Sonic the Hedgehog

Based on the long-running video game, Sonic the Hedgehog follows the title character as he arrives on earth and is soon pursued by a nefarious figure called Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey). It’s worth noting, ultimately, that Sonic the Hedgehog fares surprisingly well in its opening stretch, as filmmaker Jeff Fowler delivers a bright, briskly-paced adventure that benefits substantially from an affable assortment of characters – with the computer-generated protagonist’s appealing presence certainly matched by the strong work of its various human costars. (James Marsden is typically charismatic as Sonic’s human compatriot, while Carrey’s gleefully over-the-top work remains a minor highlight throughout.) There’s little doubt, though, that Sonic the Hedgehog, perhaps inevitably, segues into a hit-and-miss midsection that’s increasingly more miss than hit, as Fowler, working from Pat Casey and Josh Miller’s script, places a growing emphasis on mostly uninvolving action set-pieces and compounds the hands-off feel with an aggressively frenetic (and entirely anticlimactic) finale – which does, in the end, cement the picture’s place as just another generic, lowest-common-denominator, family-friendly waste of time.

** out of ****