About four years and two movies ago, as well as a spinoff show later, the Sonic Cinematic Universe looks to be at its absolute peak with the latest film Sonic the Hedgehog 3. I would consider myself as a lifelong Sonic fan, and despite his many failures and flops, I’ll always hold a special space in my heart for this franchise. That being said, when Sonic the Hedgehog was released on Valentine’s Day of 2020, I’ll admit that I was beyond ecstatic that the blue blur had finally made it to the big screen; it was far from a great movie, but it was good enough to call a success, and Paramount Pictures agreed to give the franchise a second movie. About a month before the release of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 Paramount Pictures officially announced that a third Sonic movie would begin production shortly after the second movie, along with a logo reveal which got fans speculating on what the post-credits scene for the second movie could be. The top two contenders came down to Metal Sonic or Shadow, and it ended up being Shadow, which got many fans like me excited for where Paramount would take the Sonic franchise. I’ll admit that upon the premature announcement of Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I was worried that Paramount would jump the shark and go too crazy, losing general audiences and causing the movie universe to end short, but after watching Sonic the Hedgehog 3, I can confidently say that I fully trust Paramount to handle the delicate nature of the Sonic franchise. By the way, Sonic 2 was amazing, so I thought it would be impossible to top that movie as THE Sonic movie.

I was wrong! Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a pure love letter to the video game Sonic Adventure 2 and its many loyal fans. At the time of watching this movie, I had literally just turned 18, so technically the first thing I did as an adult was watch one of the best releases of the Sonic franchise, yes, games included. Rewinding a bit, 2024 has been an amazing year for Sonic the Hedgehog, or rather Shadow instead. 2024 saw SEGA dubbing it “The Fearless Year of Shadow” in which Shadow would get a lot of excellent spotlights, ranging from the incredible mini-animated series Shadow Generations: Dark Beginnings and the follow up video game Shadow Generations, which I would call my favorite Sonic game (as I’m writing this, I have this game’s soundtrack on loop, currently playing “What I’m Made Of…”). It is safe to say that this year was easily the best idea SEGA has had for the franchise in years, and how else could you end the year of Shadow than releasing the Shadow movie?  I will split this review into non-spoilers, and then spoilers, but I will indicate when the shift is.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 begins with Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves) waking up from a 50-year-long stasis and fleeing from Prison Island, an iconic level from the video game, Sonic Adventure 2. We cut to Team Sonic, made up of Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Tails (voiced by Colleen O’ Shaughnessy) doing a friendly race which leads to a surprise party in honor of Sonic’s “B-earth-day”, the day Sonic came to Earth in the first film. This party is cut short as the Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.) sends a helicopter and requests Team Sonic’s immediate assistance with a rogue alien causing havoc in Tokyo, that alien being Shadow.

That’s enough plot exposure for now, let’s talk about the movie more in depth, starting with how it compares with the previous installments. The first movie was your generic road trip movie that was heightened by Sonic, and of course the brilliant Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. With Tails appearing after the credits, the movie left much to be desired, so the second film stepped in and delivered. As Knuckles being the main antagonist working with Dr. Robotnik, Sonic and Tails go on a treasure hunt to locate the Master Emerald and protect it from Robotnik’s clutches. This movie felt more like what a Sonic movie should feel like compared to the first. Now back to Sonic 3; I feel Paramount has peaked with this one, so much so that I’m kind of skeptical if they could top it in the recently announced Sonic the Hedgehog 4. If you liked the second Sonic movie, you would adore this movie; it is epic, emotional, and unapologetically “Sonic”.

The characters of the Sonic movies are, for the most part, good. Jim Carrey keeps up the zany hilarious energy that he delivered in the previous films, and the introduction of his grandfather, Gerald Robotnik (also played by Carrey), elevates this film’s humor. This is where Carrey’s acting peaks in my opinion, having two of him on screen at once leads to some really funny scenes, some even made me laugh out loud. The humor in general is the best this trilogy has seen, with Sonic’s puns all landing this time around, rather than sometimes coming off as annoying or cringe-worthy. On the topic of Sonic, Ben Schwartz’s performance as Sonic the Hedgehog is the best that he has been portrayed in his own movies so far. In the previous movies, sure he was adorable and childish, but compared to how he acts in the games, this Sonic was a laughingstock that had a long ways to go before matching his original video game counterpart.

I can gladly say that Sonic feels more like his video game counterpart and has become less annoying and more serious and cooler while not completely losing his comical and emotional side. Idris Elba and Colleen O’Shaughnessy as Knuckles and Tails thankfully have more to do in this film and have grown as characters too. The second film wants you to believe that Sonic and Tails are immediate best friends, but the film barely portrays that; Sonic 3 makes it more believable that Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles are all best buddies this time around. Finally, Keanu Reeves absolutely crushes it as Shadow the Hedgehog. Upon hearing his voice in the first trailer, I was kind of worried about a lackluster portrayal of the delicate character, but after seeing the movie, I would say it matches the original soul of Shadow. Reeves put forth effort to research the character and delivers cool, emotional, and grim scenes that does the beloved hedgehog justice. Alyla Brown’s loving and caring portrayal of young Maria mixed with Shadow’s quiet and softness leads to adorable and heart clenching interactions that will really touch the audience and make them fall in love with the characters. Also, to those worried about the humans’ involvement with this movie, it centers mainly around Tom and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), and they serve more important roles this time.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3’s story is also significantly better than the other stories. The first film once again was a road trip, the second was basically a treasure hunt, and while those tropes don’t necessarily lead to bad movies, they can get kind of tired. This story is fast paced and emotional while taking itself more seriously. Having to adapt Sonic Adventure 2 was no easy task, but I would say they did an amazing job while keeping the universe grounded to make it as realistic as possible. One of my only complaints about this movie has to do with pacing of the story, however. The first act throws scenes at the audience at whiplash speed and does not really give them time to swallow what they just saw. This problem fixes itself as the movie goes on, or I just got used to the pacing, but when I say the last 30 minutes of this movie is perfect, I mean it. The climax is genuinely perfect, and I wouldn’t change a thing about it; the story is at the best and the action is unmatched in the third act. Speaking of action, this movie’s action sequences were genuinely top tier, rivaling many iconic fight scenes the franchise has seen. Every scene of conflict is handled to perfection and especially with Sonic fans in mind; let me tell you, my fan-event theater had reactions on the level of Avengers: Endgame to every fight scene in this movie. The action in this movie made me feel like I was watching an anime of the likes of Dragon Ball Z or My Hero Academia, which I felt is what the Sonic games needed the most, just more sick action sequences and fights. Every scene that involves high-speed fights is bound to get Sonic fans on the verge of tears.

Overall, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a near-perfect Sonic the Hedgehog movie that adapts Sonic Adventure 2 to the big screen in the right way, and I am positively anticipating what comes next for this expansive universe. My theater being a fan-event filled with diehard Sonic fans honestly elevated my viewing experience and hearing everyone’s reaction as they screamed with joy to this movie was amazing. I would rate this movie as a 10/10, and I believe everyone should give this film a try this holiday season. To those who are Sonic and Shadow lovers, buy yourself a ticket and strap in your seatbelts because this movie is wild! This is the part where I delve into spoilers, so if you haven’t watched this movie yet, why are you still here?

SPOILERS!!!

Okay, hopefully everyone wishing to avoid spoilers for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 are gone. I just want to say that the decision to translate the Space Colony Ark into a G.U.N base hidden in the mountains while separating the Eclipse Cannon from it was a brilliant idea that keeps the movie grounded in reality. However, the most exciting part of Shadow’s backstory is the change from Gerald directly working with Black Doom (a devil alien) in the game to create the ultimate lifeform. In the film, Shadow crashes to Earth in a meteor that is discovered by Gerald. This opens the door to a potential adaptation of Shadow the Hedgehog; the 2005 videogame spin off exploring the Black Arms invading Earth and maybe even introducing Black Doom in the movie universe. The film could have Shadow desiring to break free from the lineage of destruction he came from while piecing together his origin through his total amnesia after the events of Sonic 3. I don’t know how Paramount would explain a race of devil aliens without upsetting parents though, maybe make it PG-13 instead? Let Shadow curse and use guns again Paramount and SEGA!

I also want to highlight that I loved the decision in the film to have Tom (James Marsden), Sonic’s parental guardian, disguise as Commander Walters and triggering Shadow to mistakenly punch the life out of him before Sonic could arrive at the scene. When Sonic sees what happened and asking Shadow what he did, Shadow rationalizes his having to “kill” someone that was loved by another before saying “what I had to”. This scene really showed Shadow’s uncertainty of seeking revenge being the right way to get justice for Maria, who was killed in flashback scenes. This moment also throws Sonic into a blind rage and wanting to end things “now”, which makes perfect sense, and I loved to see a more serious Sonic portrayal in the movie universe.

All of this leads to an epic Super Sonic and Super Shadow battle that takes them across the globe, which was absolutely perfect and is easily one of the most exciting sequences this franchise has shown. It goes without saying that Shadow inducing Sonic into punching him out of orbit and onto the moon by disrespecting Tom was on character for both of them. Also, having Shadow beckon Sonic to finish the job by pointing to his heart was an amazing callback to Tom’s speech to Sonic at the beginning of the movie, and makes both of them calm down and ask if revenge would truly solve anything. Then Sonic and Shadow finally putting aside their differences and dapping each other up to both go super while Crush 40’s “Live and Learn” plays in the background was easily the hypest point in the movie. People cheered louder in the theater than when Iron Man stole the Infinity Stones. You know how I said I had one issue with the movie? I lied, I also dislike how underutilized “Live and Learn” was, the full song is 45 seconds long! This is the most iconic Sonic song ever! This as well as its strange mixing of lyrics from differing parts of the song just left me disappointed with the result. At the end of the day, “Live and Learn” absolutely needed to be in this movie, and I’m glad it made it in. Also the space battle ending with the iconic Sonic and Shadow clash image from Sonic Adventure 2 being in super form was incredible and I’m surprised SEGA hasn’t done it before.

Now discussing Eggman’s sacrifice in this movie, I am kind of worried about how successful the future installments will be if this is really the end of the road for Jim Carrey’s character. Eggman is a crucial character in this world, so with him being gone, I don’t know how they’d write around his absence. Jim Carrey has also been a consistent anchor that convinced parents that these movies were worth it, so without him I wonder how well tickets will sell in the future.

This is a perfect time to discuss the awesome mid- and post-credit scenes. We see Sonic overshoot the finish line of the trio’s friendly race and somehow end up in New York. A mysterious blue flash strikes down a distance behind Sonic and the camera zooms in to reveal none other than Metal Sonic. He looks so good in the movie style; he looks like he practically jumped out of the games! I’m curious to see what his deal is as well as the army of Metals, too. After the army jumps towards Sonic, a hammer with a pink aura makes quick work of them, we all know who this is already. Sonic asks “who are you” and the cloaked figure pulls off the hood to reveal the one and only Amy Rose! It’s about time we introduce the fourth member of team Sonic, sorry just they’re just now called Team. I also like the role reversal from Sonic CD, with Amy saving Sonic rather than Sonic saving her from Metal. This leaves excitement about the fourth movie possibly being based on Sonic CD with the plot taking place on a rapidly mechanizing planet as well as time travel shenanigans.

I think however that it’s more likely the movie will be based on Sonic Heroes, where Metal acts as his own standalone villain who is separate from Eggman for once and sees many teams doing their own things to stop him. With Eggman gone, I think it opens the door for the Sonic Heroes adaption being more likely. in the final post-credits scene, we see a crater with one of Shadow’s inhibitor rings, which he took off during the climax, being picked up by Shadow, hinting that he indeed survived the explosion of the Eclipse Canon. We can have three separate teams in the fourth movie, Team Sonic, with Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles, Team Rose, with Amy possibly acting alone, and Team Dark, with Shadow possibly flying solo or teaming with Agent Stone. Overall, I’m excited for Sonic 4, releasing in 2027, and I trust Paramount to do the characters of the Sonic franchise justice.

Angelo Soto