‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Review : Pop Culture Leftovers

‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ Review

December 20, 2024 2:38 pm |

Back in 2020 when the original Sonic the Hedgehog braved its way into theaters after a massive overhaul of its main character’s design, who’d have thought we’d have gotten an actual quality videogame adaptation… and now closing out a trilogy of them. In my personal humble opinion, the first two films are absolute delights, not to say they don’t have problems scattered throughout them however. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 takes note of what people have criticized on the other two films and removed a majority of the issues… humans.

Of course there still has to be some humanity in the film, but the threequel decidedly focuses more on the characters of the videogame rather than the humans they made for comedic relief in the previous two films. This means James Marsden as Tom, Taika Sumpter as Maddie, Adam Pally as Wade, Natasha Rothwell as Rachel and Shamar Moore asRandall from the previous outings are used incredibly minimally and only for the most necessary moments. The new offering of human characters are placed in as side threats, but not to worry as humanity is represented primarily by dual Jim Carrey roles!

Jim Carrey is back as not only Dr. Robotnik, but also Dr. Robotnik’s long lost grandfather Gerald Robotnik. The two share a lot of screen time together and get to know one another throughout the picture, as they hadn’t met until this very moment. They are absolutely inseparable and deliver the maximum amount of comedy you’d expect from a comedy legend like Carrey portraying two. Plus every Sonic feature film has to have a dance sequence and here it’s utilized flawlessly in a hilarious dance between the two Robotnik’s breaking into a vault. Carrey clearly loves playing this role and you can see it clearly shine through in his performance(s); here in the third film he’s fully let loose to express his comedic chops.

The rag-tag trio of “Team Sonic” – Sonic, Tails and Knuckles return and their bond is stronger than ever. Over the course of the three films as each character has joined in, there have been stumbles with how they interact as a unit, but now they all work together as a true team. Of course even a team has some disagreements. Ben Schwartz continues to be a brilliant casting decision for Sonic the Hedgehog, he exudes chaotic charm and impatience that works with his character traits. As someone that hasn’t played the games, I can still recognize the great decision to embrace the original actor of Tails: Colleen O’Shaughnessey. Lastly of course there’s Knuckles played by Idris Elba, who has really come into his own after the 2nd film and an entire spin-off Paramount+ series involving his character. Elba remarkably delivers the biggest laughs among the three and that’s surprising considering the level of comedic power behind the voices.

New to the entourage is Shadow, introduced in visuals only at the end of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 there was a lot of guessing who would ultimately play the villainous Hedgehog. As luck would have it, a character as badass as Shadow got a certified badass behind the mic in Keanu Reeves. Oddly enough from the first film having the characters watch Speed to a reference in this film in the form of a math equation using the MPH of the bus in Speed, Keanu has clearly been on these filmmakers’ minds all along. Reeves admittedly does take a bit to get used to within the form of the animated being, delivering a few lines and words as threats to our trio. Not until he opens up and more backstory is exposed, that the John Wick voice of Keanu Reeves fully absorbs into the character of Shadow.

The storyline isn’t revolutionary, it’s still a “save the world” plot, but with so many great characters in this third offering, it’s difficult not to be fully immersed in the adventure on screen. The time flew by with Sonic and the gang this time ‘round and it was actually great to see some serious gravity (and stakes) put into this one, something that was very much missing from the previous two outings.

Fans of the games and characters should be pleasantly surprised as I was in awe several times by just how gorgeous the animation looked nearing the climax and a battle of strengths between Shadow and Sonic. Carrey absolutely steals the show as the Robotniks and going forward with his involvement in flux, it’s difficult to say I’m going to be entirely interested in sequels to come (Sonic the Hedgehog 4 announced for Spring 2027). While being one of the rare trilogies of its kind, the Sonic films are certifiably some of the best videogame adaptations to ever grace our screens.

Published Simultaneously on Cinefied.com