‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3′ has a little bit of fun for just about everyone

PHOENIX (AZFamily) — Gotta go fast!

Synopsis

In Sonic the Hedgehog 3, Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and his friends Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba) are called out on a mission to Tokyo, Japan to investigate a new threat. This new threat is Shadow (Keanu Reeves), a powerful hedgehog with a traumatic past and vengeful goal to wipe out humanity, who instantly bests Team Sonic in battle.

Even worse, Sonic’s archnemesis Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey) is still alive and to complicate things further, Dr. Robotnik’s grandfather Gerald (Jim Carrey) has escaped captivity and resumes his own plans for world domination. The Robotnik’s team up with Shadow, forming a powerful alliance that will truly test the strength of Sonic and his family.

My thoughts

It’s kind of amazing how far the Sonic the Hedgehog film series has come. Back when Paramount released the first trailer in 2019 that featured that horrifying “realistic” design of Sonic, everybody rightly dogpiled on the movie. It just seemed like another case of Hollywood not getting it and like almost every other video game adaptation, it would probably be godawful and eventually forgotten.

That would have happened with Sonic if the internet didn’t basically bully Paramount into redesigning the character, giving us a more accurate, and far less off-putting, representation that we’re all more familiar with. That no doubt helped the movie become a success because if ugly Sonic stuck around, there’s no way we would have gotten three movies, especially movies eventually featuring talent like Idris Elba and now Keanu Reeves.

Sonic stories

While listening to the fans and making Sonic actually look like Sonic (i.e. actually endearing and cute) is what made people even give the first film a chance, it wouldn’t have mattered if the movie itself ended up being awful. The thing is, these Sonic movies are actually kind of… good?! Look, I’ll admit I’m a fan of the Sonic games, but director Jeff Fowler and screenwriters Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington put effort into making these actual movies that appeal beyond the fans.

Now, I’m not saying these Sonic movies have flawlessly constructed screenplays or anything like that. Perhaps it sounds like I’m grading on a curve, but as far as movies called Sonic the Hedgehog go, you don’t exactly expect these films to be so decently well-constructed. They’re actually quite well plotted, with a big heart and sincere emotion woven throughout the action scenes and comedic bits.

Speaking of those comedic bits, another thing these Sonic movies have going for them is that they’re unexpectedly hilarious and sometimes quite clever. They operate like Zucker Brothers movies where it’s just gag after gag after gag, featuring some downright hilarious visual humor and irreverent dialogue. It’s the perfect tone to take with a movie about an anthropomorphic hedgehog, especially since the games tend to take themselves comically seriously.

That doesn’t mean they don’t occasionally fall into the same traps that many other blockbuster screenplays fall into. There’s still that need to appeal to young children, so even if the story and characters are effective enough, it’s still pretty thinly written overall. Also, while these movies are certainly funny, the humor is incredibly broad and gets a bit too meme and pop culture-inspired for its own good.

What really matters, though, is that you can feel that desire to entertain and tell a decent story from Fowler and the writing team. They’re trying a bit too hard at times, but they’re at least trying and it’s mostly paying off. In other, less capable and passionate hands, the Sonic movies could have easily ended up like the Despicable Me franchise: pure noise and bright colors flashed at you without any rhyme or reason.

This is easily the most fan-servicey Sonic movie yet, which isn’t a surprise considering we’re three movies and one TV show in. They’re really starting to pull out all the stops, but also carefully holding back on introducing too many elements into this cinematic universe too quickly. Honestly, if these movies keep making bank for Paramount, there’s a deep well of Sonic material for them to adapt and keep fans coming back for who knows how many installments.

Shadowy reflections

As somebody who played a lot of Sonic Adventure 2 as a kid, seeing Shadow the Hedgehog be brought to life on the big screen was a treat. His fight scenes were awesome, with inventive uses of his powers, and his presence could be felt looming when he wasn’t onscreen. Incorporating characters like Shadow is definitely fan service, don’t get me wrong, but it’s fan service that in turn services the story and Sonic’s character arc.

When it was first announced that Keanu Reeves would be voicing Shadow, I was a little lukewarm on the casting. I was personally hoping for Robert Pattinson, but once one of my friends said, “Shadow is basically John Wick,” it all made sense. He was totally right and that’s actually the reason Fowler chose Reeves for the role. Shadow shoots guns, rides motorcycles, and is driven by trauma and revenge, so yeah… it all tracks.

Reeves is known for his incredibly stoic and stilted line delivery, which has actually become charming at this point. His voice fits Shadow like a glove, infusing him with a proper amount of angst and anger. Sure, he still sounds like Keanu Reeves, but the effort he puts into the voice performance gives Shadow some real character. It would be easy for any actor to just waltz into the voiceover booth, spit out their lines, and call it a day.

Like the rest of the voice cast, though, Reeves actually cares and instantly becomes Shadow the same way Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba instantly became Sonic and Knuckles. You just can’t imagine anybody else playing them. It’ll be fun to see who they cast in the future for other classic Sonic characters, especially when they keep getting epic teases in mid-credit scenes like I’m watching a Marvel movie.

Another huge factor in the success of the Sonic movies is Jim Carrey as Sonic’s archnemesis Dr. Robotnik. If you loved Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, now there are two of them for you to enjoy! Carrey plays a double role as both Dr. Robotnik and his similarly mustachioed and deviously genius grandfather, clearly having a good time playing off of himself. If you ever wanted a scene of Jim Carrey disco dancing with himself, now’s your chance.

While Carrey’s mannerisms may be unmistakable, he does a good enough job of differentiating the personalities between the two Robotniks. It’s impressive that his performance hasn’t gotten stale by this point, but when you allow Carrey to keep increasing his “unhinged threshold” with each installment, he’s able to keep it fresh and fun. Even if he only took this role again for the cash, he still seems to enjoy doing it, employing the manic energy that made him a star in the first place.

Final verdict

I think the true success of these Sonic movies is that they have a universal appeal that other video game adaptations typically don’t. At their core, they’re basically comedy movies, so that’s already an easy play for the adults and parents in the audience. The kids will enjoy Sonic and his friends being funny, and fans of the games will love all of the references and easter eggs throughout. There’s really something for everybody.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is basically on the same level as the first two installments, providing a similar amount of heart, humor, and fun. Where it goes above and beyond compared to before is with the visual spectacle in the action sequences and fan service, but never too much to lose the general audience. If anything, this franchise has been quite consistent, mostly thanks to a creative team who actually cares about this property and making decent movies.