Not being a game player of any kind, this reviewer’s only real contact with Sonic the Hedgehog had been the great pop culture soup in which many of us happily swim these days thanks to the internet where you can be exposed to a huge degree by characters and properties even if you’ve never had any direct involvement in them.
It’s six degrees of pop culture separation, and it’s a huge amount of fun, but unless you take the time to dive into, say, playing Sonic’s adventures on the Sega platform, the closest you will come is some passing reference or a piece of fetching merchandise.
However, this year, thanks to an outing with nieces and nephews, this reviewer got a chance to see Sonic the Hedgehog 2, a film with a surprising amount of heart and a cheeky sense of fun that had a thoroughly appealing, kindhearted protagonist at its core.
Who knew Sonic (Jaleel White) was so likably well-rounded or, and this is key to Sonic Christmas Blast, that is capable of saving Santa, the festive season and the toy-filled dreams of boys and girls all over the world?
We may not have known but someone did, and in this short but sweet 20-minute Christmas romp, Sonic has to save Santa from the clutches of his regular nemesis, Dr. Robotnik (Long John Baldry) who, with a fleet of AI-challenged robots in his service (principally Scratch, voiced by Phil Hayes and Grounder by Garry Chalk), is determined to make the most wonderful time of the year the most narcissistically selfish one.
Now if you are of a cynical state of mind, you might well argue Christmas is exactly that kind of festival already, but despite the materialism that accompanies the holiday, the truth is a lot of good things happen at Christmas too, with people imbued with a warm and giving sensibility and an enriching sense that life can be wonderfully better.
None of those last two qualities figure in the plans of Dr. Robotnik aka Robotnik Claus – whoever’s in his marketing team really need to shoot for a less obvious name; the name is the giveaway not the apparently gullible souls of Robotropolis seem to pick up on that – whose sole intent is to get all the gifts for himself.
ALL. OF. THEM.
And so, while Santa languishes in an ice cave guarded by, naturally, yet more robots with the fighting ability and initiative of stormtroopers (yeah, they’re that bad), Robotnik Claus, who wears a crop top Santa suit that flatters not at all – festive fashion police, I’d like to report a crime – sets out to clear out all the stores and direct all the gifts to him, and him alone.
He also goes into full medieval serf oppression mode by exacting a lavish gift tax on the poor beleaguered townsfolk who can’t afford it and literally have their houses taken from them if they can’t stump up the tribute (though you can’t feel entirely sorry for them, and the gift-deprived kid who spurs Sonic on to save Christmas, since they do live in a place called Robotropolis so dweller beware perhaps?
Things are bad, and Christmas, which is already challenging Sonic who, along with BFF Miles “Tails” Prower (Chris Turner) is having trouble finding the right gifts for Princess Sally (Tabitha St. Germain), looks like it’s set to be cancelled with only Dr. Robotnik standing to benefit in any material (quite literally) way.
Not so fast people, or rather, yes be super fast but do not jump to that festive flattening conclusion because Sonic is a hedgehog of great tenacity and optimism, and so, by Lara Croft/Indiana Jones-esque means best left to the watching of Sonic Christmas Blast, he saves Santa, Christmas, and the entire concept of the season as a time of sacrifice, giving and love.
You may now “awwwwwww” with a heavy overtone of peppermint canes and gaily-wrapped packages; seriously, though, Sonic Christmas Blast is one of those rare festive animated specials that manages to pack a nice, not-so-heavy message punch without it subsuming a giddily upbeat sense of colour-drenched fun which is exactly what Sonic is all about.
The thing that surprised this reviewer when they watched Sonic the Hedgehog 2 earlier this year, was that the world he inhabits is bright, vivacious and downright silly at times but it has a huge amount of meaning and emotional resonance because at heart, Sonic is a thoroughly good and decent hedgehog.
He can be mischievous and over the top at times, but he is, at his core, the kind of hedgehog you’d want to take home to mother, and his appealing likability is on full speed ahead, Christmas-saving mode in Sonic Christmas Blast which packs a lot of story into a short run-time while giving plenty of time for good to beat evil and for Christmas to be saved all over again.
With an ending that might surprise you, but which is good and kind and fun so fret not, and Sonic’s fervent wish that we’ll have merry Christmases not just now but every year of our lives (yes, please!), Sonic Christmas Blast is a delight of colour, good heart and fun that manages to take us on a grand adventure while reminding us of what’s really important at the most wonderful time of the year.