Blue Blur is bigger, bolder and better than ever

For over 30 years, Sonic the Hedgehog has been “always the bridesmaid, never the bride” of the video game industry. Nintendo and Super Mario won the video game wars, but SEGA and Sonic fans refused to go down without a fight. Sure, neither “Sonic the Hedgehog” nor “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” can match the success of “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” at the box office, but “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” continues The Blue Blur’s winning streak, unleashing… For his success. A cinematic series in high gear by reaching an all-time high in the third round and delivering one of The best video game movies fans could want.

The first “Sonic” movie treated its video game lore as glorified Easter eggs, and while “Sonic 2” was based on “Sonic & Knuckles” with a little bit of “Sonic 3 & Knuckles” thrown in for fun, there was still a reliance “Sonic & Knuckles” uses human characters to move the story along. “Sonic 3” reduces humans as much as possible without removing them entirely, because it builds on the first “Sonic” game to include in-depth lore. The result is a “Sonic” movie that feels like everything fans love about gaming distilled into a fast-paced, fun-filled movie that boasts an absolute soundtrack.

This is the entire Team Sonic movie, and the entry that finally mastered the balancing act of appealing to audiences who grew up on the original games and are now into adulthood, and very young kids who will show up in droves. Alexa, play “Live and Learn” by Crush 40 because “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is bigger, bolder and better than ever.

Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are adjusting to their new life as a team when the Guardian Units of Nations (GUN) recruit them to help defeat a mysterious new enemy, Shadow the Hedgehog, who has escaped after 50 years of being kept under close watch. Because of his enormous power. Shadow may look like Sonic and have seemingly similar powers, but this brood monster is driven by a moral compass shattered by pain and betrayal. Fortunately for us, unleashing all that fury leads to lively anime fight and chase scenes, all the way to… Akira’s star chip Tallest building (chaos control!) while shooting into the sky.

Shadow is the perfect contrast to Sonic (It’s his shadow, after all), and learning why The Ultimate Lifeform remains so broken despite being stronger, faster, and more powerful than Sonic, providing a great outlet for young viewers to understand that more often than not, villains aren’t born, they’re made. Keanu Reeves fully commits to the inner torment caused by Shadow’s turmoil, and his moments remembering the death of his best friend Maria are genuinely moving. Casting one of the coolest actors on the planet to voice one of the greatest anti-heroes in video game history has paid off handsomely.

The animation for Team Sonic and Shadow is exciting to watch, and it shouldn’t be refreshing to see a movie that’s not afraid to pop colors on screen, but “Sonic 3” will earn me multiple theatrical rewatches simply so I can feast on the liveliness. Some critics might say it’s stupid that Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and Shadow can breathe in space, so I say… you’re a nerd. They are aliens, quiet the know-it-all logic in your head and learn a lesson about why letting pain control you and turn you into a hate-fueled buzzkill is no way to live.

If the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies are meant to capture ’90s nostalgia, one of the best ways to do that is to let Jim Carrey remind us all why there’s never been anyone like him. At 62 years old, Carrey pulls double duty in a dual role — as Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik and his grandfather Professor Gerald Robotnik — and the rubber-faced king of physical comedy remains untouched. There’s a shockingly poignant streak to his character that took me completely by surprise, but he’s also the source of the most self-referential humour, with one-liners meant to keep the adults in the room humble.

Yes, “Sonic 3” is great at taking the viewer back to whatever age they were When they were begging their older brother to give them a role at the consolebut adds “for parents” jokes to serve as a reminder that this movie is still for kids, and so are we old. A well-placed reference to the 2011 hate film “The Green Lantern” elicited huge laughs in the theater, and while it would be easy to write off the “over the kids’ heads” references as eye-rolling or worse, Shrinksthe jokes are perfect because they are jokes for adults who watch the movie “Sonic the Hedgehog”We complain, And that’s good!

One minute I’m jumping in my seat with joy because the Chao Garden mini-games from “Sonic Adventure” and “Sonic Adventure 2” are integrated into the world of the movie as an entertainment experience café in Tokyo complete with people in mascot costumes, and the next I’m hearing jokes that only make sense to people Who have the number “19” at the beginning of their year of birth on their driver’s licenses. “Sonic 3” doesn’t want the adults in the house to refuse to grow up or feel ashamed that they still love Sonic after all these years, but it wants us to be honest about it.

This is best reflected in the story of Agent Stone, played brilliantly once again by Lee Majdoub. He provides the perfect balance to Carrey’s antics and delivers a quietly affecting performance as his feelings of underappreciation after three films finally boil over. Loving someone (or somesomethingperhaps a beloved IP) who has not focused on us for years may be difficult, but it does not make that love any less valuable.

The world of “Sonic” is so vast (albeit complex) and filled with so many delightful characters we haven’t seen yet (I won’t rest until I get my killer girl, Rouge the Bat!), that Paramount has enough material for as many films as they want . And as much as I adore James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, and Adam Pally (go watch the “Knuckles” show on Paramount+, he rules), the more the series leans toward the adventures of Team Sonic, the better. Movies will be. But we can’t lose them completely, no, because they are all essential members of this family, and each person plays an important role. But after three films, Ben Schwartz, Idris Elba, and Colin O’Shaughnessy have made these characters their own (for the record, O’Shaughnessy actually made Tails her baby), and reuniting with this team every few years seems like a family. reunion.

After Shadow took out Akira’s chip, Sonic jokingly called him “Tokyo Drift” and that’s when it hit me – the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie series is turning into the “Fast and the Furious” movie series, but for kids. The first film was more cohesive compared to where the series would take, the second introduces a volatile character who would become essential to the series (Roman Pearce/Knuckles), and the third is Where Things Are truly Be interesting and showcase the potential brilliance of embracing chaos, pushing the envelope of reality, and never wavering from its core message of finding family. As far as I’m concerned, Sonic is fast and Shadow is angry, so this franchise deserves to last at least as long as it does.

Sonic has been in space in less than three movies. Your move, Vin Diesel.

/ Movie rating: 7.5 out of 10

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” will be released in theaters on December 20, 2024.