comedy.

Pedro Pascal in “Wonder Woman 1984” (Photo by Clay Enos/Warner Bros. Pictures & © DC Comics)

“Wonder Woman 1984” could have been subtitled “Be Careful What You Wish For, You Just Might Get It,” because by the end of the movie, this old adage has been pounded into viewers’ consciousness to the point of being almost numbing. “Wonder Woman 1984” is the sequel to the 2017 blockbuster “Wonder Woman,” which was a less bloated, less sociopolitical movie than “Wonder Woman 1984,” but the original “Wonder Woman” movie took itself more seriously as an action film. Both movies (based on DC Comics’ “Wonder Woman” series) were directed by Patty Jenkins, who did not write 2017’s “Wonder Woman,” but she co-wrote the “Wonder Woman 1984” screenplay with Geoff Johns and Dave Callaham.

The results in “Wonder Woman 1984” are mixed. On the one hand, the movie aims to be a crowd-pleaser appealing to various generations of people. In the first half of the movie, Wonder Woman has the type of fun-loving superhero action that’s almost cartoonish. In a chase scene that happens fairly early in the movie, Wonder Woman (played by Gal Gadot), also known as Diana Prince, thwarts a heist in a shopping mall by singlehandedly apprehending the four thieves who robbed a jewelry store in the mall. She gives a wink and a smile to some awestruck kids who witness this spectacle. There are also several campy moments in the movie with the character who ends up being the story’s chief villain.

But on the other hand, in the second half of the movie, there are some heavy-handed issues about the nuclear arms race, greed and political corruption that overwhelm the plot. And the plot goes a little bit off the rails because it involves people worldwide having to agree to undo a lot of things that already did significant damage. Not even Wonder Woman is that much of a superhuman political diplomat, but “Wonder Woman 1984” tries to bite off more than it can chew with this concept.

The movie’s total running time is a little too long, at two-and-a-half hours. The tone is very uneven, because “Wonder Woman 1984” has some problems balancing the comedic moments with the serious moments. And the visual effects are hit and miss. (Some of the human characters look very fake in CGI action scenes.) Despite the flaws in “Wonder Woman 1984,” it’s still a fairly enjoyable superhero movie, because of the convincing interactions between the characters and because it mostly succeeds as an entertaining story that holds people’s interest.

“Wonder Woman 1984” begins where “Wonder Woman” began: in her female-only Amazon homeland, the island nation of Themyscira, which is supposed to be a place that has secretly existed on Earth for eons. The actresses who portray the Amazons of Themyscira have a mishmash of European accents. A young Diana (played by Lilly Aspell), who’s about 9 or 10 years old, is seen in an intense athletic competition with adult Amazon warriors. There’s no explanation for why Diana is the only child in this competition, which involves several obstacle courses of running, riding horses and shooting arrows through giant circles placed on top of tall structures.

As a princess, Diana is expected to win for her team. But when she falls off of a horse and lags behind her competitors, she decides to take a shortcut to make up for lost time. She ends up finishing ahead of her competitors, but her mentor Antiope (played by Robin Wright), who’s also the competition’s judge, disqualifies Diana as the winner, because Diana cheated and therefore she’s “not ready to be a true winner.”

Diana’s queen mother Hippolyta (played by Connie Nielsen) comforts a disappointed Diana by telling her: “One day, you’ll become everything you dream of and more. And everything will be different. This world is not ready for all that you will do.” In case people don’t know about Wonder Woman already, she seems to be immortal, because as an adult, she’s able to live through several centuries and still look like she’s in her late 20s/early 30s.

The movie then fast-forwards to 1984 in Washington, D.C., where Diana is working at the Smithsonian Museum as a cultural anthropologist and archaeologist. She is grieving over the death of her American pilot boyfriend Steve Trevor (played by Chris Pine), who (spoiler alert) died during a heroic feat in the first “Wonder Woman” movie, which took place in 1918 during World War I. And now, Diana is moonlighting as Wonder Woman, who is only known to the public at this point as a mysterious crime fighter who’s recently been sighted in the D.C. area.

The four thieves who were apprehended by Wonder Woman in the shopping mall weren’t doing a run-of-the-mill theft in a jewelry store. The store had a hidden room with stolen treasure items that were being sold on the black market. One of the items stolen was a citrine, a classic stone used in fake gems throughout history.

A pointed citrine stone that was part of the stolen haul makes its way to the Smithsonian Museum, where the FBI has asked Smithsonian experts to help identify the origins of some of the stolen treasure. One of the Smithsonian experts enlisted for this task is Barbara Minerva (played by Kristen Wiig), a meek and socially awkward nerd who works in geology, gemology, lithology and cryptozoology.

Barbara is someone who is routinely ignored and/or disrespected by her work colleagues. Her co-workers barely acknowledge her presence when she greets them. Her supervisor Carol (played by Natasha Rothwell) doesn’t even remember interviewing Barbara, or even meeting Barbara, before she asks Barbara for her help with the FBI investigation.

The only person at the Smithsonian who treats Barbara like someone worthy of their social time is Diana, and the two women end up becoming work friends. Barbara and Diana meet when Diana helps Barbara pick some paperwork that Barbara accidentally dropped out of a briefcase on a lobby floor at work. Barbara is desperate for a friend, so she asks Diana to lunch, but Diana says she’s too busy.

However, Diana and Barbara end up in the same room with the stolen treasures in the FBI investigation. And the two women find out that they both have a shared passion for ancient artifacts. The citrine stone is not considered one of the more valuable items, in terms of monetary value. And during their conversation, it’s mentioned that the legend of the stone is that it can grant one wish to the person who holds the stone. Diana holds the stone and silently wishes for Steve to come back to life.

Diana and Barbara have dinner together that day. And over dinner, they talk about their lives. Barbara is a stereotypical middle-aged spinster who lives alone, has no kids and has no love life. The only cliché about this lifestyle that Barbara doesn’t have is a pet cat. But she actually does become a “cat lady” later on in the story.

When Barbara asks Diana if she’s ever been in love, Diana tells her that she used to be in love with an American pilot, who died. Diana doesn’t give any further details, but she makes it clear that she’s still heartbroken and not ready to move on to someone else. Barbara is very insecure about her looks and her prospects of finding love, but Diana tries to give Barbara a confidence boost throughout their conversation.

Diana compliments Barbara by telling her that she’s one of the most natural and funniest people she’s ever met. Barbara is surprised because she’s not used to hearing flattering remarks about herself. She tells Diana, “People think I’m weird. They avoid me and talk about me behind my back and think I don’t hear them.”

After this friendly dinner, Barbara is walking through a park by herself and gives her dinner leftovers to a homeless man. And soon afterwards, a middle-aged drunk and disheveled man (played by Shane Attwooll) accosts her and tries to get her interested in him. Barbara rebuffs his advances and he gets physically aggressive with her. It’s about to turn into a full-blown assault, but Diana comes to the rescue and pushes the man away with such force that he’s thrown to the ground and becomes temporarily incapacitated. Barbara thanks Diana for helping her, and this incident further strengthens their trust in each other and their budding friendship.

When Barbara goes back to her office, she sees the citrine stone and holds it. She says out loud, “I do know what I wish for: I wish to be like Diana: strong, sexy, cool, special.” The stone glows and there’s a slight wind that passes through the air. These visual effects are kind of cheesy, but they work.

Diana goes home and finds out that Steve is there and he has been reincarnated in the body of an unnamed handsome man (played by Kristoffer Polaha), who seems to have no idea that his body is now inhabited by someone who died in 1918. The rest of the world sees the unnamed man as his actual physical self, but Diana only sees Steve when she looks at the man. And that explains why actor Pine is shown as Steve during this reincarnation. (It’s not a spoiler, since Steve’s return was already shown in the trailer for “Wonder Woman 1984.”)

Meanwhile, there’s a slick and sleazy business mogul named Maxwell “Max” Lord (played by Pedro Pascal) who’s all over TV with commercials for his company Black Gold Cooperative, which is described as “the first oil company by the people, for the people.” It should come as no surprise that this company and this mogul are not at all what they want people to think they are.

Maxwell’s real last name is Lorenzano, and its later revealed that he’s an ambitious Latino immigrant who changed his last name and appearance (he dyed his hair blonde) to appear more Anglo. He’s also a divorced father who has weekend visitations with his son Alistair (played by Lucian Perez), who’s about 7 or 8 years old. Maxwell is shown to be a very neglectful father, and his bad parenting is used as a “pull at your heartstrings” plot device in several scenes in the movie.

Maxwell finds out that the citrine stone is at the Smithsonian Museum. And so, he shows up at the museum one day, under the pretense of wanting to possibly donate millions of dollars to the department that has the stone. Barbara is immediately charmed by Maxwell’s flirtatious manner, while Diana is coolly skeptical.

Maxwell can see that Barbara is a lonely woman who’s desperate for attention, so he continues to flirt with her and makes it clear that he wants to date her. People who aren’t familiar with the “Wonder Woman” comic books can still easily figure out where the storyline is going to go with Barbara, because it’s similar to the more famous Catwoman story arc in DC Comics’ “Batman” series. And the trailer for “Wonder Woman 1984” already revealed the result of Barbara’s metamorphosis when there’s a showdown between her and Wonder Woman.

Not all of the action takes place in Washington, D.C., because there’s a subplot that takes Maxwell, Steve and Diana/Wonder Woman to Egypt, where an oil baron named Emir Said Bin Abydos (played by Amr Waked) has a pivotal role in the story. There are also many scenes that are supposed to take place simultaneously in different areas of the world, during the last third of the movie when the plot becomes a bit of a mess. “Wonder Woman 1984” falters when it becomes a little too much of a political statement about the nuclear arms race in the 1980s. The movie redeems itself when it focuses more on human interactions that are more relatable to everyday people.

The romance between Diana and Steve picks up right where it left off, but in “Wonder Woman 1984,” it’s more playful and amusing than it was in “Wonder Woman.” Steve’s culture shock of living in 1984 is used for great comical effect, as he marvels at 1984 fashion and other things that didn’t exist in 1918, such as escalators, breakdancing and computer-controlled planes. And the rampant materialism and capitalism that defined the 1980s in the United States are shown in not-so-subtle ways throughout the movie, as exemplified in everything from crowded shopping malls to the greedy villain Maxwell Lord.

Fans of Wonder Woman in the DC Comics, the 1970s movie series and as part of the DC Extended Universe will find plenty of things to like about “Wonder Woman 1984.” There are references that stay true to Wonder Woman canon, with a few tweaks here and there. (For example, in the comic books, Barbara Minerva is British, not American.)

And there’s a mention of Asteria, a legendary Amazon from Themyscira who was the first owner of the Golden Eagle armor that Wonder Woman wears in “Wonder Woman 1984.” It’s explained in the movie that Asteria sacrificed herself by wearing the armor while holding off the men who invaded Themyscira. Look for a cameo during the movie’s end credits that will delight a lot of Wonder Woman fans.

Gadot’s portrayal of Wonder Woman/Diana Prince can sometimes be a little wooden, but her best moments in the film are in expressing Diana’s grief over the death of Steve. At times, she looks more like a model playing dress-up as Wonder Woman rather than a bona fide action hero, but the visual effects go a long way in adding excitement to the action scenes. Gadot and Pine’s chemistry together isn’t very sexy or passionate, but it is fairly believable in their portrayal of two people who respect each other and were friends before they became lovers.

And for someone who died in 1918 (when women in the U.S. didn’t even have the right to vote), Steve is extremely enlightened in how quickly he adapts to feminist ideals of gender equality. He doesn’t feel threatened or act offended in situations where Diana/Wonder Woman has more abilities and greater strength than he does. At the same time, he doesn’t shrink from expressing his masculinity and showing his talent and skills.

It should come as no surprise that Steve gets to fly a modern plane. One of the best visual scenes in the film is when Steve and Diana fly in an invisible plane through a stunning display of Fourth of July fireworks. Nitpicky viewers will have to assume that the plane has an invisible shield to protect it from the firework explosions.

Because “Wonder Woman 1984” takes quite a bit of time developing the dramatic storylines for Barbara and Maxwell, there might not be as much action in the movie as some people might expect. Most of the suspense comes in the last third of the movie. To get to that point, viewers have to sit through seeing Maxwell become increasingly unhinged in an over-the-top way that often veers into being unintentionally comical.

Pascal’s portrayal of Maxwell as the chief villain is done in broad, over-the-top strokes. Viewers know from the beginning that he’s corrupt, and there’s almost no humanity in this character for most of the movie as he gets more and more maniacal. Wiig fares much better with her portrayal of the emotionally wounded and ultimately misguided Barbara. Her character can be viewed as a symbol of the negative effects of “silent bullying”: when people are treated as outcasts not by insults in their face but by being shunned and ignored.

It’s clear that the filmmakers of “Wonder Woman 1984,” just like the 2019 film “Joker,” wanted to have something more to say about society’s problems and international politics instead of being just another movie based on comic book characters. However, unlike “Joker,” which had an unrelenting but consistent dark and depressing tone, the tone of “Wonder Woman 1984” jumps over the place—and that inconsistency lowers the quality of the movie. Sometimes there’s nothing wrong with being a lighthearted superhero movie instead of trying to tackle heavy social issues. And sometimes “saving the world” in a superhero movie doesn’t mean you have to get bogged down in international politics over weapons of mass destruction.

“Wonder Woman 1984” was released in cinemas in various countries outside the U.S. on December 16, 2020. The movie’s U.S. release date in cinemas and on HBO Max is December 25, 2020. In the United Kingdom, “Wonder Woman 1984” is set for a VOD release on January 13, 2021.

Review: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog,’ starring James Marsden and Jim Carrey

February 15, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Sonic the Hedgehog”

Directed by Jeff Fowler

Culture Representation: Set primarily in Montana and in San Francisco, the predominantly white cast of human characters in “Sonic the Hedgehog” (based on the Sega video game) mostly represent people who work in law enforcement or work for the government.

Culture Clash: An alien blue male hedgehog named Sonic that can travel at the freakishly fast pace of the speed of light tries to evade capture by the U.S. government, which wants to do experiments on him to find out why he has this special power.

Culture Audience: “Sonic the Hedgehog” will appeal primarily to fans of the video-game franchise and people who like children-oriented entertainment that has a formulaic and predictable story.

Jim Carrey in "Sonic the Hedgehog" (Photo by Doane Gregory) — Jim Carrey in “Sonic the Hedgehog” (Photo by Doane Gregory)

“Sonic the Hedgehog” is exactly the mediocre movie for kids that you would expect it to be. Based on the Sega video-game franchise whose popularity peaked in the 1990s, this is the first movie about Sonic the Hedgehog, a wisecracking blue hedgehog that comes from another planet and has the power to travel at the speed of light. In the movie (which combines live-action with animation), Sonic is an animated character voiced by Ben Schwartz, the comedian/actor who’s best known for playing Jean-Ralphio Saperstein on the NBC 2009-2015 sitcom “Parks and Recreation.”

Movies that are based on video games tend to be average-to-bad. Your brain will thank you if you never see “Super Mario Bros.,” “Assassin’s Creed,” “Warcraft” or most of the “Resident Evil” movies. And with the bar set very, very low for quality, “Sonic the Hedgehog” does little to raise that bar and instead rushes right under that bar with a flimsy story that’s predictable from beginning to end.

“Sonic the Hedgehog” is the first feature film for director Jeff Fowler, whose only previous movie-directing experience is a short film. The “Sonic the Hedgehog” screenplay was written by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller, whose previous writing experience has been in mostly TV and short films. That lack of feature-film experience shows, because the entire movie looks like it could’ve been a half-hour cartoon episode, but it’s instead stretched into a feature-length film with a thin plot and the budget of a major movie studio.

The beginning of the movie shows Sonic’s childhood in another dimension, where he was raised by a female guardian owl called Longclaw (voiced by Donna Jay Fulks). An apocalyptic disaster strikes their world, and Longclaw saves Sonic by opening up a portal to Earth. Longclaw gives Sonic a bag of magical gold rings, and tells Sonic that he has to live on Earth from now on, and the only way to stay safe is to stay hidden.

The gold rings will open an emergency portal to a deserted planet that has nothing but a terrain of planted mushrooms. Longclaw tells Sonic that he should go to this planet only as a last resort if things on Earth get too dangerous. For now, Earth is a better alternative, since at least Sonic won’t be alone on Earth.

Sonic ends up secretly living in a cave in the fictional small town of Green Hills, Montana. His presence is undetected except for an eccentric old man named Crazy Carl (played by Frank C. Turner), who’s seen Sonic and has been telling the townspeople that there’s a “blue devil” that lives in the town. He’s even drawn a picture of the “blue devil” and it looks a lot like Sonic. Naturally, the townspeople think Crazy Carl has fabricated the whole story, and they don’t take him seriously.

Meanwhile, Sonic (who tends to only come out at night) has been secretly spying on a married couple in town—police officer Tom Wachowski (played by James Marsden) and his veterinarian wife Maddie Wachowski (played by Tika Sumpter)—who have no kids and live a comfortable and happy life with their Golden Retriever dog. Sonic yearns to be a part of their family, but he can’t risk exposing himself because he knows that he will be captured and put into some kind of custody.

Tom is feeling restless and bored in Green Hills—his job consists primarily of monitoring a deserted road to try and catch speeding drivers—so he’s applied for and gotten a job at the San Francisco Police Department. An exciting day for him as a Green Hills Police Officer is when he sees a turtle on the road. One of Tom’s co-workers is a dim-witted cop named Wade (played by Adam Pally), whose only purpose in this movie is to both annoy Tom and alleviate some of Tom’s boredom.

One day, as Tom is watching the speed monitor in his police car, he notices a blue blur go by in a lightning flash, and the speed monitor has lit up to show that something passed by that was traveling at hundreds of miles per hour. However, Tom can’t see anything that he could investigate, so he assumes it was a malfunction of the speed monitor.

Sonic has the personality and energy of a mischievous teenager, so it isn’t long before the inevitable happens: Sonic makes his presence known. One night, while speeding, he causes an electrical light storm that results in a massive power outage in several states. The power is eventually restored, but the U.S. government gets involved to investigate what caused the blackout.

Meanwhile, Sonic realizes the disaster he has caused and fears that the authorities will catch him, so he leaves his home cave and is hiding in a shed in Tom’s backyard. Sonic has taken the bag of rings and opened the portal to try and hide out on the mushroom planet, when Tom sees Sonic and shoots him with a tranquilizer gun. In a panic, Sonic drops the bag of rings in the portal, but one ring is left behind.

Tom is also frightened by this strange creature, so he takes Sonic into his house, the tranquilizer wears off, and he’s shocked to see that it’s a talking hedgehog. Sonic tells Tom that he caused the power outage and begs Tom not turn him over to the authorities. Tom’s wife Maddie isn’t at home because she’s gone ahead to San Francisco to look for their new home and is temporarily staying with her sister Rachel (played by Natasha Rothwell), who’s a single mother to an elementary-school-aged daughter.

Meanwhile, the U.S. government has reluctantly enlisted the help of a genius scientist named Dr. Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey), who’s apparently the only person they know who they think can solve the mystery of the power outage. Dr. Robotnik has a history of being a mentally unstable egomaniac, so some of the government officials don’t like the idea that Robotnik has been brought on board to help them.

But they’re overruled, and Robotnik proceeds to take over the investigation, with a loyal and long-suffering henchman named Agent Stone (played by Lee Majdoub) as Robotnik’s right-hand man. Robotnik clashes with U.S. Army Major Bennington (played by Neal McDonough), who also wants to be the hero who gets credit for this mission. But, of course, Robotnik isn’t really a hero, since he has an ulterior motive to find the source of the problem, use it to gain more power, and then take over the world.

Through some of his high-tech inventions, Robotnik is able to track the energy source of the power outage to Tom’s home, where Robotnik immediately goes to investigate further. Tom reluctantly lets Robotnik into his home while Sonic tries to hide. Of course, Robotnik sees Sonic, and then tries and fails to capture him. Tom and Sonic escape, and they become fugitives of the law, with not only Robotnik after them but also various branches of the U.S. military. Robotnik also uses an army of flying drones to help track down the fugitives.

The rest of the movie is basically one long chase, as Tom and Sonic take a road trip to San Francisco, where Sonic figures that he can use the Transamerica Pyramid as a signal to open the portal again and retrieve his bag of magical rings. Even with this cartoonish and silly plot, the visual effects in “Sonic the Hedgehog” don’t make up for it, because the visuals aren’t very impressive, by today’s movie standards. This is the type of movie that would look dazzling back in the 1990s, but not now. And it’s not the kind of movie that someone needs to see in a movie theater.

As the chief villain, Carrey is clearly having a lot of fun in his campy Dr. Robotnik role, but the rest of the human characters are so basic and by-the-numbers that there really isn’t much to the movie except to see the inevitable showdown between Dr. Robotnik and the duo of Sonic and Tom. Children younger than the age of 10 will probably enjoy “Sonic the Hedgehog” the most, but everyone else will have to sit through the same recycled tropes that have been seen many times before in TV cartoons over the years.

Paramount Pictures released “Sonic the Hedgehog” in U.S. cinemas on February 14, 2020.

Review: ‘Like a Boss,’ starring Tiffany Haddish, Rose Byrne and Salma Hayek

January 10, 2020

by Carla Hay

“Like a Boss”

Directed by Miguel Arteta

Culture Representation: Taking place in Atlanta and centered on the beauty industry, the comedy “Like a Boss” has a racially diverse cast that includes representation of white people, African Americans, Latinos and Asians in the middle and upper classes.

Culture Clash: Pandering to the worst stereotypes of women, the plot of “Like a Boss” is basically about a corporate catfight.

Culture Audience: “Like a Boss” will appeal primarily to people who like mindless comedies that sink to low and crude levels.

Tiffany Haddish, Salma Hayek and Rose Byrne in “Like a Boss” (Photo by Eli Joshua Ade/Paramount Pictures)

If you were someone who sat through the excruciatingly dumb trailer of “Like a Boss” as it played during previews of a movie you saw in a theater, you might have seen from the repulsed reactions of people in the audience that this movie was not only a turn-off but it was also going to be a flop. “Like a Boss” tries to pass itself off as a raunchy feminist film, but in the end, the movie (written and directed by men) treats women like trash by presenting them as clueless about business and being at their cruelest to other women. “Like a Boss” director Miguel Arteta and screenwriters Adam Cole-Kelly and Sam Pitman should be embarrassed about putting this crap into the world, because it shows how inept they are at making a female-centric comedy.

The plot centers on entrepreneurs Mel Paige (played by Rose Byrne) and Mia Carter (played by Tiffany Haddish), two best friends since childhood who have an Atlanta store that sells their own brand of beauty products called M&M. Mel handles the financial matters of the business, while Mia handles the creative aspects. On the surface, things seem to be going well, but Mel is hiding a secret that she eventually confesses to Mia: their company is $493,000 in debt. (This isn’t a spoiler, since the confession is in the movie’s trailers. And if you’ve seen the trailers, you’ve basically seen what could be called the best parts of this bad movie.) It doesn’t help the company’s finances that Mia likes to give deep discounts to customers for random reasons.

However, M&M is making enough sales to attract the attention of corporate shark Claire Luna (played by Salma Hayek), the owner of the successful beauty corporation Ovieda that’s supposed to be a market leader. The writers of this movie clearly don’t know that the biggest U.S.-based beauty companies in America are actually headquartered in New York or Los Angeles, but maybe the filmmakers got financial incentives from Atlanta to have this cheap-looking movie take place there.

Claire swoops in to make an offer to buy 51% of M&M and pay off all the company’s debts. Mel wants to do the deal, but Mia is reluctant because it would break Mel and Mia’s pact to never sell the business. Mia, who is more street-smart than Mel, also senses that Claire can’t be trusted. However, Mel is desperate to erase the company’s debts, and argues with Mia that the sale would be good for the company.

After Claire observes the tension that the proposed deal is causing between the two longtime friends, Claire offers to buy 49% of the company on the condition that if either Mel or Mia leaves the company, Claire will get 51% ownership of the business. Of course, in a movie as stupid and unrealistic as this one, not only do Mel and Mia cave in to Claire’s demands that they make their decision in one day, but they also sign the deal in Claire’s office without any attorneys involved.

As a further insult to women, the screenwriters came up with the catty motivation that Claire targeted Mel and Mia for a takeover because she’s jealous of their close friendship and wants the deal to break up Mel and Mia. It turns out that Claire started Ovieda with her longtime best friend, whom Claire ended up firing because Claire is basically a greedy you-know-what. Claire wants to split up Mel and Mia because Claire failed at working with her best friend, so Claire can’t stand to see two female best friends work well together as business partners. In other words, Claire isn’t thinking like a real business person but is thinking like a petty high schooler. If this corporate raider were a man, there’s no way the filmmakers would come up with this moronic motivation to take over a company.

But the cattiness doesn’t stop there in “Like a Boss.” Mel and Mia have a circle of bourgeois “frenemies”—Kim, Jill and Angela (played by Jessica St. Clair, Natasha Rothwell and Ari Graynor)—mostly married mothers who apparently look down on the unmarried and childless Mel and Mia, who still live like college students. Mel and Mia are roommates who regularly smoke pot and have meaningless flings with boy toys. Meanwhile, Mel and Mia are convinced that their own lifestyles are better than their domesticated friends because Mel and Mia don’t have the responsibilities of husbands and children. Mel and Mia and their “Real Housewives”-type friends spend almost all of their scenes together trying to outdo and impress each other instead of genuinely having fun together as real friends do.

There’s also an unnecessary subplot where Claire pits Mia and Mel against two sexist men named Greg (played by Ryan Hansen) and Ron (played by Jimmy O. Yang), who have their own beauty company that’s competing with M&M for the millions being offered by Claire in the acquisition deal. Greg and Ron are portrayed as dorks who think they’re “woke,” but they’re really dismissive of their customers’ needs. They see beauty products as a way to exploit customers’ insecurities about their looks instead of enhancing natural beauty, and so their company uses a lot of cringeworthy marketing techniques that reflect this condescending attitude.

“Like a Boss” is polluted with some not-very-funny slapstick moments and an annoying fixation on telling jokes about women’s private parts every 10 minutes. There are cheesy Lifetime movies that are better than “Like a Boss,” which certainly isn’t worth spending any money to see. Byrne is capable of doing better work in comedies (as evidenced by “Bridesmaids” and “Neighbors”), but in “Like a Boss,” her Mel character is such a one-dimensional, uptight neurotic that there’s no room for any nuanced complexities.

Haddish continues to put herself in Typecast Hell as the foul-mouthed, quick-tempered, loud caricature that she keeps doing in every movie she’s done since her breakout in 2017’s “Girls Trip,” which is still her best film. Even though her Mia character in “Like a Boss” is college-educated, Mia is an unsophisticated mess. Unfortunately, there are many people in this world who have little or no contact with black women, and they get their ideas and stereotypes of black women from what they see on screen. Fortunately, we have versatile and intelligent actresses like Viola Davis, Regina King and Lupita Nyong’o to offset the damaging, negative stereotypes of black women that Haddish continues to perpetuate in her choice of roles.

“Like a Boss” also has some Hispanic racial stereotyping, since Claire makes Mel and Mia do some salsa-like dance moves with her in the office while Mexican music suddenly plays in the background. (Hayek is Mexican, in case you didn’t know.) There’s also a running gag that Claire can’t speak proper English because she’s constantly mispronouncing and fabricating English words. The not-so-subtle message the filmmakers are conveying is that Latino immigrants who are successful in American business still aren’t smart enough to master the English language. Just because “Like a Boss” director Arteta is also Latino doesn’t excuse this awful stereotyping.

Meanwhile, Hayek and Billy Porter (who plays the sassy Barrett, an openly gay employee of Mel and Mia) have the talent to be doing Oscar-caliber work. Instead, they are slumming it in this garbage movie. Supporting characters that could have been interesting are instead poorly written knock-offs that have been seen countless times before in other movies. Jennifer Coolidge plays the ditzy blonde (Sydney, an employee of Mel and Mia), while Karan Soni plays the villain’s smarmy lackey (Josh, who is Claire’s assistant).

“Like a Boss” is supposed to be a comedy about female empowerment in corporate America, but instead this movie has a very ghetto, misogynistic mindset that belongs in the same trash pile as a bunch of toxic and outdated cosmetics products.

Paramount Pictures released “Like a Boss” in U.S. cinemas on January 10, 2020.