If you asked me whether it would be worth going to see Sonic the Hedgehog 3 at the cinema, I would have first asked you two questions. The first would be if you had seen the previous two Sonic movie adaptations, and the second would be if you’d played Sonic Adventure 2. And if you answered no to both of these questions, I would’ve still recommended this movie. Usually, a movie like this would be directly tied to its previous material, whether that be source or direct prequels. Nevertheless, now that it has been released on digital, it is as good a time as any to talk about this movie!
This movie, despite being heart and soul intertwined with both, rewards those who have seen previous entries and introduces newcomers to its world. It’s one of those rare movies that fails to squander a single moment of its run time. Every single actor in this delivers a stellar performance, and the script itself was fashioned out of gold, which is exactly what Jim Carrey said a script would have to be to coax him out of retirement.
Sonic 3 is intended to be an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, a battle between the “Ultimate life form” Shadow (Keanu Reeves) and Sonic (Ben Schwartz), along with the background machinations of Eggman and his grandfather Gerald Robotnik (Jim Carrey). The game has certain key moments that are remembered and beloved by many. Sonic 3 takes these key moments and recreates them within its own universe flawlessly. Shadow’s journey of revenge is tragic and understandable, whilst Gerald Robotnik’s reaction to the same trauma becomes a loss of self. His personal selfish desire for revenge is too strong to contain, all whilst we see Shadow’s struggles to contain his own grief. Gerald becomes a villain due to this, whilst Shadows’ ability to come back from the brink is what defines him as a more heroic character. In the original story, Gerald is executed before events take place. However, in this movie, we find his inclusion and direct involvement with the plot fresh and intriguing to watch.
Shadow takes centre stage, played safely but powerfully by Keanu Reeves. His portrayal is honest, to the point and broody. It’s a straight-man approach to the chaotic energy of both Robotniks, yet I find it to bring true gravitas to the film. Whenever Shadow is on screen, the jokes and humour stop and everyone is forced into his world of pain and loss. It’s very true to his character, as his quips in-game have an air of intimidation and focus. It’s the same here, perhaps even better considering Keanu Reeves’s impressive vocal range.
We find that Sonic, Tails (Collen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba) all flesh out their respective roles in this movie. Their essence becomes far more solid, with Tails being an invaluable support and Knuckle’s reliable independence and sworn duty being established. Sonic, however, gets a very special form of character development here. He’s introduced to emotions and feelings that, generally speaking, do not happen to his video game counterpart.
For the most part, Sonic is a wise-cracking, joke-spouting speed demon who saves the day time and again. Here, his relationship with Shadow allows him to grow, come to terms with loss, and experience the same grief as Shadow; it does a lot to humanise Sonic. In fact, he frequently loses in this movie. Only winning where it truly counts and empathising with his enemy to truly solve the situation. Sonic and Shadow’s auras conflict beautifully.
Finally, Jim Carrey as both Gerald and Ivo Robotnik, becomes the star attraction of this movie. After Ivo is at his lowest point after his last defeat, he is forced into working with Sonic, finds his grandpa and launches into a crazy family reunion plot where they both prove they’ve lost their minds. But Ivo is genuinely happy to have a family member while Gerald manipulates him into his genocidal plan. However, with Ivo, we also see one of the core parts of his character from the games. It’s best summed up with his character’s line, “How can I take over the city and build my theme park if there is no city!”.
Recently, Robotnik (commonly known as Eggman) has become family-orientated in the games, with Frontiers giving him an AI daughter. This movie takes his most recent character development and applies it beautifully. Incidentally, we see his love of theme parks in action briefly in a very astute cutaway. Fantastic!
This movie’s historical knowledge of its own franchise is impressive. Not only does it pull from its source material in all the best ways, but it also takes its pre-existing material and weaves it into a narrative in a very immersive way. The events of the previous films are referenced, and events from the Knuckles TV show are briefly given a nod.
Another of this movie’s impressive strengths is building upon its previous installments. Robotnik’s continuing insanity is accompanied by his development into the beloved video game antagonist I’ve grown up with in my 30 years of life. From a sour-faced unchallenged robotics expert in the first film into a cartoonish genius in the second, and finally, in this film, gaining his occasional dips into his own brand of selfish heroism. This movie serves as the final transformation into his video game persona, giving fans the character development they’ve been clamouring for since the first movie solidifies this trilogy.
It’s difficult to talk about Sonic the Hedgehog’s development in any media. He’s historically an unflinching cool guy, with little to no character changes outside of his iconic attitude. In this film, we have a slight change, where his relationship with James Marsden’s Tom allows for a brief glimpse into a more angry and focused Sonic when Shadow unintentionally injures him. He does snap himself out of it quite fast, but it was interesting to see a version of the character that drew parallels to the Sonic of Archie comics and the destruction he’d be capable of if he followed a similar path to Shadow.
Tails got far more of a chance to shine in this movie. Showing his smarts and resourceful nature. Knuckles also gets to play a role similar to Drax from Guardians of the Galaxy. Dumb but very strong and can be quite funny. He doesn’t change much from the last film aside from being far more happy, but he has a TV mini-series, so he’ll be fine. The movie definitely knows what to keep the same and what not to break.
My all-time favourite part of this movie is that there are no intrusive subplots that draw focus away from the film. Even minor characters like Tom’s sister-in-law get referenced in ways that forward the story. Krysten Ritter plays a dubious army officer wanting to climb the ranks. The G.U.N commander (Tom Butler), regretful of what he did to Shadow, puts his faith in the team due to previous events. Wade (Adam Palley) is trusted by Knuckles to guard the Master Emerald. And finally, Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub) is just the best unconditional henchman ever. Eggman’s rejection of him made for an emotional time, even for a guy like me in his 30s.
Shadow is expertly introduced, immediately establishing him as Sonic’s equal and surpassing the rest of the cast. His backstory parallels Sonic’s happy family life, and to see Sonic almost go down the same path is hurtful. We can understand that Shadow’s grief and suffering are not only soul-crushing but also like a virus that can create more suffering as a result. And while Sonic is able to save Shadow from his grief, Gerald Robotnik is completely consumed by it. It tackles the very human condition of dealing with loss and trying to hold onto yourself through it. It tugs at the heartstrings, with Shadow and Sonic both being thrust into a strange world but having to live and learn on their own.
We have two tales of characters who are like mirrors of each other. The pairs of Sonic and Shadow and Gerald and Ivo Robotnik, their dysfunctions and loss repeatedly affect the people around them, and we see outside characters’ reactions. Tails and Knuckles worried for Sonic while Agent Stone tries in vain to convince his boss of the dangers of his grandfather’s behaviour. All of this culminates in numerous impressive set pieces with a real flair for production. The heist in London, The Eclipse Canon, and the volcano fight between the two hedgehogs all show how much this series benefits from exploring wild and diverse locales. And those fight scenes are beautiful, especially with the addition of the Chaos Emeralds, turning them into energy-filled pinballs smashing into each other in anger. The choreography was spot on, and that’s without even mentioning the Jim Carrey double dance scene!
At times, the humour and dialogue are very much made for children, making the exposition sort of hamfisted, like when the commander reveals Shadow’s backstory at dinner. However, the movie had the good sense of having the series mascot, the Chao, in the background to look at while it was happening. I appreciate that the movie knows when it might be losing the audience’s attention for necessary plot points.
The music is serviceable for the most part, but they put in a song from Sonic Adventure 2 (Shadow’s debut game) at the end of the film. This is the best piece of music on the soundtrack, but it sort of feels like very blatant fanservice. I’m half and half on the idea. It’s fanservice, but I can’t help but feel an original track might have been a better choice due to the need to use other works. This is probably my only worry about the film in general; honestly, it’s not even a negative.
I was never expecting the Sonic movies to be this good. After the first two only dipped their toes into the franchise and filled the rest with human subplots, I was expecting half of this movie to be amazing and the other half tedious. I am happy to say that I was completely wrong, and this might just be the best video game adaptation ever made.
I would give this movie a 10/10 anytime.
