Jeff Fowler and his familiar fast band of hyperactive heroes return to Aussie cinemas this boxing day, with Sonic The Hedgehog 3. A surprisingly decent animated action flick with enough juice to please everyone. Some mild spoilers to follow.
Don’t worry if you’ve missed the first and second entries in this franchise, adapted from the Sega video game series. The story opens with enough information worked into scenes and surroundings to quickly bring you up to speed. No mean feat, considering the breakneck speed the film moves. Little time is wasted introducing the titular hero (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and his pals before they’re whisked away to battle a new enemy force on the streets of Tokyo. Tails the fox, gadget extraordinaire (voiced by Colleen O’Shaugnessey) and Knuckles the trouble-punching echidna, (voiced by Idris Elba) along with Sonic learn they’re no match for newcomer Shadow (the hedgehog), voiced by none other than Keanu Reeves.
This kicks off a road trip, unravelling the mystery behind Shadow’s origin and the totally predictable reason he’s mad at G.U.N., and the human race in general.
Though, Reeve’s character is eclipsed by Jim Carrey. Pulling double duty as Robotnik and (bad) Grandpa Robotnik. Carrey absolutely steals every scene he’s in and die hard fans aside, may become the main reason anybody over fifteen years watches this movie. A particularly perfect comedic dance routine may be on loop for the next few months via Tick Tock and YouTube. Or I’ll eat my hat.
The art design of the animation in this Sonic film universe still looks a little off. At this point, three films in, I don’t see it improving and that’s a shame. There was still an opportunity to take the look of the anthropomorphic characters further back to their cartoonish, 16bit roots. But this is minor.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 opens boxing day and is an easy 8/10 bits of chaos emerald. It’ll have you smiling at how much your kids cheer at the cocky blue streak, while also giggling at how much of a great time Jim Carrey is having.
Stick around for the pre credits stinger, it’s a doozie and a must see for fans.
