Wait, I am trying to catch up and there’s all kinds of good stuff (or at least awards bait) out right now, and I opted for the third of the Sonic the Hedgehog movies? Well, there are a number my girlfriend wants to see, so I am holding off on them. But then I noticed something: Sonic 3 actually had one of the higher Rotten Tomatoes scores for movies that are out right now. That’s a bit surprising. Sure, these movies have been rather good, but that’s mostly because Jim Carey’s been putting in some of his old style comedic work in these movies as the villainous Dr. Robotnik, and he said he was retiring from acting after the second one.
Oh, he came back for the third, said something about maybe needing the money. Never mind then. Let’s see another Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
Something has gone horribly wrong in a secret prison where a black-furred alien hedgehog named Shadow (voice of Keanu Reeves doing a kid-friendly version of John Wick) has escaped somewhere off the coast of Japan. As such, Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Knuckles (Idris Elba), and Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) all spring into action to stop this new threat. Small problem: Shadow, with his teleportation powers and speed to rival Sonic’s own, is more than a match for all three of them. However, someone had to let Shadow loose considering Shadow has been under lock and key for fifty years, and surprisingly, that someone isn’t Dr. Robotnik (Carey), who somehow still alive but in a bleak spot of his own.
But it turns out that this Dr. Robotnik is not the only Dr. Robotnik as the grandpa Robotnik never knew he had (also Carey) is involved in things. Sure, Sonic and the others have a family of their own with Tom (James Marsden) and Maddy (Tika Sumpter), but what about the likes of Shadow or either of the Robotniks? Do they have anyone? Why is Shadow angry enough to want to maybe destroy the world? Can Sonic and his pals stop them? And is it going to be funny?
Well, it is funny at least, but much of that is due to Carey again. He makes or breaks these movies, so it is nice to see him back. I will also add that the Sonic movies, or at least the better ones, have been some of the few video game adaptations that work on the big screen–TV adaptations seem to work better–and the first one actually did a lot of creative stuff with Sonic’s speed. However, the two sequels seem to dig more into Sonic’s mythology, something that doesn’t work for me as much because I don’t know much about Sonic’s mythology, with the best comedy being whatever Carey is doing. That pattern holds here: Carey has some nice comedic moments, but the rest of the movie felt rather so-so.
As such, I found the movie kinda fine, but it didn’t work for me all that much. Shadow’s tragic backstory played out more or less exactly as I expected it to, and Sonic had to learn a lesson that he probably already knew. The only reason to see the movie before it hits streaming in a couple weeks is for Carey, and I’m not sure that’s a good enough reason to hit the multiplex. That said, there are some sequel bait post-credits scenes, so the studio may be expecting to make more or these with or without Carey.
Grade: C+
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