Perhaps a cynical view, but there are very few instances, if any, of the terms “video game” and “film” going well together – as the past has shown us on countless occasions, mainstream attempts to bring beloved gaming franchises to the screen have rarely ever been successful, with the majority of adaptations being middling at best, atrocious at worst. The recent cinematic manifestation of Sonic the Hedgehog, one of the most iconic cultural characters in recent history was mercifully not as bad as most anticipating it to be, exceeding the historically-low expectations the general public seemed to have regarding its success. Naturally, this isn’t a film that necessarily breaks any boundaries, nor defies the conventions of the genre (sometimes being far too restricted within the confines of what a video game adaptation is apparently supposed to do, something that a quarter century of producing these films haven’t seemed to get right quite), and it is overrun with flaws, many of which come down to the poor choices made at the highest level – however, there’s enough heart and enthusiasim that went into the making of Sonic the Hedgehog to overcome some of the more frustrating problems that plague the film – while not being anything more than just a bit of diverting entertainment, this film is perfectly adequate in the way that I feel we should hope all video game adaptations should strive to be – it doesn’t venture too far out of its comfort zone, but rather understands its limitations, and is willing to surrender to the fact that this is never going to be anything more than family-friendly fun, which is more than enough to qualify this as a surprisingly decent entry into a long culture of poor adaptations.

From the outset, it’s important to note that most significant flaw of this film, as it allows us to not only comment on why it didn’t succeed as well as it could have, but also as a way of demonstrating the areas in which it overcame these issues, becoming something actually quite decent, considering what it had to work with. The script for Sonic the Hedgehog is, to be perfectly blunt, one of the most atrocious in recent memory. Screenwriters  Pat Casey and Josh Miller, who are certainly not without experience, having worked in the industry for over a decade, seemed to have either taken a crash-course in writing a screenplay or fed dozens of cliched scripts into a programme that generated its own version of what a compelling action-comedy should be. Filled to the brim with the most ridiculous cliches, to the point where I actually began to wonder if Sonic the Hedgehog was a parody of this kind of film, with every trite convention and over-worn concept placed somewhere throughout it, and in a way where those making it genuinely seemed to believe they were the first to come up with these ideas. Whether starting with a freeze-frame of the climactic final battle, and the voice-over clearly claiming that “I know what you’re thinking”, or the delivery of “this little alien knows more about being a human than you ever will, Dr Robotnik”, whatever Casey and Miller were doing when writing this film was truly abominable, and points towards a pair of screenwriters who put in the minimum effort, and hoping for a major reward, which just doesn’t manifest into anything even remotely close to a compelling script. It’s a harsh criticism (especially because nothing about the screenplay of Sonic the Hedgehog is necessarily offensive enough to earn such disdain), but every failure present in the film can be attributed to the poor writing, which both serves to weaken the overall impact, but also strengthen certain more successful qualities of the film as a whole.

Surprisingly, despite a relatively bad script, Sonic the Hedgehog employs a decent ensemble, all of which give strong performances, regardless of the fact that they’re playing nothing than poorly-formed archetyped. Ben Schwartz is a decent choice to voice the titular character, bringing both the upbeat humour and chaotic energy needed to play Sonic. James Marsden, an actor who has been underappreciated for far too long, once again is given the thankless role of being the live-action companion to an animated character, but at least is able to share some of the burden with Tika Sumpter, another underrated actress who is given the opportunity to stake her claim as someone whose career is on the verge of a major breakthrough. Neither Marsden nor Sumpter necessarily deserved to be in this film – its always sobering when we realize that actors in this kind of film normally have to act across from a blank space, which is to be filled in during post-production – so the fact that both of them were able to derive decent performances despite being at the disadvantage of acting across from essentially nothing, is worthy of at least some praise, even if these aren’t a pair of performances that are anything close to special or revolutionary. They’re solid additions to a film that didn’t require much from these characters, other than being likeable and endearing enough to be taken seriously, but also playful to the point where we aren’t ever alienated by them. They’re standard protagonists without any majorly impressive qualities, which is perfectly appropriate for a film like this, which doesn’t mind how we perceive these characters as long as we know they’re on the right side – boring, but inoffensive.

Naturally, the reason many people have taken the plunge and surrendered themselves over to Sonic the Hedgehog isn’t only because of the beloved subject matter, but also the presence of Jim Carrey, making a sporadic film appearance for the first time in a few years. Sonic the Hedgehog doesn’t give Carrey anything to do other than allowing him the space to run rampant, playing off his naturally manic energy with the intensity we all adore him for. As the villain of the story, he is given the most interesting character, and one that perfectly suits his tendencies to take bolder risks in the roles he plays – not necessarily challenging in the traditional way, and perhaps just the convergence of the tics and traits that audiences either adore or abhor, Dr Robotnik is, for all intents and purposes, a role Carrey was always going to excel at playing, and while it may not reach the same heights, it at the very least afforded us the chance to see glimpses of his talent for playing villains, which made the likes of The Cable Guy and Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events so entertaining. Carrey is an actor that thrives equally in dramatic roles as he does in lighter fare, so to have him give another incredibly exuberant, outrageous performance that may not need him to venture too deep into his arsenal of talents, but rather have some fun and play the kind of role that made him such an endearing presence in the first place is perhaps the biggest merit of Sonic the Hedgehog, a film that is undeniably slightly below Carrey’s talents, but is nonetheless an entertaining example of exactly why he is such a wonderfully gifted actor, whose comedic skills are just as respected as his more serious skills – if there’s one thing this film proved, its that we should appreciate Carrey in every form he takes, as he consistently proves himself to be worthy of all the attention he receives, regardless of the role.

There’s one important lesson that comes out of Sonic the Hedgehog – don’t take it too seriously. This is not a film designed to change the course of cinema, nor even one that intends to be particularly memorable. Rather, it attempts to just be a lot of fun, and it certainly succeeds for the most part – where most films would falter and become quite gaudy or needlessly convoluted in their efforts to be unique, this one just rests assured that it is at least going to give the audience a few moments of distraction, enough to captivate us and keep us entertained for the (mercifully short) duration in which we’re under the endearing command of the titular character and his adventures. It doesn’t strive to be anything more than it was (even if there were many ways in which this film could’ve been improved, starting with the story actually taking some risks in how it works with the material it was given), and while it may be somewhat uninspiring or needlessly predictable, Sonic the Hedgehog is mediocre in the best way possible – it offers us the chance to simply escape, and it gives the innumerable fans who grew up with the character the chance to see him realized on screen in a way that adheres to the qualities that made the games so captivating all those decades ago. Sonic the Hedgehog may rely on nostalgia to distract from some of its bigger problems, but the final product is an appropriate tribute for a franchise that was inevitably going to get the big-screen treatment, so we should be thankful that the eventual adaptation was as entertaining as it was, especially considering how it deviates from a long line of abominable video game films. It’s not unique, but it’s serviceable and occasionally even heartfelt, which ultimately makes an enormous difference in a film like this.