Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Review - Everything Fans Have Waited For

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There were several moments during Sonic the Hedgehog 3 in which I couldn’t believe what I was seeing on the big screen. Someone put $122 million behind the characters and events I and all my friends chose as the apex of coolness in second grade. It made a part of me so happy that the film’s flaws barely whisper over “Live and Learn” on its soundtrack. This is all to say that I will not provide an objective review of Sonic 3, but I will celebrate an experience I really enjoyed.

Director Jeff Fowler has a long history in animation. Sonic voice actor Ben Schwartz regularly praises Fowler’s mastery of CGI, and it really shines through here. These are Fowler’s only live-action feature credits. He’s been a part of the franchise since he worked on CGI movie production on Shadow the Hedgehog in 2005. Sonic fans won the lottery with Fowler. If every video game movie had someone like him, they wouldn’t have as much stigma attached.

Gotta Go Fast

As the end-credits scene of Sonic 2 revealed, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 contains the big-screen debut of Shadow. His backstory is a tiny bit different, but it follows most of the beats from Sonic Adventure 2. Sonic 3 opens with Shadow’s escape from a military base and very rarely slows down from there. His captors, the Guardian Units of Nations, or G.U.N., reach out to Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles for help. In short order, Shadow decimates the trio in combat and hits the road. The defeat sends Team Sonic running, but another attack pushes them to forge an uneasy partnership with Robotnik. Together, the mad scientist and his mortal enemies find Eggman’s grandad, Gerald Robotnik. Turns out, Gerald intends to partner with Eggman and Shadow to launch an attack that could doom the world. It’s a relatively breezy story that fits the tone well.

Like the other Sonic movies, the third entry is a fast-paced action movie with a kids’ movie moral undertone. It’s goofy, comedic, and unbothered with a lot of the fine details. Like many Sonic games, the sheer speed leaves some elements blurry and indistinct. Each Sonic film is about finding family, learning to heal, and the power of friendship. This one hones in on the grief elements, providing a familiar message about revenge and its inherent destructiveness. This isn’t Oldboy, but the anti-vengeance stance provides some decent emotional catharsis. There are a lot of relationships shifting in Sonic 3. Sonic, Knuckles, Tails, Tom, and Maddie have formed a de facto nuclear family at this point. Eggman and Gerald have a new rapport that blends with Shadow and Eggman’s assistant, Stone. It all hangs together well enough, only occasionally slipping from sincere into corny territory.

Black and Blue

It seems like the Sonic movies will continue their current trend of selling each sequel off one or two big characters. With that in mind, Shadow is what the fans were hoping for. There is not an ounce of irony in him. The Ultimate Life Form is a brooding, grim, and serious-minded foil to Sonic, but their relationship is note-perfect superhero rivalry dialogue. There was plenty of room to play him like LEGO Batman. They could have self-consciously poked fun at the character’s edgy presentation and had a ball doing it, but they stuck to their literal gun on this one. Every action sequence Shadow pops up in plays like a multi-million dollar upgrade of a YouTube fan film from the early 2000s. If you have a soft spot for this kind of buttrock-soundtracked AMV fuel like I do, you’ll be standing on your seat in the theater.

Shadow helms many of the film’s best action sequences. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 packs several compelling set pieces into a single project. One of my favorite elements of action films is their ability to communicate character through fight scenes. This movie provides the most straightforward version of that accomplishment. Sonic throws his body at every opponent or lands 100 punches in a second. Knuckles smashes and crashes his way through everything in his path. Tails mostly just flies around and pulls people out of danger. Shadow is more decisive, teleporting into close range and launching decisive single strikes. These little elements, along with constantly changing environments and truly impressive CGI, keep the action sequences engaging. In its action, framing, and basically every other element, this feels like an anime movie. That was the perfect source of inspiration, and it really pays off.

A Colorful Bunch

If there’s a glowing weak point in this film, its the tonal unease. The Shadow stuff is all broadly serious, while Jim Carrey’s double performance is characteristically manic. This is obviously an action comedy, as the previous two films were, but the jokes have further to fall when they follow sincerely dark moments. Not every gag holds up, but a lot of them do. Bits and pieces feel like Jim Carrey throwing things at the wall, where other gags feel overwritten. You obviously have to make allowances for a film for children, but the references that target parents tend to be the worst offenders. No one will be happy with all of the jokes, but I’m assuming everyone will find a few laughs.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the best of the franchise so far. It’s a compelling, enjoyable, goofy, camp explosion of sincere fun that hits its target audience like a well-timed homing attack. Hardcore Sonic fans and kids will fall in love with this project. Newcomers and parents will have a fine time along the way. This was the perfect capstone for the Year of Shadow and a true gift to his fanbase. Sonic 3 is way past cool.