SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (PG)
★★★☆☆
IN THE early 1990s, I bade farewell to my teenage years with the controller of a Sega Mega Drive video game console nestled in my hands, guiding a lightning-quick blue hedgehog around loop-the-loop obstacle courses in search of glittering gold rings.
Sonic The Hedgehog was my sweet addiction through university and temporarily drove a wedge between me and Nintendo’s trusty plumber Mario.
A heady whiff of nostalgia permeates director Jeff Fowler’s origin story, which boldly realises the anthropomorphic spiny mammal in a real-world setting using digital trickery and a jocular vocal performance from Ben Schwartz.
Unlike so many beloved video game-tolamentable film adaptations – Double Dragon, Mortal Kombat, Super Mario Bros, Street Fighter starring JeanClaude Van Damme and Kylie Minogue – this is rambunctious fun.
Sonic (Schwartz) is raised by owl protector Longclaw (Donna Jay Fulks). The electric blue hero comes under attack and escapes through a spinning portal to the leafy glades of Green Hills in Montana, where the Wachowski family has protected locals for more than 50 years.
Tom Wachowski (James Marsden) is a town cop, who is eyeing a move to San Francisco with veterinarian wife Maddie (Tika Sumpter).
Their plans are put on hold when Sonic breaks into the couple’s home to escape military consultant Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey).
Tom agrees to accompany the fugitive furball on a harebrained odyssey to open a portal to a fungifestooned planet, where Sonic will be safe from Robotnik and his weaponised drones.
Sonic The Hedgehog is a pleasing diversion that harks back to the video games and delivers turbo-charged action sequences.
Schwartz invests the title character with wisecracking attitude as a comic foil for Marsden’s beleaguered sheriff.
As the film’s hi-tech antagonist, Carrey is a scene-stealing delight, returning to the rubberfaced theatrics of his Ace Ventura and The Mask heyday.
Fowler conceals two scenes in the end credits to bait a sequel.
Game over, but certainly not out.