Sonic The Hedgehog 3

After the Paramount logo (the stars replaced by gold rings flying towards the iconic mountain) and the Sega ident, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 rather ironically segues to a large credit for Neal Moritz’s production company, ‘Original Film’. It’s not very often a production banner throws unintentional shade on the film that follows, but there is very little that is novel in Sonic 3’s subsequent 109 minutes. Director Jeff Fowler’s inoffensive, all-too-familiar third adventure for the Blue Blur is probably the pick of the bunch, but this is still the kind of low-hanging fruit — endless quipping, bland moralising, dance routines — meted out by every bog-standard animated kids’ flick since the turn of the century.

The big new element here is the introduction of vengeful villain Shadow The Hedgehog, voiced by Keanu Reeves, unsurprisingly channelling John Wick rather than Ted Logan. Teased in a sting at the end of Sonic 2, Shadow is a black-hearted agent of chaos (think Nigel Farage with quills) who escapes incarceration after 50 years to wreak havoc on protectors of Earth G.U.N. (Guardian Units of Nations) alongside scientist Gerald Robotnik (Jim Carrey). Soon Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and his lads, Tails The Fox (Colleen O'Shaughnessey) and Knuckles The Echidna (Idris Elba), are dispatched to manage the mayhem — only to discover they need to team up with Ivo Robotnik (also Carrey), the grandson of Gerald and the series’ Big Bad (presumed dead after the second film), to save the day.

On the plus side, Sonic 3 has more narrative focus and urgency than Sonic 2

The word that comes to mind when describing this Sega saga is scattershot. From the comedy — a fart gag here, a Bea Arthur joke there — to the needle drops — the Traveling Wilburys, The Prodigy, The Beach Boys, together at last! — to the action — a bike chase in Tokyo, shenanigans over London landmarks — everything has a let’s-hope-this-sticks quality. This haphazard approach extends to the thematic material — you can choose from a) listen to your heart, b) trust your friends, c) don’t let pain change you or d) always make the right choice — but none of them are persuasively argued or deeply felt. Key emotional bonds etched are in throwaway montages. Even on its own terms, little feels earned or authentic.

On the plus side, Sonic 3 has more narrative focus and urgency than Sonic 2, and there are some genuinely funny moments (a parody of telenovelas, a killer Green Lantern gag and the punch-y pomposity of Elba’s warrior anteater get some laughs). The MVP of the first two films, Carrey dials down the physical comedy in both his roles, amping up punning (“Dorkupine!”) to hit-and-miss effect. For all the actor’s gurning and the film’s visual busyness, few images pop or lodge in the memory. Perhaps what’s needed is an authored vision. The campaign for Béla Tarr’s ‘Sonic The Hedgehog 4’ starts here.