Sonic the Hedgehog 3

With the Marvel-ication of a lot of franchises, it seemed inevitable that the Sonic series would eventually follow suit. Whereas the first two films leaned on Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and his nemesis Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) with new characters and characters from the video game hoping in and out. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 goes bigger, bolder, and faster as any sequel to a kids movie usually does. But will all this new flash and bang elevate this series to new heights or is it “game over man!”?

Sonic is enjoying his life with his friends and family: Tom (James Marsden), Maddie (Tika Sumpter), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba). But an emergency at a secret G.U.N. facility requires Commander Walters (Tom Butler) to bring in Team Sonic to help. It seems 50 years ago a creature similar to Sonic named Shadow (Keanu Reeves) was hidden away after a terrible accident. Now Shadow is out and looking for revenge, so Sonic must enlist the help of Dr. Robotnik to bring Shadow down before he brings destruction to the planet.

As mentioned before, this Sonic sequel is very Marvel, more specifically it’s almost beat for beat Captain America: The Winter Soldier. Which as this point is 10 years old, so most kids into Sonic would not have this Marvel classic on their radar. But it really goes through the motions, it opens with how dangerous the new villain with similar abilities to our hero. We join our hero running with new friends, they go on a secret mission, our hero finds out more secrets about the organization he is working with. A trusted member of the organization is the real threat, and the final battle is on a carrier/station that came from beneath a large body of water. And the ending? Well you can rewatch Winter Soldier or see this more brightly colored version to find out.

Now in spite all of its unoriginality, including the Shadow backstory which shares quite a bit with The Iron Giant. Right down to Shadow being told by his child friend that he doesn’t have to be a weapon. This third Sonic movie is quite enjoyable. There a ton of funny set pieces, there are some great throwaway lines throughout and we get a double dose of Jim Carrey which really picks up the slack. Especially during all the heavy moments when Shadow is doing his best John Wick impression. Which plays kinda meta cool when they do it well.

Sonic 3 really does go full superhero movie here, but it is one of the better versions out there. The action is a little goofy at times and the familiar messages are very worn at this point, but that doesn’t stop director Jeff Fowler and his team from turning in a film that will entertain both fans and families alike. And as with any superhero film, stay for the stinger, it had my 11-year old screaming and jumping up and down for more than I was comfortable with. But then I remember what I did when Cap wielded Mjölnir in Endgame, and the stranger next to me gave me the same look. Shields? Sneakers? We love what we love.