by G. E. Uke, Reporter

Sonic the Hedgehog is one of those wacky characters from the early video game era that somehow went mainstream, despite making very little sense. People decided to build on his lore with comics, cartoons, and more games: an anthropomorphized “bad boy” hedgehog whose glorious track and field powers give players brief bouts of adrenaline and sensory overload. He has many siblings and usurpers to his throne: Crash Bandicoot, Speedy Gonzalez, Roadrunner, The Flash, and so forth. His villain is a corny egg-shaped scientist of the same video game pedigree as Doctor Wily from the fan-favorite Mega Man series.

So they made a major motion picture about Sonic, but here the developers decided to go a different direction. Existing lore places Sonic in a cartoon world inhabited by animal people, but they decided to send him to EARTH and turn him into Roger Rabbit, acting alongside live humans. His story was changed, but the core elements remain. This shouldn’t convey that I’m not a fan of Sonic the Hedgehog. I grew up in that era, and even though I never owned a SEGA I had friends who did. My reflexes were never quite good enough to excel at them, but I admired those who were. 

So…regarding the movies. There are three now, and they’re building off one another. This cheeseball chronicle of cocky speed-induced super-powered anthro-rodents is quite fun to watch, and Jim Carrey is the star of each movie. There. I said it. It’s not really a show about Sonic the Hedgehog, it’s a show about Jim Carrey projecting a level of manic comedy I haven’t seen out of him since Ace Ventura. In Sonic the Hedgehog 3 it was as though they finally let him off the leash. Somebody said: “Jim…the younger generation doesn’t know you yet. Go show them.”  

And he did. Oh boy did he. 

First, let me start with a disclaimer. This movie was MADE FOR KIDS. It has bits of adult wit thrown in to satisfy elders in the audience, but the action is cartoon action and the logic is kid logic because, well, it’s Sonic the Hedgehog. The chases are way over the top, the angst is simple, the moral lessons are ham-handed, people can breathe in outer space, and significant fight scenes were borrowed from Dragon Ball Z. But that’s okay, because it’s FOR kids. And oh boy did they love it. The audience in the theater I went to cheered at least eight times when certain characters or events corresponding to the games popped up. I even recognized a few of them, which means I’m not a full-blooded Grognard yet. 

Be advised: spoilers lay ahead. 

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is more mature than its predecessors because it deals with death, specifically child death. The prior two movies didn’t touch on anything half as serious, so this series is gaining maturity along with its young viewers. A second hedgehog named Shadow is introduced with the same powers Sonic possesses, but he is fifty years older and was locked up by the US government the moment he arrived on Earth. The villain’s core motive is revenge: both Shadow and Doctor Gerald Robotnic (Ivo Robotnik’s grandfather, also played by Jim Carey) wish to destroy humanity for the accidental murder of Robotnik’s granddaughter Maria, which happened while trying to escape the government facility Shadow was locked up in. 

Yes, I know, the accidental death of a single child (while awful) doesn’t logically equate to euthanizing the planet. But that kind of overblown destructive impulse showcases a lack of maturity Shadow ultimately amends by the end of the film. 

The best thing about Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was its wit. There were moments, particularly involving Doctor Ivo Robotnic, where I laughed so hard I was reduced to tears. I would recommend going to watch it for that quality alone, because Jim Carrey is in terrific form all throughout the movie. His depiction of two characters simultaneously (Ivo and Gerald Robotnik) was great, and the narrative he had with himself was something I’ll remember for a long time. Shadow the hedgehog was voiced by Keanu Reeves, so if you’ve ever wanted to see a movie where Jim Carrey and Keanu Reeves team up, this is the one. Knuckles the Echidna was voiced by Idris Elba, so my two favorite actors from Cyberpunk 2077 have officially appeared together. Maria Robotnik was played by Alyla Browne, whose other noteworthy appearance (in my mind) was young Furiosa from the Mad Max series. Krysten Ritter played a good GUN agent (Director Rockwell), but I feel like she didn’t get enough screen time. I wanted to see Jessica Jones hanging out with an alien hedgehog…more, if that makes sense. Other voice actors contributed to be sure, but their roles were mostly ancillary. 

As for constructive criticism…I had a hard time swallowing the human couple, Tom and Maddie Wachowski (James Marsden and Tika Sumpter). Not because they were bad, but because the script used them badly. Their syrupy lines, plastic acting, and not-adult behavior made it seem like they thought they were extras in a children’s show talking down to little kids instead of professional actors being ‘people’ in a ‘movie’. I expected more out of these two than what I got from the live actors in Sharkboy and Lava Girl, but I suppose it’s difficult to act with non-existent characters that get CGI’d in after the fact. I was also a bit put off by the acceptance of the villains’ noble deaths at the end. Ivo Robotnik and Shadow get blown up saving the world from a death ray, and Sonic & Friends are like “yeah that’s cool, let’s go party now.” This does not reinforce the ethical message that life has value. 

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Sonic the Hedgehog 3 – 4 out of 5 blue streaks speeding by. For its cornball wit, fun action sequences, and moral wisdom, it imbues in young minds with all the elegance of a cement mixer.

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