The first two Sonic the Hedgehog movies managed to surprise audiences by giving long-time fans of the source material something to celebrate and casual moviegoers a fun family adventure. Now, the third film in the franchise has raced to the big screen, diving further into the video game lore and furthering the story of Sonic and his found family. Does this new movie keep pace with its predecessors? Let’s roll onward to find out.

NOTE: Spoilers for ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ are ahead.

The Good

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 steps it up with their visuals, offering the best so far in the series. The CGI characters, robots, mechanized weaponry, lasers, and explosions look exceptional. The expressions on the faces of the anthropomorphic animals are surprisingly lifelike and allow for the audience to understand exactly what the characters are feeling. Even the reflections in their eyes are visible. It’s all insanely impressive.

It’s also quite an emotional film. There’s a lot of heart throughout, which is not unlike its predecessors, but it also offers its fair share of heartbreak. It’s the most emotional movie in the franchise thus far, and it’s even worth shedding a tear over. A lot of this heart comes from the various character arcs. Sonic gradually learning to work as a team leads to plenty of smiles from the audience. Shadow dealing with anger and grief and learning to live for those lost is thought-provoking and gut-wrenching. Eggman learning to embrace found family rather than toxic blood-related family is handled impressively, and it’s impossible not to sob when he makes an especially shocking decision. The bond between many of the characters is just as touching. It’s actually quite surprising how emotional this is for a movie about talking alien hedgehogs.

It’s not all tears, heartbreak, and sappiness, though. It’s chock full of hilarious humor. There are some instances of great slapstick and a slew of witty lines of dialogue. Characters getting slammed to the floor or launched into the air in a gravity chamber or Knuckles getting scared while watching Casper the Friendly Ghost lead to big laughs. It’s safe to say that most of the laughs come from Jim Carrey, who is in true form in this movie. Some jokey moments are silly while others are clever, but they all land and never distract from the more serious moments.

The action throughout is simply incredible. From adrenaline-pumping chases through the streets of Tokyo to explosive battles in space, a lot of the fight sequences will have the audience on the edge of their seats and holding their breaths. Every instance of combat is well-choreographed and planned out, and they’re all wildly entertaining.

Something that a lot of fans might be happy about is that the human characters are integrated into the story much better this time around. Instead of the story focusing more on them or having them in their own side story that distracts from the main story, they’re along for the ride as supporting characters with the video game characters the audience wants to see in the forefront. They’re fun characters in their own right, so it’s still nice to see them; they’re just balanced better here.

The acting, both with the live-action and voice roles, is quite impressive. The voice acting for the CGI characters is top-notch, and is yet another example as to why there needs to be an Oscar category for voice acting. Keanu Reeves adds a lot of emotion to Shadow and makes the character feel real. The same can be said for Ben Schwartz as Sonic, Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Tails, and Idris Elba as Knuckles. James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Lee Majdoub, and other live-action actors are clearly giving it their all and not just phoning it in for a movie about a talking alien hedgehog. They’re also clearly having a blast with filming this. To no one’s surprise, the best performance in the film belongs to the double Jim Carrey roles. He’s hilarious as both Ivo and Gerald Robotnik, and gives truly moving performances as both characters. There are even moments in which his line-reads are enough to cry over.

Speaking of Jim Carrey, it’s no secret that he’s been talking about his potential retirement from acting, and this is the only time he’s been willing to appear in three movies in the same franchise. This is likely the last Sonic movie he’ll do, but it’s completely fine, as this is the perfect send off for his character. His arc is moving and his final moments are satisfying and emotional. Including him in future installments might undo some of his character growth. This is the perfect way to right off any character in any sort of story.

There are a LOT of references throughout, with some rather blatant and others extremely subtle. There are nods to the music, boss fights, levels, characters, locations, and more from Sonic Adventure 2 as well as other video games in the long-running franchise. Even certain poses characters make are references. It’ll be fun for diehard fans to see what they can find on future viewings of the film. It’s a great way to celebrate the source material while also telling their own version of the story.

The Bad

Sonic and his friends make a big deal about the Master Emerald being kept in a safe in the most secret of places. Given the Master Emerald’s power, this makes a lot of sense. However, by the end of the film, the Emerald isn’t where it was hidden, and the characters don’t acknowledge whether they still have it or not. Where is it now after the events of the movie? Wouldn’t it be super important that they find it immediately so that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands? One could suppose that this is to set up future stories involving the Chaos Emeralds, but it’s odd that they don’t seem to care where Master Emerald or Chaos Emeralds are after making such a big deal about them.

There’s a scene in the movie in which Tom and Maddie go undercover in a G.U.N. base using hologram disguises of Rachel and Randall. If Rachel and Randall are now both working as G.U.N. agents, couldn’t they have just been used in this scene to help them break into G.U.N. headquarters? Why go through the trouble of disguising themselves as them instead of just getting their help? It’s a funny scene, but it was kind of a weird way to incorporate their characters.

Speaking of being incorporated weirdly, what’s the deal with Krysten Ritter’s character, Director Rockwell? She’s a higher-up at G.U.N., which should indicate that she’s on the side of good. However, she devises a plan to trap both Dr. Eggman and Sonic and his friends. Plus, she has a few lines of dialogue that almost sounds like she wants to stage a coup of G.U.N., but nothing ever comes of that. Perhaps that’s something we’ll see more of in a future installment, but for now, it almost feels random or out of place. Why have her acting like this without ever having it lead anywhere?

This is minor, but we’re at a point in this movie series that certain characters’ absences feel awkward. It’s exciting waiting and hoping to see some fan-favorite characters introduced eventually, but this is oddly an all-boys’ club as of right now. They’ve even gone so far as to replace some of the video game characters’ important lines and scenes with other characters. It doesn’t really hurt the story of the movie, but it’s noticeable for fans of the source material.

Conclusion

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the best Sonic movie, and even the best movie adapted from a video game yet. It’s a love letter to the long-time fans that successfully celebrates a game series that they hold dear while also proving to be a blast for even the most casual of audiences. There are a few storytelling hiccups, but it perfectly blends humor, emotion, and action in a wildly entertaining film. It’ll be especially exciting to see whatever the future holds for Sonic and his found family in this fantastic film franchise.

Rating: 9/10

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