When I was 10, I received a Sega Genesis for Christmas. Included with that gaming console was Sonic the Hedgehog 2. I spent countless hours playing that game with my younger cousin in our youth. I was almost always Sonic, and I forced him to play the Tails character.

Since I was lousy at video games growing up (and still am), he beat me more times than I care to admit. The Genesis was the last gaming console I had as a kid, the first was a NES. I still have both systems but haven’t played them in years. When they announced a “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie, I was excited. Then I saw that infamous first trailer like everyone else and my excitement turned to dread, and nightmares of the 1993 Super Mario Bros. movie came screaming back. The backlash was so severe, Paramount pushed back the release date from a November to a Feb. 14 release.

Those three months were time well spent as this version of Sonic looks more like the one I remember from my childhood.

The movie begins with a young Sonic on his home planet. When his powers are discovered by people that want to take it as their own, he is entrusted with a bag of gold teleportation rings and sent to earth where he will be safe — as long as nobody knows he’s there.

Usually movies that take an IP property from its home planet and set them on Earth upset me. I’m looking at you Masters of the Universe, what were you thinking taking He-Man, Skeletor, and the rest of the characters and having them on Earth instead of Eternia. Sorry, had to get that rant out of the way.

I went into Sonic looking to tear it apart for its Earth setting, but I was turned around by the heart of the movie. The movie cuts to 10 years after Sonic arrived on Earth. He has been holed up in Green Hills, Mont. (Fans of the Sonic game recognize the name of the town as being the first level of the original game).

Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), in a fourth wall break, introduces us to some of the residents of the small town. He doesn’t know any of their names, except for Crazy Carl, because nobody knows he exists. He is closest to the local sheriff, who Sonic calls Doughnut Lord (James Marsden) and the local vet, aka “Pretzel Lady” (played by Tika Sumpter), joining in on their movie nights and yoga exercises without their knowledge.

One night, after a little league playoff game, Sonic plays baseball with, and against, himself. After scoring a run on himself realizes just how alone he is in the world. Sonic then causes a power surge blacking out the entire Pacific Northwest. The government sends in Doctor Robotnik (played by Jim Carrey in what may be his funniest role since “Liar, Liar”) to investigate.

Realizing his time on Earth is over, Sonic grabs his bag of teleportation rings to head to the next safe world, Mushroom World. Before he can, he is stopped by Doughnut Lord, whose real name is Tom Wachowski, and Sonic’s rings are mistakenly transported to the top of the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. What results is your usual buddy road trip hijinks (as usual as a sheriff and an alien hedgehog being pursued by a mad genius bent on capturing and stealing the power of said hedgehog can be).

Where this film really stands out is its third act. Having played Sonic throughout my youth, I can recognize the sounds from the game anywhere, especially in a third act battle between Sonic and Robotnik. This brought me back to the days playing Sonic with my cousin and made me look forward to the inevitable sequel to a movie I was determined to hate, but actually loved.

J. A. Latona is a Dunkirk resident in charge of local nonprofit movie theater, El Rigby Theater. For movie related questions and comments email jalatonamoviereviews@gmail.com.