Behold, the ultimate power! Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the movie you’ve been waiting for; an action-packed, giddy love letter to the blue blur’s best frenemy and a dynamite threequel.
April 1, 2022: I sat in the cinema as the credits rolled on Sonic 2 (great, harmless fun that exceeded my expectations again). However, it was tinged with mild disappointment; “No Shadow then, I guess,” I murmured to my wife, with a resigned shrug.
I held on to “what if”, and my faith was rewarded: less than a minute later, my gun-toting, damn-quipping boy appeared (my reaction was louder than any of the children in attendance, but I was only… 25 at the time). With every announcement (Keanu Reeves, as I literally hoped for at the age of eight) and trailer, my excitement mounted… as did the cynicism that creeps in with age; would it do Shadow justice, and could it really be as good as it looks?
The answers are simple: yes and yes. Kids will undoubtedly have a brilliant time, but let me say this: whether you’ve stuck with Sonic through the years or have a vague but potent memory of Shadow, it will put a big smile on your face. It played me like a fiddle, and it felt like a symphony.
What is Sonic 3 about?
We open on a prison island in Tokyo Bay. Shadow (Reeves), a superpowered hedgehog that crash-landed on Earth and has been held in stasis for 50 years, is suddenly unleashed – and his fury against humanity knows no bounds, vowing to avenge his friend Maria (Alya Browne). “When I’m done, there won’t be anything left,” he promises.
There’s only one team that may be able to stop him: Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba), alongside Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter). Reluctantly, they enlist the help of Dr Robotnik (Jim Carrey) – now looking like “Elvis circa. 1976” – but when his grandfather (also Carrey) resurfaces, alliances are blurred, putting the fate of the entire planet at risk.
Sonic 3 is the Shadow show
It’s evident how much love and care has been committed to bringing Shadow to life. He’s a scene-stealer; Reeves’ melodramatic, Wick-esque vocals are perfectly pitched, and he’s rendered with tangibly vivid VFX. The most boring people you know write Shadow off as a wilfully edgy Sonic counterpart, but he’s an essential, dark mirror to Sonic, there’s more to him than his anger and weapons… although I did want to cheer when he shot his gun.
Crucially – and this shouldn’t be surprising, given director Jeff Fowler worked on Shadow ’05 – it nails his backstory with Maria (with a few notable, acceptable changes). “Tragic” may seem like a preposterous description of a fictional hedgehog’s origin, but it is, and it produces one of the best lines of the whole trilogy: “A light shines, even though the star is gone.”
Fowler’s direction and staging of action improved in Sonic 2, and he’s leveled up again here. There’s a crisp clarity and flow to the animation that’s never lost, even when things get… chaotic (with one great nod to Man of Steel), and while its cinematography can be a bit dull, it dazzles where it matters. Tom Holkenborg’s score is superb, too, sprinkled with familiar beats and coupled with a banging soundtrack – if you’re waiting for that song, you’ll be pleased.
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Sonic 3 has one weakness
If there’s one area where Sonic 3 falters, it’s Sonic himself – but it’s not a consequence of Schwartz’s performance, but the writing. “Konnichi-whaaat?” was a bad omen.
It’s not that it needs to be more sophisticated, and juvenile humor is fine, but the laugh rate is noticeably lower this time. Elba is really amusing as Knuckles, but Marsden is barely in it, giving Schwartz little to work with; when your titular character becomes tiresome, you have a problem.
Carrey is expectedly committed, delivering a zany, belly-slapping performance that’s devoid of any shame; he’s still got his mojo, and I wish he’d do other movies. It occasionally feels schticky, but he’s so likeably kooky it’s easy to forgive the moments where he’s annoying (of which there are few).
It’s not just its comedy that’s weak – outside of Shadow, there’s an argument to be made that it’s the weakest written of the three films: triter, flatter, and clearly cruising on the strength of its story rather than the screenplay. Will you care? It depends, but the fun outweighs any quibbles. If we get a fourth film, let’s just hope Fowler and co. live and learn.
Dexerto Review Score: 4/5 – Very Good
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a dream come true: a euphoric, grin-stretching spectacle that proudly honors the iconography of a video game icon – and his name isn’t in the title.
It may not be as funny as its predecessors, but that’s okay: what it gets right, it gets really right, and if it were up to me, Sonic 4 (with a few other… Heroes) would already be filming. “You can’t stop now, lock and load.”
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 hits cinemas on December 20. Find out more about the Sonic 3 Build-A-Bear collab, and check out our list of the best movies of 2024. For more information on how we score TV shows and movies, check out our scoring guidelines here.