Jasonic's Favorites: Sonic the Hedgehog 3
Hello, and good evening, Internet!
This third Sonic movie swept the world almost a year ago and people say the film franchise keeps getting better -- it lives and learns!
Released in 2024, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the inevitable third installment in the Sonic the Hedgehog film series that continues to obtain warranted success. Even following the success of the financial lauding of The Super Mario Bros. Movie, Sonic 3 did well financially and critically and continues to prove that video game movies are becoming more profitable even as they keep going beyond one or two installments. Fans were almost nervous for this movie for a while due to the Mario movie's greater success as well as the lack of marketing we were gettting as late as August of last year -- the movie had been slated for December. Thankfully, we all got our fill in time for Thanksgiving as the world was treated to the trailers featuring Keanu Reeves as Shadow the Hedgehog as well as the unexpected, but warranted, Jim Carrey coming back for another round not only as Dr. Eggman, but also Eggman's grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. As a diehard fan of this franchise who continues to absorb the games and their lore to this day, you bet your money that I was more than excited to see this movie mainly adapt one of the most praised Sonic games of my generation known as Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic games are not hugely known for their stories, but us fans have often dissected them to find deeper meanings as the series has evolved beyond the SEGA Genesis even despite some outsiders mocking games like Adventure 2 for being "too serious" for a kids franchise. That said, I have always loved Sonic games not just for gameplay, but also for story concepts, characters, and lore and I believe that Sonic movie 3 has proved to a wider audience that even despite its cartoony surface that the Sonic franchise can contain a big amount of sincerity, heart, and emotional punches with what it delivers and the way it alters, but closely adapts the story established in Sonic Adventure 2. That said, I will say what I always say with these reviews and ask, does it actually warrant any criticisms from fans and critics alike? To find out we must dive deep into the dark history of Project: Shadow. Let's strap on our power sneakers, rev up our supersonic speed, and boost our way into the explosive trilogy climax that is Sonic the Hedgehog 3!
*SPOILERS* (unless you are a Sonic fan, have seen the movie, or just don't care)
The movie starts off a while after Sonic the Hedgehog 2; after a 50-year slumber at the G.U.N. base on Prison Island near Tokyo, Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves) is awakened by an unknown individual and goes on a rampage against the soldiers. Meanwhile, Team Sonic consisting of Sonic the Hedgehog (voiced by Ben Schwartz), Miles "Tails" Prower (voiced by Colleen O'Shaughnessy), and Knuckles the Echidna (voiced by Idris Elba) enjoying life racing each other while setting him up for a surprise party for his Happy "Bearth" Day thrown by Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). Sonic and the others are soon summoned by G.U.N. Director Rockwell (Krysten Ritter) to intervene on Shadow's attack in Tokyo, the team attempting to take him on, but getting bested as Shadow unleashes his Chaos powers to subdue them. Shadow soon gets away after subduing a persistent Sonic, him, Tails, and Knuckles regrouping with G.U.N. Commander Walters (Tom Butler) at the Chao Garden in Tokyo; Walters informs them of the redacted version of Shadow's past in that he was an extraterrestrial lifeform from places unknown who was experimented on by the military before being deemed "too dangerous", the project lead being imprisoned while Shadow was sealed away in suspended animation. To everyone's surprise, they are attacked by Eggman drones, Commanders Walters dying, but not before giving Team Sonic the key to G.U.N.'s ultimate weapon to keep it from falling into the wrong hands; a mysterious motorcycle rider then subdues the drones, Sonic and co. following him to learn it was Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub) who was hiding an alive Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik (Jim Carrey). Sonic and friends, Eggman, and Stone come to a reluctant truce to catch whoever stole Eggman's drones and track him to the abandoned G.U.N. base where Shadow had previously spent his life on Earth. We learn through Shadow's flashback that he was once friends with the project lead's granddaughter, Maria (Alyla Browne), having a happy life together as the two developed a wonderful friendship. Hurt by the fact that Maria was taken from him, Shadow discovers the project lead still alive as Sonic and the rest infiltrate the facility, Shadow picking everyone off when Eggman meets the mysterious project lead, his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik (also Jim Carrey). Realizing he has any family still, Eggman finally feels like he belongs somewhere as he teams up with Gerald and Shadow to get rid of Sonic and co., Eggman bonding with Gerald in hopes that he finally found a way to kill Sonic and rule the world. When Sonic and co. escape their death trap, they warn Tom and Maddie of the villains' plans to activate Gerald's weapon, the Eclipse Cannon, which Gerald claims will destroy G.U.N. headquarters in London. As Sonic and family make a game plan to infiltrate G.U.N. themselves to stop them from retrieving the key to the weapon, little do even Eggman and Stone know of Gerald and Shadow's plan to get revenge on humanity for the death of Maria.
Most diehard Sonic fans knew from the beginning with the introduction of Shadow at the end of Sonic movie 2 that this third movie would be either an exact or loose adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, this perhaps being the first time in the movie franchise that a large portion of the movie is inspired by a game. Whereas the first movie was mainly similar to the first Sonic game only in name and the second movie integrated plot threads of the games Sonic 2 and Sonic 3 & Knuckles, this movie did its own movieverse version of Sonic Adventure 2's story, significantly altering some elements while at least keeping the core of what happens the same. The game of Sonic Adventure 2 had virtually the same backstory as this movie, the biggest alteration being the context of Shadow's past; the elements of Gerald experimenting on Shadow and Shadow and Maria being friends before she's tragically killed are all the same, but the setting and relationships are different. Sonic lore established in Adventure 2 has it where Shadow was the genetically-engineered experiment of Gerald's aboard the space station known as the "Space Colony ARK"; Maria and Shadow were therefore friends aboard the space station, with Maria wondering what it was like on Earth unlike the movie where they were friends on Earth staring up at the stars. Game Maria also had the established tragedy of a terminal illness that Shadow was being developed for under the government's approval for a cure; movie Maria had this aspect of her dropped entirely, her just being a kid whom Shadow bonded with in childhood. While I have always felt immensely sorry for Maria in the games, the removal of her illness from the movie honestly makes it less of a tryhard way to up the tragedy given the fact that, no matter what, Maria dies from a G.U.N. soldier as it's what makes Shadow the Hedgehog who he is. Sonic fans have had a weird way of expressing "excitement" over Maria's death based on the fact that in the games, she was shot directly by a G.U.N. soldier unlike the movie where a soldier's gun was aimed at her, but misfired toward a tube of Chaos energy that exploded, killing her. This change gave us the sadness of Maria's death without making it too dark in a film series that's more family appropriate; while I found it sickening that fans seemed excited to see Maria die potentially by a gunshot, I understand now in retrospect that they were just hoping the films would deliver us Shadow's proper emotional origin story moment, not that they wanted to see child Maria die. With the film giving us this defining moment, I was pleased that they did this part of Shadow justice. They even went against the books and had Gerald be alive unlike his posthumous antagonist role in the game, which I think works here as it allows Gerald to be a tangible threat as he manipulates Shadow and uses his own grandson for his own gain. Even though the deeper lore of Gerald's experiments and Project: Shadow were omitted for the sake of streamlining the elements of the movie, I am more than happy that they went as far as partially recreating the climax of Sonic Adventure 2 with the Eclipse Cannon and Super Sonic and Super Shadow teaming up to save the day.
The actors of these movies have also continued to do exceptionally well and this third movie is no exception; Ben Schwartz is an awesome voiceover for Sonic still, capturing that fun-loving, snarky energy that Sonic is known for. I appreciate him attempting to broaden his voice range as Sonic gets enraged at Shadow during the climax, but I will admit that his shouts and screams aren't exactly powerful enough to carry that rage as he tries to take his revenge. Regardless, Ben still did a good job at acting as Sonic and I'm sure he'll do more in years to come. As far as voiceovers, Colleen O'Shaughnessy and Idris Elba return as Tails and Knuckles respectively and have consistent performances with their previous appearances -- I have not seen the Knuckles show for myself, but I did see a preview that showcased Elba's usual quirky energy as he tries to turn everything around him into a serious warrior's job. Tails and Knuckles aren't given as much to do in this movie apart from being Sonic's cohorts, however, the real highlight of the voice actors is, without a doubt, Keanu Reeves as Shadow; Keanu is highly known for his natural darkness both in live roles and voiceovers and his Shadow is no exception. He sounds so much like the Shadow voice actors from the games that he's practically perfect for the role and carries the movie's emotional tone with his stoic vengeful persona contrasting to everyone else around him trying to have fun and be silly -- Eggman especially. Reeves' performance especially shines when we hear him speak softer during his stargazing moment with Maria with him in genuine doubt over what people think of him and that same questioning tone of voice comes back when he and Sonic reflect together on their need for vengeance while sitting on the moon under the stars. This was a perfect moment to get the hero and villain to come to their senses and Keanu Reeves was the best man for the job. The live actors also do great to stellar jobs as usual; James Marsden as Tom Wachowski continues to be the heart for Sonic's journey, reminding him early on that while Sonic lost Longclaw years ago, he didn't let it change who he was "in here" (he says pointing to his heart -- or lungs according to Sonic). While Marsden may not be the strongest actor still, it's moments like this that allow his character to anchor Sonic emotionally and it especially hits when Shadow inadvertently knocks out Tom, driving Sonic's quest for vengeance during the climax. Tika Sumpter isn't given much to do apart from emotional support to Tom, Sonic, and the rest, but she has a few gag moments where she scolds or punches Tom for acting disloyal to her, his wife, which are moments that are mainly played for laughs. The most laughs, however, come from Jim Carrey, returning not only as Dr. Eggman, but also taking on a dual role as Eggman's grandfather, Gerald Robotnik; as Eggman, Jim continues to display a lot of his usual bombastic, comedic energy he's known for, even getting to express a range of childlike happiness when he realizes Gerald is his only family who's still around. Given that he is digitally duplicated to play Gerald alongside himself, you could even say he plays off himself well with Gerald's slower, deeper, older-sounding voice contrasting to his regular vocal energy as Eggman. While he still plays into his comedic side as Gerald, Jim also is given moments of cold calculating menace especially when he reveals to Eggman -- "Ivo" as Gerald refers to him by his real name -- that his plan is not to destroy G.U.N., but rather the whole world for taking Maria, Gerald going as far as saying to him, "Oh, Ivo... you're no Maria." It was moments like this that made Gerald the true villain especially since Eggman always wanted a family and now that only family he had has left him feeling betrayed. I will even say that, despite her limited screentime, Alyla Browne does and exceptional job of portraying Maria as a fun kid who gets to play around and have fun with Shadow around the base, her persona making you feel attached to her once you learn of her death in flashbacks. Other actors such as Lee Majdoub as Agent Stone do a good job at reprising their roles and even Natasha Rothwell and Shemar Moore return in an unexpected scenario of of Maddie and Tom acting as Rachel and Randall respectively for the sake of infiltrating G.U.N. headquarters. While their actors may have had reduced roles due to people criticizing the second movie for giving "too much focus" to the humans, it was still nice to see them and everyone else return either unexpectedly or in ways you wouldn't expect.
To my surprise, the music ended up being a strong point -- mostly the licensed music though. The opening race between Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles containing the hit 2000 Goldfinger cover of "99 Red Balloons" gave me epic 2000s pop rock vibes very suiting to the era of music that I grew up in. Given the vibes I have for Sonic as a character as well as the amount of 2000s charm that 2001's Sonic Adventure 2 -- the game that inspired this movie -- gives off, I'd say it's quite fitting for the carefree nature of Sonic and friends during this moment of the movie. A funny connection that this movie has to the game series is the use of the song "Neon" by ONE OK ROCK; the song plays when Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles dive out of the helicopter toward Tokyo to intervene on Shadow's attack and it's funny because of the fact that ONE OK ROCK did the song "Vandalize" previously as an ending theme for 2022's Sonic Frontiers. I haven't heard much music by ONE OK ROCK in general, but I find it funny that thanks to, not one, but TWO Sonic products that I have and I may have to consider them as a new artist to listen to. I have not heard every song on the actual OST yet, but Spotify has allowed me to read the track names and learn that much of them are direct quotes from Sonic Adventure 2; for example, the first track is "It All Starts With This", which is the first line uttered by Shadow in the Hero Story of Adventure 2. The track that plays during Team Sonic's aforementioned helicopter dive is "Talk About Low Budget Flights", an iconic line from Sonic in the Hero Story opening of Adventure 2 and, funny enough, is uttered by this movie's Sonic immediately before they jump out of the helicopter -- you bet my inner fanboy geeked out. Eggman's ringtone only heard once toward the climax is the quintessential Eggman theme from the franchise titled "E.G.G.M.A.N." also from Sonic Adventure 2; it playing as Agent Stone calls was a funny blink and you miss it for the fans right before it led into the heartbreaking scene of Eggman rejecting Stone because the latter tried to warn him of Gerald and Shadow having ulterior motives. Funny enough, the track that plays as the Eclipse Cannon ascends into space includes a small reference to the leitmotif of a pretty iconic Eggman theme from the series; titled "Theme of Dr. Eggman" in Sonic '06, this theme carried from Sonic '06 to Sonic Unleashed to Sonic Colors and the small inclusion of this leitmotif during the Eggmen's imposing moment of their space station looming over the world was something I almost forgot about until my last viewing, but it was a fun thing that I'm pretty sure I noticed in the theater as well. Perhaps the biggest inclusion of any song from the games within the film series thus far is the inclusion of "Live & Learn" by Crush 40 from, you guessed it, Sonic Adventure 2; director, Jeff Fowler, made sure it was included in this movie and I approve because, in my opinion, it is the best Sonic theme song of all time and it is one reason Sonic Adventure 2 was so beloved. It enhanced not only the opening scene where Maria played the bars on acoustic guitar, but also the tracks throughout the climax where Super Sonic and Super Shadow were working together to plow through the G.U.N. robots in space. That song just as easily defined the final boss of Sonic Adventure 2 and although the boss itself (the Biolizard) wasn't even a thing in the movie, having it be Super Sonic and Shadow's teamwork song was what made the homage work so well.
Perhaps the most potent part of this movie that, in my opinion, elevates it over the others is the themes; Tom mentions early on how Sonic didn't let losing Longclaw change who he was inside -- "In my lungs", Sonic jokes. This sets up early on the connection between Sonic and Shadow because in the stargazing flashback with Maria, she, funny enough, says the exact same thing to Shadow regarding his doubt about the way people look at him like he's just some sort of experiment. For the fans, a potent part of Sonic Adventure 2 is how Shadow comes to his senses about getting revenge on humanity for the death of Maria and this thematic connection between Sonic and Shadow in the movie comes to a head when Sonic goes Super and tries to get revenge on Shadow for hurting Tom. That said, the Super Sonic vs. Super Shadow fight is not only something I've wanted to see outside this one clip of Sonic X because of how hard the idea goes, but the fact that it is this thematically strong makes it an emotional rollercoaster. Having had personal experience with learning against the prospect of revenge/payback toward people, I find in movies like this that when the hero attempts to go dark and kill the villain that I am actively rooting for them not to do it out of fear of what it will bring. It is only when Shadow demands Sonic to take his revenge and points to his chest saying, "Right here," that Sonic is able to remember what Tom told him, stirring on the emotional confrontation that Sonic and Shadow have on the moon. Here, they have a very real talk about how when you lose someone -- whether physically or mentally -- the pain never really goes away, and yet in the midst of that pain, there is one thing stronger: the love you had for them. To some, this may seem like a fast turn for Shadow as he reflects on his loss of Maria, but the situation that he and Sonic are in with the two staring up at the stars is a significant thing for Shadow because of how he did that with Maria all those years ago; for Shadow, his theme in that scenario was the idea that "The light shines even though the star is gone." And then at that moment, the sun rises on the moon, showing Shadow that even in the midst of his darkness that he can be a light himself, Sonic piggybacking with what Tom told him that "We always have a choice." In the movie's defense, Shadow's turn felt almost as abrupt in Sonic Adventure 2 as he was breaking free of the late Gerald's memory alteration to remember that Maria wanted him to save the world, not destroy it. I, personally, liked that even though Shadow decided to turn so quickly, the scene they have almost feels reminiscent of Sonic and Knuckles' scene in the second movie where Sonic is inspiring someone to be better even though they were initially the antagonist to him. It's moments like this that show that even movie Sonic inspires people to be better, much like his game counterpart, and I think that this movie does so in a thematically stronger way. And that, folks, is why I believe that Sonic movie 3 has so far been the best in the series that keeps proving how video game movies can be and are SO good nowadays.
The reality caused by a crucial decision to change Sonic's design in the first movie has led to this film series becoming such a great trilogy so far and Sonic 3 is the definitive best movie in such. Between its streamlined deviation from the game lore of Project: Shadow, the voice actors and live actors continuing to do great, the music having a strong role in why it works for casuals and fans, and the potent themes that make it darker, but deeper in a family friendly way, I believe we are living in the best reality of how this film series could have turned out. The fact that we are going beyond a trilogy and getting a Sonic the Hedgehog 4 in two years will be a great thing considering this movie's mid-credits scene ended off on the note of an army of Metal Sonics and the introduction of fan favorite, Amy Rose -- my favorite girl when I was a kid. With that cliffhanger and the post-credits reveal that Shadow survived, not only are there solid setups for a fourth movie, but there may even be a potential Shadow spinoff if they can't find a place for him in the next movie. As far as Jim Carrey returning, the Sonic fan in me believes that even with the death of Gerald and the heel turn heroic sacrifice of Eggman prime that movie 4 could have Jim come back in the form of an alternate timeline/dimension counterpart of Eggman known as Eggman Nega -- from Sonic Rush, Sonic Rivals, and other spinoffs. That's all just speculation by me and other fans at this point, but the fact that this movie series exists the way it does and that, in turn, the games have done so well recently makes me proud to be a Sonic fan and revel in the endless possibilities of what could come of this franchise. With all that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 does well on its own though, I give this movie an A- and recommend it to fans of the previous movies, diehard fans of the franchise, and newcomers who continue to flock toward the series.
Thank you all for reading and I will see you in the next review!
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