Though it may be a conflict of interest to review a film starring my close personal friend Knuckles the Echidna, I’ve decided to do it anyway. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 feels like the culmination of everything director Jeff Fowler and his team have been working towards, blending fast paced action and drama in a pseudo adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, an impossible dream come true. The fact that there is a film involving Shadow the Hedgehog which isn’t completely incomprehensible is an achievement in itself.
A film that fittingly hits the ground running, Sonic 3 opens with the ultimate life form Shadow the Hedgehog (Keanu Reeves) awakening from a forced fifty year slumber, seeking revenge on humanity for killing his beloved friend Maria (Alyla Browne). Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba, seemingly the most creatively fulfilled he’s felt since The Wire) are called into action, only to immediately get their butts kicked by this new foe. Team Sonic has no choice but to team up with their old enemy Doctor Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his doting sidekick Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub). This, of course, immediately goes poorly, as Robotnik’s even crueler grandfather Gerald (also Carrey, obviously) reveals himself to be brainwashing Shadow into helping him destroy the world. On the backfoot, Sonic and friends go to their adoptive human parents Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) for backup. Wade Whipple (Adam Pally) also makes a quick appearance, mostly so Pally can keep getting those checks. Which I support!
The above paragraph is basically the first 30 minutes of the film, which builds to a wild crescendo outside the Earth’s atmosphere featuring the only good buttrock song in existence. There are references to the many Sonic games throughout, weaving their way into the plot so quickly you may not even recognize all of them. There is a sincerity to the Sonic films that makes this far easier to bear than whatever the Ghostbusters franchise is doing. Though two Jim Carreys may be too much for some to handle, their freakish dynamic is a better use of the humans than Natasha Rothwell’s backdoor pilot in the second film. Shadow himself surprisingly gets a bit sidelined during much of the film’s antics, but comes back into full focus for the thrilling climax. The CGI for all of these video game aliens is looking a lot better as well, with Sonic and friends displaying a wider range of emotion and life. Though I don’t think I love the realistic blood vessels in their gigantic eyes…
Shadow is like a puppy that’s been kicked too many times, a more sympathetic kind of edgy than he can be in the games. While it’s still crazy for these films to be referencing the giant owl Longclaw who raised Sonic, a character that is not from the games, I support Movie Sonic having a tragic backstory and not just being a fast guy forced into heroics. Tails remains the most sidelined of the game characters, but he gets to at least debut several fun gadgets that turn the film into kiddie Mission: Impossible.
After delivering on the promise of adapting Sonic Adventure 2, the burden has been lifted from the franchise. Fowler and co are free to do whatever they please in this hedgehog-centered sandbox. The mid-credits scene hints at a fun new adventure diving deeper into what everyone likes about the games, while hopefully avoiding what makes them painfully stupid. The Sonic franchise remains my platonic ideal of what kids’ movies should be, respecting their audiences but still finding time for goofs and tokusatsu-based cameos. It is certainly a better choice than the other kids’ movie playing down the hall, but we’ll discuss that later.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3
2024
Dir. Jeff Fowler
110 min
Opens Friday, 12/20 in theaters everywhere
