The decision to cast Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik was widely criticized. Suffice to say most of those critics have now been left to eat their words.
As soon as the news breaks that a popular video game franchise is being adapted for the big screen, fans of the franchise begin to ponder who would be best to play the various parts. Truth be told, most fans will have already had some idea in their heads of who they’d like to see try and bring their favorite video game characters to life in Hollywood.
In terms of Sonic the Hedgehog, there wasn’t really much thinking to do. With little-to-nothing to go by in terms of the movie’s plot, there was no telling which characters would make the cut. Plus, Sonic and whoever else made it (turns out no one from his circle of friends other than Tails) would only need a voice since they wouldn’t be played by actual actors. Although Ben Schwartz in a Sonic costume might have been preferable to that original design.
The only character from the Sonic universe who needed to be brought to life for the movie was Dr. Robotnik, and Paramount went big in terms of Eggman’s casting. One of the first things revealed about the movie was that Jim Carrey would be playing Sega’s most notorious villain. Since Eggman is big and round, while Carrey is tall and thin, that decision was widely criticized.
Before Sonic hit theaters and fans realized it was a major hit, Carrey admitted he would love to return for a sequel and portray Robotnik again. After seeing his performance as Eggman, we very much second that. Carrey dug deep into his repertoire of manic performances in movies such as The Mask and Ace Ventura and brought it to the surface for the first time in a long time.
Robotnik started the movie as an eccentric scientist, but as his pursuit of Sonic intensified, Jim really dialed up the Carrey. The last we see of Eggman is when he is shaving his head and styling his mustache to look much more like the Robotnik we know and loathe. We would love to see where else Carrey can go with the character now that he has gone full-Eggman, and sincerely hope that if there is a sequel, he is somehow rescued from the Mushroom Planet so he can be a part of it.
