Jonah Naplan   December 19, 2024

“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is “a lot” in the same way that many modern movies for children are “a lot.” It’s a 109-minute spectacle of nonstop energy and action that never neglects to drop a corny one-liner here and there. We’ve seen plenty more disdainful projects than this released over the Christmas weekend including last holiday’s “Migration” and “Sing 2” a couple years before that. Luckily, this one’s got heart and inspiration, buoyed mainly by its interest in Jim Carrey’s beloved villain Dr. Robotnik who’s given so much to do here, in addition to not one but four hedgehogs, each with their own special abilities and “powers.” The kids are going to love it, as evidenced by the enthusiastic audience at my recent screening, especially if they’re fans of the other two “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies and know enough about the source material to get excited about the potential of the mid and post-credits scenes.

It opens at Prison Island in Tokyo where the deadly hedgehog Shadow (an impeccably voice cast Keanu Reeves) has been held in captivity for fifty years. Breaking free from imprisonment, he unleashes havoc on the city, ushering the speedy Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and his team—fellow hedgehogs Knuckles (an appropriately obtuse Idris Elba) and Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and humans Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter)—back into action. Everybody’s after a mythical key that powers a giant space laser with cataclysmic consequences, including Robotnik (Carrey) and his long-lost grandfather Gerald (also played by Carrey) who want to use it for world domination.

There’s a certain inherent thrill to seeing Carrey (who claimed retirement after “Sonic the Hedgehog 2”!) play opposite himself in a way that mirrors “Dumb and Dumber,” “The Mask,” and, sorta, “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” He’s the real star of the show here, often stealing the screen from any of the hedgehogs. By this point in his career (and at this point in the franchise), Carrey’s not afraid to make pointedly referential jokes at the movie’s expense; one surprising fourth-wall break, in particular, has him literally looking right at the audience and commenting on the movie he’s currently in and that we’re sitting there watching. This third film grants Robotnik more character depth than any of the other adventures could have afforded and it ultimately pays off in a knowingly over-the-top but blindly phantasmagorical third act that claps like thunder. As a result, all of the hedgehogs and, by proxy, the other humans, too, get thrown on the backburner as Carrey rules the screen. It is indeed ironic how Sonic, himself, ends up being one of the least interesting characters in his own movie.

Shadow is overall an effective villain; menacing and rageful and completely convincing in his power. Reeves seems to be bringing the same sort of stone-faced acting quirks he brought to the role of John Wick here and it works because all of the hedgehogs are semi-cartoonish caricatures in and of themselves (when Knuckles was the villain in the last movie, Elba gave the same energy but with a slightly British nuance). So much of the visual effects, which position CGI hedgehogs next to humans in major international cities like Tokyo and London, are seamless, as if trying to present to us a realism so otherwise lost from the narrative.

Director Jeff Fowler, working from a screenplay by John Whittington, Josh Miller, and Pat Casey, crams so much into the movie’s considerably overlong 109-minute runtime. It’s almost as if the filmmakers are actively fearing the loss of its audience’s attention (meaning children) so they’ve ramped up the action to eleven to keep them amused. Ultimately, I wished for a movie of a little more substance than just big explosions and marketable quips, considering how the best kids movies this year like “The Wild Robot” and “Inside Out 2” taught their audience something valuable on top of simply entertaining them. That to say, “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” can still be highly enjoyable schlock in sections and it probably won’t completely bore the parents who’ve been dragged along unlike this year’s worst offerings of juvenile entertainment like “Kung Fu Panda 4” and “The Garfield Movie.”

To some end or another, one of the goals of the “Sonic” franchise has remained to dredge up nostalgia from the video game era of the ‘90s, and it’s continued to do so successfully. But this modern reimagining of the source material has certainly stretched out and exaggerated things way out of proportions. That’s the charm of the series, working at impressive budgets and making them back in quadruple. It works for the people that it needs to, and the voice of a critic like me gets lost in the sauce. My advice is to see this movie with the family, but speeding out to do so isn’t necessary.

Now playing in theaters.