Review: “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”: Double Your Villains, Double Your Fun?

At this point the Sonic movie train shows no signs of slowing down (handy if you’re headed for the Mystic Ruins). After two enjoyable theatrical outings and a…controversial Knuckles streaming show, the world waited expectantly for Sonic 3.

After their previous adventure, Sonic and his found family have been enjoying the peace. This ends when sabotage awakens the mysterious Shadow the Hedgehog from his fifty year slumber. More than a match for Sonic, Shadow nurses unresolved trauma from a ill fated secret project GUN operated decades ago. And he’s not the only one as the mastermind of his escape is soon revealed to be Gerald, Robotnik’s equally brilliant long lost grandfather. A long held vendetta is about to threaten the entire planet.

When the mid-credits scene of the previous film revealed 3 would be an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, fans the world over had one question- “How?”. SA2 is easily one of the darkest games in the Sonic series, extending to conspiracies, terrorism and most infamously the murder of a child. How was this story going to fit in with a very family friendly film series?

The answer in part is to not do a 1:1 adaptation. None of the Sonic movies have been but here we get the closest attempt yet and some of that requires jettisoning some of the more outlandish elements, with Shadow being a perfect example. In the games Shadow is the supposed ‘Ultimate Lifeform’, an artificial being created by Gerald in his experiments to find a cure for his granddaughter Maria’s affliction. Here, Shadow is made a counterpart to Sonic who arrived on Earth but was instead found by the US military rather than a loving family. I’m sure some fans will bristle at the removal of Shadow’s ‘most special boy’ status but as someone absolutely tired of current Sega mandates meaning the character can only preen and posture I welcome this alternate take that simultaneously reawakens the tragedy and heroism of the character, bolstered by the voice work of Keanu Reeves. I was a little concerned by how poorly he did in a pre-release hype game level of DLC but in the film itself he’s perfectly cast as the edgiest hedgy. Whilst game Shadow often feels like an over compensating fan OC, this is a far more palatable take. I have similar praise for Alyla Browne’s Maria. In other Sonic media Maria is often cast as an impossibly pure waif but by removing the whole plot of her fictional disease we get to see a more sincere and realistic friendship struck up between the pair. The character is only in the film briefly but Browne and the script make every moment count.

This is of course the ideal time to discuss the other new member of the Robotnik clan, Professor Gerald…and he’s the one I’m least impressed with. Promotion of the film has made much of this basically being a victory lap for Jim Carrey, with him playing both Gerald and the returning Doctor Ivo via the use of compositing and body doubles. The actual effects side of this is masterfully done and you’d be hard pressed to tell any wizardry had been done (bar one awkward sequence). But the problem is having two Carreys is diminishing returns. In the games much is made of how Ivo is a clownish manchild whereas Gerald was his idol and the respectable face of the Robotnik family. Here, both Robotniks are played for comedy and it gets old incredibly quick. Even after a dramatic turning point the film continues to have them mug at each other rather than offer any true distinction. To mildly paraphrase Tommy Lee Jones during filming of Batman Forever, I cannot sanction his buffoonery.

You might notice that I’ve a lot to say about the antagonist side of the story and to be honest that’s because the heroes don’t offer much. Whilst both Knuckles and Tails get slightly stronger writing (the inconsistent streaming spinoff left me scared Knuckles was doomed to be a one note character in this series), I feel we’ve hit a dead-end for Ben Schwartz’s Sonic. Throughout the movie he’s delivering forced comedy or forced angst and neither script or actor makes it work for me. I’m not trying to dunk on Ben, as indeed projects like the Rise of the TMNT finale movie show he can deliver on more dramatic moments but here it’s just not there. So much of that first movie hinged on Sonic’s pathos and isolation. It doesn’t help that the character’s angst hinges on the series original human characters, who for me have long overstayed their welcome. Only Lee Majdoub’s masterful return as fan favourite movie original character Agent Stone inspires.

There are of course a number of callbacks to the games sprinkled throughout though usage varies in its delivery. It’s fun to see things like the Dreamcast-era Chao Garden mini game reimagined as a Tokyo restaurant and there’s even a few sneaky references to fandom memes (don’t let Shadow steal your passport).

All in all Sonic 3 is a fun movie and ups the stakes. But simultaneously, it also shows that three movies in this is a film that has fallen into some traps of its own design and in certain areas still seems unsure exactly what it wants to be. But it still as a series has time to address these problems and settle on answers.

And based on what the mid-credits scene teases for Sonic 4….ooooh, this lifelong fan is very excited!

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