Sonic the Hedgehog 3

<< 2024

Now Playing

>>

To kick this review off, I'll start with the fact that as far as the 'Sonic the Hedgehog' franchise goes, in its entirety, I had my Game Gear games and the better of two animated series. After a while, however, I grew out of it, and as a result, my familiarity with why we all went to see this movie, Shadow the Hedgehog (Keanu Reeves), is slim to none. Going into this, I knew he was an anti-hero character who looks like a more badass Sonic, and that's about it. So, I went into this chapter kinda blind.

This film introduces Shadow in such a way that he's gonna predictably become everyone's favourite character if he isn't already when you go into this. It's similar to how things worked with Daryl Dixon in 'The Walking Dead,' being that Shadow initially comes across as quite villainous. Still, his whole story will eventually make you sympathize with him in more ways than we have with other characters in these movies. Almost 40% of what makes this film so good (yes, I said "so good") is Shadow.

I won't spoil Shadow's backstory, but he does kick things off by escaping a G.U.N. (Guardian Units of Nations) facility, which has been keeping him in a state of suspended animation and experimenting on him, under surveillance. G.U.N. is also the group responsible for what they now refer to as "Team Sonic," consisting of Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba), who act as superheroes with their respective powers of speed, brains/flight, and strength.

As the team, along with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter), get ready to celebrate the first anniversary of Sonic coming to Earth, it's interrupted by G.U.N. Director Rockwell (Krysten Ritter), who needs the team's help to apprehend Shadow, who's wreaking havoc in Tokyo Japan. Upon their first battle, Shadow makes short work of the team, but soon, the team ends up seeking help from the most unlikely of teammates, Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and his assistant, Agent Stone (Lee Majdoub).

The scenario ends up being of the classic "the enemy of my enemy is my friend" variety, which I'm a bit of a sucker for. I love an unlikely team-up, and what makes this one interesting is Ivo Robotnik's battle of conscience. As any trailer you've seen revealed, he eventually meets up with his estranged grandfather, Gerald Robotnik (also Carrey), who informs him of his plans of world domination, using Shadow to their advantage, which Ivo finds hard to resist. But, I'll say nothing more than that on the subject.

Returning to what makes the film so good, Jim Carrey plays two roles here, and he plays off himself so incredibly well that you can't help but admire the fun he still has with the craft. It doesn't stop there, either, though. Between the two characters, it's unbelievable, but a lot of the humour they show is met with moments of seriousness and drama, even a dark scene where one tears up. You get to see his range here, and it's awesome to see him back to being all he can be in these roles. He's another 40% of what makes this good.

The other 10% is how amazing the movie looks. Despite things mainly occurring on Earth, you get what you want to see from all characters involved: the humans retaking a back seat. You get a lot of that high-octane energy one might want from a 'Sonic' game, much more than the first two films, and it's impressive to see the dramatic (if predictable) storytelling and character development here. With lessons to be learned and messages to be taken in on top of a LOT of crazy, anime-style action, I'm going to say this is easily, remarkably, the best of the three.

4/5

---