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Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Movie Review

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 2024 action adventure live-action animated film directed by Jeff Fowler and starring Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz and Keanu Reeves. It’s another strong entry in this franchise.

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“The light shines even though the star is gone“

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Sonic, Knuckles and Tails reunite to battle Shadow, a mysterious new enemy with powers unlike anything they’ve faced before. They seek out an unlikely alliance to stop Shadow and protect the planet. This movie was based on the game ‘Sonic Adventure 2’ and it’s quite faithful to it in the overall plot, though we do not get to see all characters from that game appear. This was a natural fit for a movie adaptation as probably the richest game in the series plotwise.

This is such a fun flick for the whole family that can also appeal to adults who like Jim Carrey, gamers, and anybody else with an open heart for some good-old fashioned fun. Shadow is a very good character and his backstory felt deep and tragic. The movie balanced its more dramatic and heartbreaking sequences with the more irreverent and comedic tone mostly successfully, delivering both gravitas and charm. Keanu Reeves was very good in the role, Shadow looked great and I found his arc to be quite moving, and him eventually teaming up with Sonic exciting. I just wished for more of those flashbacks with Maria as their friendship was rushed and undercooked.

As for Sonic, he was fun as always. At times his pop-culture references were overwhelming and too reminiscent of ‘Deadpool’, but for the most part I liked his story here and how they touched upon the importance of trust in friendship through his dynamic with Tails and Knuckles. Speaking of the two, both are quite underutilized in this movie that has way too many characters to handle all at once, but still they got their moments – Tails was as adorable and heroic as ever while Knuckles got some very funny one-liners for himself.

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As for Jim Carrey, he was delightful in what was a dual role in this story. He plays not just Dr. Robotnik, but also his grandfather Gerald. The result is a lot of goofy and silly mayhem that fitted this material very well and is amusing for both kids and adults. I did get the sense that these two got too much focus taken away from other characters, but when they are this fun and genuinely funny in their cartoony sensibilities, who can really complain. I also loved the continued gay romantic dynamics between Robotnik and his henchman Agent Stone, who was very memorable and funny here. As for the other human characters, I could have honestly gone without them as they took away from the more exciting anthropomorphic creations.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 looks and sounds great. The soundtrack is exciting and some of the best theme songs from the games are used, which was nice to witness. The animation was mixed pretty well with live-action and I loved how all of the animal characters looked – their fur was especially cool and the scenes when they were dirty made them look super cute. Some of the dialogue was clichéd, but the messaging was perfect and important for children as it teaches them the values of friendship and staying away from anger and revenge while also trying to not let your past tragedies define you. The humor was often immature and dumb, but I laughed out loud more than a couple of times, which is a testament to strong acting and writing.

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The movie mixed well the American blockbuster sensibilities with anime vibes. The action as well as the humor was very American while the third act was very Japanese with Shadow and Sonic emulating Vegeta and Goku to the extreme. As a big Dragon Ball fan, I loved that. I have to say that I did not find this movie better than the last as they are of very similar quality. This one is less adventurous and more uneven, but darker and better written in plot. The first post-credits scene hinting at the arrival of Amy Rose really put a smile on my face. It was such an exciting post-credits sequence and better done than Marvel scenes. Let’s hope the fourth movie is another delight.