Jim Carrey Doubles the fun in a Sequel that Satisfies at a Breakneck Pace
DIRECTED BY JEFF FOWLER/2024
In the age of the interconnected media multiverse, movies made “by fans for fans” are frequently a blur of references and easter eggs with little else to offer. As the third installment in a franchise capitalizing on nostalgia for a ’90s video game character, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 certainly could have fallen into those very traps. In expanding the in-fiction universe and roster of fan-favorite characters, most notably by introducing pop cultural icon Shadow the Hedgehog to the film series, it seemed the most likely outcome.
Instead, I can honestly say that Sonic The Hedgehog 3… is pretty darn good!
The movie hits the ground running (sorry) and simply does not stop. At even 100+ minutes, the story moves at an almost breakneck pace. From an explosive prison break at the start to a final fistfight on the moon, with brief visits to every biome imaginable in between, this movie trucks.
In 1985, an alien entity crashlanded on Earth and was summarily taken into custody by the United States government. This “ultimate lifeform,” a seemingly boundless source of chaos energy, was none other than Shadow the Hedgehog – a Sonic look-alike with a voice like John Wick and a justified hatred of humanity. After fifty years of captivity and experimentation, this omnipowered edgelord (voiced by none other than Keanu Reeves) is released from stasis by a mysterious benefactor eager to manipulate the troubled creature for his own villainous agenda.
I could see this being a point of contention for some people. While Sonic 3 has been marketed largely as a movie about the red-and-black anthromorph on all posters and promotional images, Shadow must unfortunately play second fiddle to Jim Carrey — who has not only returned to acting, but doubles down with two distinct roles. With great nuance and a great prosthetic nose, Carrey takes the stage as not just Doctor Eggman but the good doctor’s long lost grandfather, Gerald Robotnik. With two Jim Carreys on screen at once, playing off each other (himself? himselves?) and making a meal of the scenery, it’s hard for a superpowered CGI hedgehog to keep up.
Still, Shadow is more than fanservice. As undeniably cool as he may be — the color scheme; the voice; the motorcycle chase lifted straight from that Winter Soldier arc in Avengers—, he is given a character arc of impressive emotional depth. Fans will be relieved to know the film largely embraces the established canon of Shadow’s origins, allowing this film to visit darker places than the prior two installments.
At its core, this is a movie about relationships and loss — the ones we’ve lost or never had, the empty spaces in our lives, the grief that comes to fill it, and the relationships after. There is Sonic, who grieves the loss of mentor Longclaw and his original home, even with his new family on Earth. There is Shadow, who grieves the time lost to imprisonment, but even more the loss of Maria, his only friend and the only human he could trust. And there is Eggman, confronted by a grandfather he’s never known and finding a father figure he’s never had.
The only true flaw of this movie, arguably, is that it never slows down quite long enough to really do any of these relationships full justice. It is so jampacked with story and moving at such a clip that it simply can’t give a theme like grief the breathing room it needs – at least, maybe to an adult. I don’t know if that’s a legitimately fair criticism or reasonable expectation. This is an action-adventure film made for an all-ages audience, starring a blue hedgehog whose catchphrase is “gotta go fast.”
At the end of the day, Sonic 3 could have been just an excuse to introduce Shadow and sell tickets. It really only needed to be passable. And yet, the movie is better than passable — I’d say it’s downright good. The script is self-aware but not exhaustingly so, and the mile-a-minute jokes are paired with some genuinely tender beats. To fans of the characters and franchise, it’s a great time with plenty of little winks and nods. To casual moviegoers, it’s a fun, action-packed story with plenty of laughs that isn’t overburdened with references or prerequisites.
While some skepticism towards three-quels and IP driven projects is understandable, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is something of an achievement, deftly leaping over every potential stumbling block and outpacing expectations. When a fourth installment arrives, as teased in the post credits sequence (for which our screening went berserk), you’ll find me in line with the rest of the superfans, won over by the humor and heart of this series.