<em>Sonic the Hedgehog </em>Is No Longer Terrifying

Sonic the Hedgehog, the electric-blue anthropomorphized mammal who has starred in a slew of Sega video games over the decades, is a perfect emblem of 1990s branding. He’s cute and cartoony, blessed with speedy superpowers, and possesses a seriously rude ’tude. , his personality was inspired by Bill Clinton’s “get it done” mind-set, the kind of vague comparison that could have only made sense in 1991. Given Sonic’s frozen-in-time quality, perhaps it’s fitting that his eponymous feature film begins with the hoariest of fourth-wall-breaking story clichés: a on Sonic, , as he says in voice-over, “I bet you’re wondering how I got here.”