Sonic the Hedgehog 3 review

SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3: 

LIVE AND LEARN, THE BLUE DEVIL’S THIRD CINEMATIC OUTING IS HIS BEST YET! 

By Nico Beland

Movie Review: **** out of 4

PARAMOUNT PICTURES AND SEGA

Sonic and Shadow in Sonic the Hedgehog 3

 

            The Blue Blur and his friends are back and this time they’re up against 2 hammy Jim Carrey (The Mask, The Truman Show, How the Grinch Stole Christmas) performances and a mysterious black hedgehog in Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the third installment of the Sonic the Hedgehog film series based on the beloved Sega video game franchise of the same name. If you read my reviews for the previous movies (or any of my reviews for Sonic media), you should know that I am a huge fan of the Sonic franchise and have been one since I was a kid with Sonic Adventure 2 (The debut game of Shadow the Hedgehog) being the very first game I played. 

            So, I am very familiar with Shadow’s storyline and this isn’t the first time it was adapted outside of video games as there was already an arc in the 2003 anime series, Sonic X based on the plot of SA2 and the for the most part it’s a relatively faithful retelling of the story. I was excited for this movie ever since the mid-credits scene in Sonic the Hedgehog 2 where Shadow was teased for the next movie, speaking of which I should give my quick thoughts on the previous films before moving forward. 

            The first Sonic movie from 2020 I like fine though it wasn’t exactly the movie I would have wanted as a child as it felt more like a generic kids film in terms of its story and execution, but the charm of the character and Jim Carrey’s over-the-top performance as Dr. Robotnik made it an entertaining enough time. The second movie in 2022 I really enjoyed as it incorporated more elements and characters from the games like Tails and Knuckles, the Master Emerald, and Super Sonic, it felt like the Sonic movie I wanted to see as a kid. 

            However, where Sonic the Hedgehog 2 felt like the Sonic movie I would have wanted to see as a kid, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 actually IS that Sonic movie for me. I loved every minute of Sonic 3 and it’s not just because of nostalgia, as a movie this one is the best paced, the story is far more engaging than its predecessors, the comedy is really damn funny, and there are some genuinely strong character moments here. 

            Sometime after the events of Sonic 2 (and Knuckles), Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves-Speed,The Matrix franchise, John Wick franchise) has been awakened from his 50-year sleep and escaped a top secret military base seeking vengeance upon the world. The government organization, G.U.N. enlists the help of Sonic the Hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz-Parks and Recreation, The Walk, DuckTales (2017)), Miles “Tails” Prower (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey-Digimon, Danny Phantom, Naruto; reprising her role from the games), and Knuckles the Echidna (voiced by Idris Elba-Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Jungle Book (2016), The Suicide Squad) to locate and stop Shadow. 

But when they discover Shadow is too powerful to defeat, Team Sonic must form an unexpected alliance with their arch nemesis, Dr. Ivo Robotnik “Eggman” (Carrey) in order to save the world. However, during their team-up Eggman encounters a mysterious person from his past, his long-lost grandfather and scientific genius, Gerald Robotnik (Also played by Carrey) with a plan of his own. 

The film also stars James Marsden (X-Men franchise, Enchanted 1 and 2, Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues) and Tika Sumpter (Get On Up, Southside with You, The Old Man and the Dog) reprising their roles as Team Sonic’s adoptive parents Tom and Maddie Wachowski, Krysten Ritter (Veronica Mars, Gilmore Girls, Breaking Bad) as Director Rockwell, Lee Majdoub (See No Evil 2, Dead Rising: Endgame, The Mountain Between Us) reprising his role as Robotnik’s lackey (and coffee maker) Agent Stone, and Alyla Browne (Three Thousand Years of Longing, True Spirit, Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga) as Gerald’s deceased granddaughter and Shadow’s only friend Maria Robotnik. 

Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 doesn’t just feel like another fun Sonic movie, it is a feature-length love letter to those who have followed this series of video games since childhood. There are so many references, callbacks, music cues, and characters quoting iconic dialogue from the games in this movie, I was smiling ear to ear during my viewing. 

The first two Sonic movies are a lot of fun don’t get me wrong, but they weren’t exactly that great in terms of storytelling. That is not the case here as Sonic 3’s plot retains the deep emotional core and heavy edge of Shadow’s backstory from Sonic Adventure 2 and it can be gut-wrenching at times especially for a PG-rated family film. 

The scenes involving Shadow’s past with Maria are very well-handled in the film and the backstory is even expanded upon by showing their lives together before her death. It was adapted perfectly to live-action cinema and it doesn’t feel like a drastic tone change compared to the rest of the film. 

Keanu Reeves knocked it out of the park as the voice of Shadow and really captures the brooding, lone warrior antihero from the games while still being incredibly sympathetic and shares some great moments with Sonic over the course of the film. Not to mention the Shadow design looks great in live-action with the added details to his quills and seeing him in motion whether running or fighting Sonic and friends, this is also coming from the same person who gushed over seeing Super Sonic on the big screen in Sonic 2. 

Jim Carrey is once again as gleefully cartoony as ever and now there’s two of him with Carrey putting his all into Eggman and Gerald and delivering the funniest moments. Seeing two Jim Carreys dancing together to avoid lasers and having a hilariously demented father/son montage is both really funny and actually kind of touching.

This movie also has the right amount of non-Eggman human characters, James Marsden and Tika Sumpter are still in a fair amount of the film, but they never hijack the movie for a random subplot or take the focus away from Sonic. All you wedding scene-hating Sonic 2 viewers can rest easy. 

The action scenes are some of the best out of the three movies and Knuckles with some of my favorites being a glorious chase sequence in Tokyo between Sonic and Shadow on his motorcycle and one great big homage to Sonic Adventure 2 in the climax. It also has one of the funniest deaths I’ve seen all year. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 works as a love letter to fan-favorite games in the series while also being an entertaining film on its own. This film took me back to being an 8-year-old boy in 2002 experiencing SA2 for the first time and after seeing the post-credits scenes, give me Sonic the Hedgehog 4 right now!