Intro
The third film in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise finally opened in theaters across the U.S on December 19th, 2024. There was a special feeling in the air when my friend and I finally got to see it that evening as Sonic fans have practically been counting down the days until this movie’s release for over two years. The reason for this being Shadow’s appearance in the after credits scene of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as, given his prominence as a character in the franchise, that was enough to propel the entire film series to unexpectedly greater heights.
While the storyline was confirmed to have been heavily inspired by the beloved Sonic Adventure 2 game, in which Shadow was first introduced, Jeff Fowler also stays true to the unique cinematic universe he’s created for the ‘blue blur’. In this third film, we see Sonic face off against Shadow who has awakened 50 years after the organization G.U.N killed his only companion Maria. While he partners with Ivo Robotnik and his grandfather Gerald to destroy the world as an act of revenge, Sonic must find a way to stop them alongside his family and help Shadow come to his senses before it’s too late. Unlike the others, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 broadens the world of the film series with more serious undertones – ultimately showing us a much bigger phase of Sonic’s growth.
Acting and Comedy
Such quality voice acting so excellently showcased our protagonists’ character development from the second film, making them seem natural and their scenes so wholesomely satisfying to watch. Ben Shwartz’s voice acting hits Sonic’s wider range of emotions while consistently maintaining his jokester personality every step of the way. Alongside him, Colleen O’Shaughnessy’s voice acting pleasantly portrays Tails as the innocent, but now more fun-loving fox with the plan while Idris Elba commits himself to a Knuckles who is more dutiful towards his new family yet soft at just the right moments.
Meanwhile, you can sense the fun James Marsden and Tika Sumpter have in delivering a fun quirkiness to their roles as supportive and adventurous parental figures. In this film, however, we become more attached to them as caregivers with their stellar displays of serious emotion during certain dire scenes. All of these performances combined to give us such a perfectly lively Wachowski family dynamic.
On the antagonist side, we also have Keanu Reeves making his debut into the film series by using his uniquely dark and serious voice to give life to Shadow in a way that’s so fitting for this version of the character. We also have Jim Carrey making his return to give his classic, over the top performance of Ivo Robotnik. This time around, he also played his grandfather Gerald Robotnik, delivering a particularly comical performance reminiscent of his role in A Christmas Carol. Alongside Carrey, though, we also have Lee Majdoub heightening the intensity of Agent Stone’s character by fully delivering the deeper depths of his iconic devotion to Dr. Eggman in the most amusing way. While this film involves the inclusion of all these characters and more, it also does a very good job of balancing them out throughout events.
The plotline that came with Shadow’s entrance also opened up new opportunities for comedy as well. While I do think this element of the film overwhelmed the drama needed to completely reel us in at certain points, I did still love many of the jokes they came up with. My favorites included Sonic calling Shadow “Hot Topic”, him confusing Tom’s reference to his heart with his lungs, his speedy exploration of London’s best tourist spots, and Maddy sassily threatening a G.U.N employee while disguised as Rachel.
Animation and Cinematography
The stellar animation contributed to the film’s overall quality visuals. While this is true for both its action and space portion, it’s strongest when we see the Sonic characters themselves. Especially with all the close ups, we’re shown even their most nuanced facial expressions and the smallest bits of electricity coursing through their bodies in just the right amount of detail. Their movements are also so smooth and natural looking. Although, the only exception comes during the scene where Sonic takes the passkey card from Director Walters as Sonic’s hand appears to have a puppet-like stiffness to it.
Looking farther out, the fight scenes in particular stood out as visual spectacles that felt exciting to watch all throughout. Right after Sonic’s first fight, in which he chases after Shadow through the busy night time streets of Tokyo, we get a thrilling and fast-paced sequence with hints of the classic slow motion flare that’s become a staple for Sonic within the films. The addition of Sonic’s hurried spin dashes and the long shot of their different colored light paths were extra details that helped make this scene so captivating to watch.
Similar use of colors and long shots were also used in their astonishing final showdown. If witnessing the both of them in their super forms wasn’t exciting enough, watching them zip across various parts of the globe while battling it out takes things to the next level. It served as a proper precursor into their team up, fending off against hundreds of Gerald Robotnik’s enemy bots while flying through space in a spectacular light show – all to the tune of the fan-favorite song from the original Sonic Adventure 2 game Live and Learn by Crush 40. When it comes to the fight scenes, it’s clear that the filmmakers utilized everything in their disposal to amplify their intensity for the overall series.
The film also had its particular moment to shine with its editing when Tom is in Sonic’s old cave letting him know how important it is that he didn’t let Long Claw’s death change him for the worse. As Sonic replies by saying that he probably would have turned out much different if he never found a new family in Tom, we cut to Shadow menacingly walking through the streets of Tokyo in the rain. All in one masterfully clever transition, the filmmakers were able to give such an excellent introduction to Shadow’s character in a way that naturally ties in the film’s theme around grief – and who we can become after losing someone.
The Theme of Grief
All throughout, the filmmakers found a way to execute this theme quite nicely for the world of the film. A significant feat considering fans’ concerns over the accuracy of adapting Shadow’s storyline from Sonic Adventure 2 without Amy Rose there to inspire his change with a reminder of his promise to Maria that he would protect the Earth. Instead, such change comes solely from the progression in his relationship to Sonic. The core of this being Tom and Maria’s parallel sentiments to Sonic and Shadow about staying true to who they are in their heart – where the best version of them lies. When Sonic fails to make an impact on Shadow by reiterating this message, we are shown how disconnected they truly are at the beginning given how much more ease Sonic has had following that sentiment due to the difference in their experiences.
Then, in a scene that’s quite suspenseful to watch, Shadow injuring Tom challenges Sonic’s capacity to stay that way. It leads him to betray his friends so that he can go after Shadow in a frenzied revenge attack. However, Shadow pointing to his heart right when he’s about to kill him serves as a reminder of Tom that gives Sonic the strength to come back to himself and resist going through with it. Only here does he fully recognize the enormity of Shadow’s pain, which allows him to empathize with Shadow more authentically. More importantly, though, he realizes that the love we have for the people we’ve lost is stronger than the pain of our grief, and that only the former can lead us to a better future. For the movie, demonstrating this mix of empathy and knowledge to Shadow is the thing that helps him turn away from vengeance in the absence of his infamous promise to Maria. With this as an alternative, the film manages to deliver a beautiful scene that helps both Sonic and Shadow undergo the necessary growth they need to become better heroes.
Flaw 1: Ivo and Gerald Robotnik
Despite everything that’s amazing about Sonic the Hedgehog 3, it isn’t without its flaws. While Jim Carrey delivers an amazingly comedic portrayal of both, the scenes we get of Ivo and Gerald Robotnik are quite boring in scene structure. Their first meeting, for instance, felt more explanatory and stagnant compared to something like the Wachowski family’s G.U.N infiltration breakdown where they use a variety of dynamic visuals to compliment their descriptions.
In a similar sense, using their big showdown against each other only as a way to carry the humor of the film’s climax made for a rather odd watch with their bug themed attacks and childish spanking. Considering what Gerald meant to Ivo, this scene could have also maintained the riveting momentum much better by taking their dire circumstance a bit more seriously and using that as fuel for them to outsmart each other in more inventive ways that showcases the true extent of their respective intelligence. However, while scenes like these could have been more creative to compliment Jim Carrey’s acting, there were some that nail it quite nicely. Their laser room dance and catching up montage were some of my favorite scenes in the whole movie as I became more impressed with every second watching how far they took the ridiculousness of their relationship.
Flaw 2: Shadow and Maria
In addition, while the film honors Maria’s role as the one with which Shadow has the strongest connection to in accordance with the games, executing this idea with just a montage of their shenanigans made it feel a bit surface level. It’s a logical choice to make her such a constantly happy person to define her as the light in Shadow’s dismal life at G.U.N, but perhaps further emphasizing Shadow’s point of view of her throughout the montage would have delivered that sentiment in a more emotional way. Alternatively, exploring more elements of who Maria is would have also connected the audience further to her as a character while providing opportunities to show us instances between them that make their friendship appear deeper than how it was shown in the montage. While the portrayal of their friendship was rightfully wholesome and Maria’s message achieved its significance, either one of these fixes would have helped ensure an even more powerful feel for this part of the film.
Lost in Translation: Shadow’s Backstory in the Games vs. The Movie
Both issues seem directly related to the film having changed a few defining details of Shadow’s backstory from the original game – something many fans have expressed their dissatisfaction with so far. This is understandable as staying true to such elements would have strengthened the impact of Shadow’s side of the story. As opposed to him mysteriously crash landing on Earth on an asteroid then meeting Gerald and Maria afterwards, the original lore had Gerald create Shadow on the Space Colony ARK spaceship in an effort to cure Maria of a life-threatening illness. Aboard the ship, he and Maria developed a sentimental friendship where they shared mutual dreams of visiting Earth and made the previously mentioned promise to her that he would protect the world from danger. However, watching her die at the hands of G.U.N soldiers leads him to misinterpret the promise by trying to destroy the Earth to avenge her.
Adapting Shadow’s backstory more accurately to the games would have furthered our emotional connection to these three characters in many ways. While it’s still unknown why they kept Maria’s illness out of the film’s story, incorporating this element would have given her character more depth and shown us how much Shadow meant to her- not just the other way around. Keeping Shadow’s promise to protect the Earth for Maria would have also made his change at the end more emotional. This is especially true considering how it connects to loving her more than his desire for vengeance and staying true to who he really is in his heart. While both of these elements work to add a softer profundity to their friendship, having Gerald create Shadow to save Maria adds a seriousness to Gerald’s character that would have made his scenes with Ivo more intriguing. In other words, there is a layer of sentimentality in these missing details that would have shown us the true tragedy of their downfall as a family – further connecting us to their story while complimenting Sonic’s film storyline.
Credits & Post-Credits Scenes
After this wild ride of pros and cons, watching the credits served as another visually fun treat. In it, we get to see team Sonic, seemingly in their Sonic the Fighters video game designs, looking around at a virtual city with clips from the Sonic films playing on the building screens. Amongst other instances and characters, we also get to see Ivo and Gerald Robotnik in their older video game designs recreating the laser room dance scene as well as Shadow and Sonic recreating their big fight out in space. Such visuals pay homage to just how far Sonic the Hedgehog has come as a franchise over the many years since his creation in the early 90s.
The two after credits scenes, though, is something that Sonic fans are definitely going to want to stick around for as it confirms the inclusion of three major Sonic characters in the next film. The most exciting of these confirmations comes in the first one, where we see the appearance of Metal Sonic and Amy Rose! Her absence in this third film had some fans, especially myself, nervous that she would never make an appearance in the Sonic Cinematic Universe considering how beloved she has become as a character and the crucial role she was supposed to play in Shadow’s story. So, to see her beautifully fitting character design and amazingly adapted Piko-Piko Hammer felt like nothing short of winning the Super Bowl for those who love her. As for Metal Sonic, his design is adapted so perfectly into the film as well since they managed to make him look exactly like he does in much of the Sonic media he’s in. It seems quite apparent that he is set to become the next film’s main antagonist, which is an excitingly smart move considering both Robotnik deaths and the unlikely chance of either of their revivals.
If this news wasn’t exhilarating enough, after seemingly facing his death by pushing the Ark away from the Earth before it exploded, the second after credits scene also confirms Shadow’s survival as he is seen on Earth picking up one of the rings he took off before doing so. With Metal Sonic as the next villain and Amy Rose and Shadow as new protagonists alongside Sonic, there exists now so many possibilities for unique adventures and character dynamics for the next film that will undoubtedly fuel the expansion of the Sonic Cinematic Universe.
Overall Thoughts
While Sonic the Hedgehog 3 isn’t my favorite Sonic film given what wasn’t achieved as a result of its flaws, it was still definitely worth the wait and overall just such a blast to watch! The film truly does amp up the stakes and manages to explore one of the most important stories in the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in a way that’s not too overwhelming. Part of that unfortunately took missing out on some opportunities to fully explore the drama of such a story, the inclusion of which would have made the emotional moments stronger alongside the frequent humor unique to the film series. However, with its cast of consistently lovable characters and ability to stun us with ever impressive visuals and theme execution, the film’s quality steals the show in brand new ways. Everything it had to offer in this regard has made witnessing the progression of the overall film series super exciting. I remain in awe over how they managed to make it so great given where it started. Not to mention how hard it is to successfully adapt a video game into a film in the first place. Luckily, it doesn’t look like they plan on stopping their sonic speed inertia just yet, and I for one cannot wait to see what they do next!
