Hello! Justin here and welcome to the Otaku Mind. Season greetings to everyone out there. I hope you all had a good Christmas. So I just got back from seeing Sonic the Hedgehog 3 and wanted to share my thoughts with everyone. One of the most hyped movies this holiday season and for good reason. The trailers made this a must watch and pretty much destroyed Disney’s Mufusa which wasn’t a surprise to me. A prequel nobody asked for or cared about. Alright, so let’s get started with the review.
Story
So the story this time is that Shadow has a reawakened and is going on a rampage. If you’re a longtime Sonic fan you’ll know his story and see that it’s not that different in the movie. Sonic and the others are called in to deal with Shadow voiced by America’s national treasure and Mr. Matrix himself, Keanu Reeves (https://youtu.be/u68iT0DPYdM?si=ndJbxJpP7e35O1TE) but fail to stop him. Realizing they need help, they team up with Robotnik played once again by Jim Carrey and track Shadow down to an old G.U.N facility where we find out Shadow is working with Gerald Robotnik played by Jim Carrey pulling double duty. Robotnik teams up with his grandfather to activate the Eclipse Cannon and get revenge on the world for killing Maria and now Sonic and his friends have to save the world. Overall the movie is great. Once again, it does a good job feeling like the games and using the human characters less but when they do use them it leads to fun interactions and moments. The movie has a great start with Team Sonic facing Shadow and doing a chase scene which was cool. The middle part is good though it starts to drag a little. The ending returns the movie to greatness and ends it on an epic note. We got to hear Live and Learn on the big screen. That’s a win for me. We get Super Shadow, Jim Carrey is a riot and having the most fun in this movie, and Keanu voicing Shadow is cool.
Characters
So as far as characters go we do see some good development in them. We see a more serious and darker side of Sonic here. He almost goes over the edge after seeing someone he cares about get seriously injured but he stops himself remembering who he is showing that mature and responsible side we got a glimpse of in the second movie. Tails and Knuckles are still the same. Tails is adorable and the gadget man while Knuckles is the Drax of the series just stealing the show almost every time he’s on screen. Shadow’s story is changed up a little bit but they keep the core concepts and do a job getting us to sympathize with his anger and what he’s lost. The movie does a good job showing the relationship between him and Maria and how much she cared for him and vice-versa. I think my only complaint is that they should have gotten an actress who was a little younger. Don’t get me wrong, the actress playing Maria is good, I like her, but she looks and feels like a 14 year-old girl rather than a 12 year-old. Jim Carrey playing as both Robotniks was great as he makes both characters go over the top but they do it in different ways that makes them both funny and matches their personalities. Tom and Maddie return and keep being the parental figures of everyone while also having their moments to shine and get a laugh out of us.
Comedy, Action, and Easter Eggs
Comedy is still good. The laughs come from Sonic, Knuckles, and Robotnik. I actually do find it funny that they acknowledge Pokémon existing in their universe. Maybe that Smash Bros. movie isn’t too far off. The action was good as well. Shadow’s teleportation reminds me of Nightcrawler from X-Men 2 as well as the games. Their super fight was very DBZ. It had more DBZ in it than the entire DBZ live action movie. We get Easter eggs such as the Chao Garden, Shadow riding a motorcycle, the Eclipse Cannon, and many more.
Possible Sequel
Like you need to ask. They’ve already announced a fourth movie and in the credits we get to see Amy Rose and she already feels like a badass. Just don’t try and make her a woke character. Also Metal Sonic? What does this mean?
Final Score
My final score for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a 7.5/10. It was great movie from beginning to end. Kind of slowed down in the middle but was still entertaining and suspenseful. Looking forward to the fourth movie and what they do next. What are your thoughts about the movie. Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and I’ll see you next time on Project Nitsuj. Happy New Year.