When the first trailer for the Sonic the Hedgehog film dropped in 2019, it was met with such derision, it felt like the little blue hedgehog was already dead in the water.

But the filmmakers took the criticism on board, re-designed Sonic to make him more appealing, which certainly worked, as the film went on to make $320 million at the box office.

It’s no surprise then that a film franchise was born, with this latest offering the third in the series.

It’s a special time for Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), as he celebrates his b-earth-day in Montana with the rest of Team Sonic, Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba), as well as Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter).

The celebrations are soon put on hold however, when they learn that something mysterious is taking place in Tokyo, where a hedgehog-like creature is causing chaos.

It transpires it is another hedgehog, named Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves), that has finally managed to escape Prison Island, after spending fifty years there. It appears he is hell bent on revenge, and has teamed up with an ally to help him achieve it.

With Shadow having incredible powers, Sonic has to admit that he can’t tackle this new foe alone, which sees him having to team up with an unlikely individual, whom he hasn’t exactly seen eye to eye with in the past.

Apparently Jeff Fowler has made it his mission to be the master of the blue hedgehog, having now directed all three films in the series, and nothing else.

So as far as continuity is concerned, there’s probably no one better.

This is certainly an improvement on the last one, but that wouldn’t be difficult. The problem is, this time around, it’s probably gone too far the other way, with a story that, considering its family focus, comes across as more than a little confusing. It involves key cards and a Death Star style spaceship, revenge and not one but two Jim Carreys.

And although it’s great to get more Carrey, who appears to be only available for this franchise in recent years, you can’t help but think that considering the many great films he has starred in, there could be some scripts out there better suited to his talents, rather than a baddie to a CGI hero.

It’s also quite dark too, thematically, especially its ending that is veritably bleak, and again, not what you would necessarily consider family friendly.

And considering how fast Sonic should be, the film certainly drags its heels often enough, not helped by being ten minutes shy of two hours.

But considering how badly his start was, and how historically poor videogame characters big screen adaptations have been over the years, Sonic is proving that he has legs, and with a fourth entry in the pipeline, it looks like every ones favourite blue hedgehog has a few lives left.