SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 3 (2024)

Genre: Action/Adventure
Director: Jeff Fowler
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Idris Elba, Colleen O’Shaughnessey, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, Adam Pally, Lee Majdoub, Alyla Browne, Krysten Ritter, Keanu Reeves
Runtime: 1 hr 50 mins
Rating: PG (Some Violence)
Released By: UIP
Official Website: 

Opening Day: 26 December 2024

Synopsis: Sonic the Hedgehog returns to the big screen this holiday season in his most thrilling adventure yet. Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails reunite against a powerful new adversary, Shadow, a mysterious villain with powers unlike anything they have faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance in hopes of stopping Shadow and protecting the planet. 

Movie Review:

After somewhat sidelining the piece de resistance of its predecessor, this third chapter redeems the faults of the last sequel by not only restoring Jim Carrey at its front and centre, but also delivering a double helping of his rubber-faced comedic greatness that we haven’t seen from him since the 1990s. Oh yes, Carrey plays not one but two roles here: the familiar Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik, Sonic’s human nemesis from the earlier movies; and Ivo’s 110-year-old grandfather Gerald Robotnik, who turns out to be even more demented than Ivo himself.

We’d say categorically that Carrey is the very reason this film is the best entry of the series yet. Clearly relishing the opportunity to let himself go, Carrey has wild fun cranking up the interplay between the older and younger Robotnik. “It’s like watching two characters in a movie played by the same person!” he exclaims in meta fashion at their first meeting, and you can imagine that piece of wink-wink dialogue could only have come from Carrey; ditto the other fourth-wall breaking lines like “I haven’t seen that since I hate-watched Green Lantern in 2011”. In fact, we dare say that Carrey’s self-aware, spoofy shtick has more manic energy than the frenetic CGI set-pieces, which the movie could frankly do less of.

Starting with the opening sequence of the red-striped Shadow breaking out of the maximum-security Prison Island, ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’ zips along at lightning speed from one CGI action scene to the next.

Against the neon lights of Tokyo, Sonic (Ben Schwartz) and his pals, Knuckles (Idris Elba) and Tales (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), encounter for the first time the sheer chaos energy that Shadow possesses, and realising how none of their powers alone is match for that of Shadow.

Against the River Thames in London, our super-critter-hero team get some help from Sonic’s adoptive parents, Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), to break into GUN headquarters and steal the other half of the key for a cataclysmic weapon the elder Robotnik had built before the Robotniks do so.

And last but not least, against Earth in outer space, the ultimate showdown unfolds in a race against time to stop the very destruction of our planet itself.

Despite boasting a trio of writers (credited to Pat Casey, Josh Miller and John Whittington), the plotting is simple, functional and even silly; that the result is as diverting as it is reflects what director Jeff Fowler has perfected over the course of the trilogy – that is, delivering a fast-paced blend of action and slapstick comedy that is so delightfully breezy you wouldn’t care that it is anything less.

It is to Fowler and his behind-the-line production team’s credit that this live action-animation hybrid looks as compelling as it does, what with its vibrant colours and impressively seamless visual effects. Like we said, Fowler rightfully places Carrey at the forefront of this movie; and besides Carrey, the other stroke of casting genius is getting Keanu Reeves to voice Shadow, the actor bringing his signature gravelly ruefulness to the role.

As far as live-action video game adaptations go, you could do a lot worse than ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’. No one should expect it to be any more than CGI-boosted family-friendly popcorn entertainment, and that it does and more, thanks to a double dose of Carrey’s wild-man energy. It speaks to his commitment that Carrey doesn’t phone it in, investing instead commitment, creativity and vigour into a physical showcase of comedic ingenuity. It is a virtuoso double act all right, and while fans will no doubt be looking forward to a certain anthropomorphic pink hedgehog that appears in the post-credits tease, we sure hope when the next sequel swings along that Carrey finds his way back into the series.

Movie Rating:

(Electrifying fun - thanks to a double dose of Jim Carrey's comedic greatness)

Review by Gabriel Chong