“Ha, ha, one!” How are those three words, emerging from a hysterical improvised fan-dub of Sonic the Hedgehog (2006) cutscenes, funny? Turning such a declaration into a chuckle-worthy meme is the bizarre power of Sonic. The erratic and often cynical video game series has inspired absurd flights of fan-generated comedic fancy, including SnapCube fan-dub videos and the web-comic series Tails Gets Trolled.
Mainstream Sonic games often try too hard to make these characters “edgy” and “cool.” That’s why mid-2000s games had inexplicable material like the gun-wielding Shadow the Hedgehog or Sonic kissing a human woman. Ordinary souls taking this bizarre world to its inevitable absurdist endpoint, though? They’re the ones who realize Sonic’s ultimate destiny lies with Dr. Eggman bellowing, “How do you think I feel getting cucked by a hedgehog?”
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 does not rise to the quality or unabashed silliness of the best SnapCube dubs or comic panels explaining how Sonic will rectify the anger in his heart. However, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a much more confident and unabashedly outlandish creation compared to its two predecessors. The Sonic movies are finally cutting loose, producing a consistently entertaining time at your local Cinemark.
Taking place shortly after Sonic the Hedgehog 2, Sonic (Ben Schwartz) is enjoying his new life. He’s built a family with adopted siblings Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and Knuckles (Idris Elba) and adopted human parents Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter). In no time, though, Director Rockwell (Krysten Ritter) interrupts their quiet days of campfire bonding. She has a mission in Tokyo that only these three super-powered critters can solve: Shadow the Hedgehog (Keanu Reeves). The broody hedgehog with teleportation powers has just awakened from 50 years of cryogenic freezing with bigger plans than uncovering the fabled Tilted Towers.
A bubbling pile of volcanic anger, Shadow is entirely focused on vengeance. Stopping him will require some extreme maneuvers, including a potential partnership with baddie Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey) and learning to work as a team. Unfortunately, the chili dog-obsessed speedster has always been more The Man With No Name than Captain America when it comes to team-ups. Nonetheless, with Shadow’s larger evil plan threatening the planet, Sonic must learn social skills. And fast.
Improvements on its predecessors include starting immediately with Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails as pals. Rather than getting bogged down in human-centric plotlines or drawing out introductory sequences for alien critters, director Jeff Fowler hits the ground running with the characters Sonic devotees want to see. Their rapport proves surprisingly engaging, with the assorted voice actors having their characters down pat. Elba, particularly, has a blast returning to the muscular but oblivious Knuckles. In another unexpected but welcome virtue, the on-screen actors seem equally comfortable in their roles. Carrey and Lee Majdoub, as Robotnik’s put-upon assistant/maybe lover Agent Stone, in particular, fit snugly into their familiar roles.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 also has a better handle on the comedy this time out. For example, in prior films, Tom and Maddie’s adorable golden retriever, Ozzie, had little personality or things to do. In contrast, this time, screenwriters Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington punctuate Sonic’s sentimental speech about how “we’re all a family now” with a cutaway to Ozzie barking. Subtitles at the bottom of the screen translate this noise to “You stole my hoomans.” This amusing gag exemplifies the feature’s greatest strengths. It takes fleetingly humorous (at best) moments and characters from previous Sonic adventures and contorts them into something more entertaining.
Most impressively, though, how Sonic the Hedgehog 3 handles pathos. (That’s a sentence I never ever thought I’d write.) Who knew sequences hinging on a cantankerous Erinaceinae once described as Sonic’s equivalent to Poochie would outstrip Francis Ford Coppola, James Mangold, and Kevin Costner’s directorial efforts in terms of tangible cinema humanity in 2024? And yet, flashbacks to Shadow’s friendship with young girl Maria (Alylya Browne) accomplish just that. Fowler wisely eschews dialogue and snarky jokes to tell the story of how the two met. Favoring body language, especially Browne’s convincing performance, lets the poignancy of their dynamic sink in.
This subplot allows Sonic the Hedgehog 3 to join 2024’s dominant theme of loneliness. Handling this topic with some emotional heft crystallizes Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s final core virtue: a genuine love for these characters. Making the first Sonic the Hedgehog a Hop/The Smurfs pastiche suggested timidity over embracing the weirdness of a video game saga that includes Big the Cat and Storm the Albatross. Not so this time. Instead, Fowler and the screenwriters unabashedly focus intimate sequences solely on the CG animals. Sonic and Shadow can have a heart-to-heart talk. The three heroic beasts can engage in complex relationship dynamics. All this without constantly cutting back to flesh-and-blood Earthlings.
Like Transformers One earlier this year, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 embraces the dramatic potential of preposterous pop culture characters. The infectious affection for Sonic and friends proves irresistible…even as sizable shortcomings persist.
For one thing, Casey, Miller, and Whittington oddly execute a non-linear approach to doling out Shadow’s backstory. Delaying the reveal of concrete details of Shadow’s past doesn’t help storytelling. Similarly, distinctive camera positioning and editing details tease a grand character arrival, only to end in a flippant dialogue reveal. Where’s the payoff for all that build-up? The script also has a bad habit of barreling past key character details, like Director Rockwell’s distrust of Sonic and pals. Frequently, characters deliver lines of seeming import so quickly viewers may well miss them.
Sonic also still has a proclivity towards dishing out pop culture references (“Hey, Tokyo Drift!”) like he’s a white male Marvel Studios protagonist. They’re not very funny. Please delete at least six, I am not a crackpot. Most disappointing, though, is composer Tom Holkenborg. A Sonic movie franchise fixture, he hasn’t gotten more creative as the series progressed. His compositions are still as generic as ever, a bizarre defect given how many outsized digital creatures occupy this story. The tracks fail to give distinctive themes, or even vibes, to Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, or Shadow. This is a particular shortcoming, considering the original Sonic Sega Genesis games were full of memorable orchestral tunes. Hell, even some of the GameCube and Dreamcast titles had them. But not here.
Thankfully, director Jeff Fowler has become more comfortable as an artist across all three Sonic titles. His artistic confidence to let Sonic and friends take the spotlight mirrors his increased assuredness with shooting action sequences. That pays off nicely with an enjoyable 109-minute excursion, packing in more tangible heart and excitement than expected. The past two Sonic movies were (sometimes at best) a mixed bag. But with Sonic the Hedgehog 3, this franchise has at least one outright good entry. Or should I say, “Ha ha, one”?
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is currently racing around theatres nationwide.