The blue blur is back for his third cinematic outing and this time it’s an adaptation of the fan favorite game “Sonic Adventure 2”. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” takes place not too long after the previous film but this time around Sonic and friends face their biggest threat yet as Shadow the Hedgehog who wakes up from stasis after 50 years and Professor Gerald Robotnik begin to plot their revenge against mankind for what they did to Shadows friend and Gerald’s granddaughter Maria. So is this movie does the game it’s based on Justice or is it as horrendous as Sonic’s initial design for the first film? Let’s find out.
The Good
Now what did I like about this movie? Oh man there are a lot of things that this movie did right. First of all as the fitting of an adaptation of “Sonic Adventure 2”, the film is noticeably a lot darker than the previous two but the more serious tone fit fits this film as director Jeff Fowler did say that he wanted these movies to grow up with their audience, and you see it here as there’s significantly less of the juvenile humor that was prevalent in the previous two film. Another thing I liked is just how much Sonic has truly grown as a character since the first film you really see his brotherly relationship with Tails and Knuckles, his vulnerability in dark moments, and you get to see more of his compassionate side in this film as well.
When Shadow was revealed at the end of the post credit scenes of the last film. One worry I had is that he would overshadow (no pun intended) Tails and Knuckles and they wouldn’t get that much to do in this fim, but thankfully that wasn’t the case Tails and Knuckles do play a big role in this film, from Tails tactical mind and technical know how to Knuckles warrior spirit, they get just as much to do as the two hedgehogs. Especially Knuckles as the film finds a way to give him a lot of comical WITHOUT making him stupid.
And speaking of Shadow, man oh man does Keanu Reeves shine in this role. Seriously that performance in the DLC that you heard in “Shadow Generations” does not even hold a candle to his performance in this film like he perfectly gets down all of Shadows mannerisms that fans love him for, from his anger, emotion and even dry humor.
And then there are the Robotniks. Jim Carrey pulls double duty here as both Eggman and Gerald Robotnik. Carrey pulls off yet another funny and memorable performance as the Doctor but this time around there’s some emotional nuance to Eggman. And even though Gerald is portrayed more comically than he is in the games it certainly doesn’t make him any less sinister. Especially towards the end. I can’t say much without spoiling the film but what I can say is that this is just as much Eggmans movie as it is Shadows and what they did with his arc in this is nothing short of beautiful.
One gripe that fans have had with these films is that we don’t hear much of the songs from the games. This became even more egregious when “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” came out and had the iconic music from that franchise playing left and right. Well I’m pleased to say that once again Paramount has listened to the fans. There are a lot more of the amazing music from the Sonic franchise playing in this film, such as Eggmans theme from Sonic 06 and there’s even a moment in the film where brief snippets from “Escape from the City” and “E.G.G.M.A.N.” play. And yes “Live and Learn” is in this movie and let me tell you folks, the theater I was in ERUPTED with cheering when it happened. The action scenes were easily the best this franchise has to date, from seeing Shadow doing the Akira bike slide up the Tokyo Tower to the fight in the third act. My god that is what a live action super saiyan fight should look like on the big screen.
The Bad
Now when it comes to the film’s flaws the biggest one I had was how Kristen Ritter was wasted. Ritters character shows up when team Sonic are in Tokyo and sets up the military not being trusting of Sonic similar to what happened in the game then she disappears until the end of the movies second act. Seriously how do you get a big name like Krysten Ritter and not give her much to do?
This next one is more of a nitpick but some of the Robotniks comedic antics didn’t do it for me. Not all but some (such as that dance scene). I know it’s a part of Jim Carrey’s brand but I don’t know maybe I can just chalk that up to me getting old.
Conclusion
Overall Sonic 3 isn’t just the best Sonic movie but I’ll go as far to say that it is the best video game movie ever made. To think that it all started with fans and general audiences banding more than five years ago to cyber bully Paramount into changing Sonic’s then hideous design, which led to the renaissance that the blue blur is having now. And those post credits scenes have me very excited for the future.
Final Rating: 8.5/10
Comments
Post a Comment