Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

 

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)

5/10

Starring

Jim Carrey

James Marsden

Tika Sumpter

Ben Schwartz (voice)

Keanu Reeves (voice)

Colleen O'Shaughnessey (voice)

Idris Elba (voice) 

Directed by Jeff Fowler

The movie is kind of boring. The best way to start this is to acknowledge that all the Sonic films are not masterpieces—they’re made for entertainment and are slowly but surely introducing characters from the game one at a time. That’s a good thing. The franchise isn’t rushing or trying to overwhelm us with too many characters at once. So far, we’ve got Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, and now the new introduction is Shadow the Hedgehog.

Shadow’s origin in the game is different from the movie. In the game, he’s a creation of genetic engineering by Professor Gerald Robotnik, the grandfather of Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik. In the movie, Shadow was contained in a meteorite that landed on Earth in 1974—50 years before the events of the film.

The movie does its best to maintain the flow with its CGI and visual effects. It has a steady pace, which makes it easy to stay focused—kudos to the director. However, I felt the story wasn’t as engaging as I would’ve liked, and maybe that’s the point. Maybe the idea is to make it simple enough for kids to follow, since adults might not be the target audience. The lack of complexity in the plot and the absence of a major thrilling reveal were noticeable. As you watch, you can pretty much guess how things will turn out. The only thing that stood out as a major surprise to me was how strong and nearly unstoppable Shadow was against Team Sonic.

Here’s the movie’s story: Around 1974, Shadow witnessed the death of Maria, Gerald Robotnik’s granddaughter. Maria was Shadow’s only connection to the human world, and he loved her. Her death was a result of GUN trying to stop her, Gerald, and Shadow from escaping. Shadow was kept in suspended animation, and Gerald was locked up, after their escape failed and Maria’s death.

Things take a turn when Shadow’s suspended state is shut down 50 years after the death of Maria, and an angry, vengeful Shadow is released into the world. He’s unstoppable and causes destruction everywhere he goes. Team Sonic (Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles) is called in to stop him, but as I mentioned earlier, he’s almost unstoppable, and they fail.

During a meeting with Commander Walters, the four of them are attacked by Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s drones, leaving Walters wounded. The team initially believes Ivo is behind the attack, but his henchman convinces them otherwise. When Ivo is informed, he decides to work with Team Sonic to find out who hijacked his drones and possibly set Shadow free.

There’s also another game at play. Gerald is free and out for revenge. He’s created a weapon he plans to use to wipe out all of humanity.

So, our team must find a way to stop Shadow and save the Earth.

In the end, the movie was a bigger box office hit than the others, so everyone should expect Sonic the Hedgehog 4. The voice acting is just as strong as in the previous movies. Jim Carrey delivers a standout performance, excelling in his dual roles.

The movie ends with the introduction of a new hedgehog: Amy Rose.