I’m not a Sonic fan but when I saw the trailers for the electric hedgehog’s recent opus, I knew I had to see it. It looked terrible but in a crazy and entertaining way. After seeing the final product I can confirm that Sonic the Hedgehog is terrible but unfortunately not in the way I was expecting.

After living on Earth in total secrecy for years, Sonic reveals himself to the world, befriending a cop called Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) and attracting the deadly attention of evil military scientist Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey).

The Characters and Plot

The characters are so poorly written they’re basically vehicles to navigate the audience through the plot. Sonic is your stereotypical mythic hero like Neo or Harry Potter. He’s an orphan, a misfit and has talents that make him unique and enviable to those around him. The only arc he undergoes is, essentially, a search for identity. Being the only one of his kind on an alien planet, he’s lonely and aches for connection. I’m not saying this kind of character can’t work but in today’s world when it’s been done so many times, it needs a new context and interpretation to be fresh and engaging. Despite his look and personality, Sonic just ends up as another addition to the long list of bland forgettable heroes.

The other characters aren’t that different. Tom Wachowski is a naïve and likable supporting character who’s on his own search for identity. Doctor Robotnik, while played beautifully by Jim Carrey, is your cliché narcissistic evil genius.

The plot adopts the structure of a road movie in that it follows Sonic and Tom travelling across to country to escape Robotnik’s pursuit. It’s as compelling as the characters that take part in it. The tone it’s all presented in however, got me thinking.

The Tone

While Sonic the Hedgehog tries and fails at drama, its attempt at comedy is interesting. Sonic narrates most of the film, providing witty commentary and observations. There were times I thought that maybe the film was aware of its sloppy, cliché plot and characters and that perhaps Sonic’s narration was its way of showing its awareness of it and satirising it like Deadpool.

This theory made me view the characters and premise in a very different way. Sonic the Hedgehog reminded me a lot of kids films from the late 90s’ and early 2000s, films like Space Jam and the Scooby-Doo films. Is Sonic the Hedgehog a satire or homage to these poorly written but nostalgic films? Jim Carrey’s inclusion adds strength to the theory given that he was in many films from the era.

Alas, the abundance of drama and cringy pop-culture referencing comedy proves the contrary. Sonic the Hedgehog had a tiny bit of potential to be something special, a tiny bit of potential that I examined so much that I was fooled into thinking that the film was something different from what it was. Boring, occasionally entertaining but mostly boring.

If you’re a Sonic fan you’re going to see it anyway and will probably get more out of it than me. If you’re not a Sonic fan, you like 90s’ Jim Carrey and have nostalgia for 90s’ and early 2000s’ kids’ films, check it out but only as a last option. Otherwise, avoid.

I give Sonic the Hedgehog a dull 4 out of 10.