In the span of nearly five years, we have been witness to what I firmly believe has been a groundbreaking series of films, even if such groundbreaking has been on a gradual basis. But regardless, there is no doubt that Sonic the Hedgehog broke the curse of the video game movie, and its sequel not only built on that foundation but literally ran with it—pun entirely intended. And if you thought things could only get better still, then to say you obviously thought right would be a severe understatement.
This third chapter sees Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) banding together once more to face a new adversary in Shadow the Hedgehog (voiced by Keanu Reeves), who fifty years earlier had been sealed into stasis by the Guardian Units of Nations after being used in a series of experiments by Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey)’s grandfather Gerald (also Jim Carrey). Shadow is Sonic’s superior in every way, forcing the Blue Blur and his friends, including Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), to enter into an extremely reluctant alliance with the Eggman to stop the Ultimate Life Form.
Those not in the Sonic fandom should know that this film is heavily inspired by the mainline game Sonic Adventure 2 (2001), which introduced Shadow, and the spinoff Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), the latter of which director Jeff Fowler animated cutscenes for—bringing his involvement with the Sonic franchise full-circle. Reeves was namechecked by Sonic himself as a “national treasure” when Tom and Maddie sat down to watch his film Speed (1994) early on in the first film, and Fowler felt that his performances in the John Wick series were an “obvious corollary” when it came to his vision for Shadow, also praising him for his passion for the role and delivering a “fan-faithful” interpretation—and it shows in his brilliant, nuanced performance.
This film, of course, is not a straightforward adaptation of either of its underlying game sources despite containing numerous references large and small to both, and that is absolutely to its benefit. Anyone who has played the games, or at least is familiar with the source material, will notice minor changes to the lore (particularly that regarding Shadow and his backstory) which, as was the case with Sonic 2 in particular, not only make sense but work brilliantly within the context of the film’s original plot and worldbuilding. Speaking of the original elements, this installment learned its lesson from the second film in particular about padding out the human subplots too much, resulting in a slightly shorter runtime at 110 minutes but more than making up for it in substance.
At the risk of exaggerating, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is quite possibly the greatest video game movie ever made. This film makes all the years of building an entirely new yet refreshingly familiar version of the Blue Blur even more worth it than we had even begun to imagine. It is the culmination of an epic coming-of-age journey…and yet one which nevertheless seems like the beginning of a whole new story.
P.S. In case Marvel hasn’t already conditioned you to do so: stay for the entire film. There are mid- AND post-credits scenes…and a fourth film has already been confirmed for 2027.