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Summary: 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, Team Sonic must seek out an unlikely alliance.

There is a mid credit scene AND a post credit scene.
This is a short review lol.

Pros:

Cast and Characters.

• Ben Schwartz as Sonic the Hedgehog. An anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run at supersonic speeds. Sonic has matured somewhat in that he tries to work with a team now that his family has continued to grow. He’s not on his own anymore, and besides Tom and Maddie he now has Tails and Knuckles to consider and while he doesn’t always consider them when reacting to a situation, he does try to make it right. Meeting Shadow, he sees what he could have been in a lot of ways, he tries to meet Shadow somewhere in the middle but it’s not easy. There’s a lot of emotions Sonic goes through in this movie because of how his family gets endangered. As always Ben Schwartz does a great job and I think captures the youth and energy of Sonic. His comedic timing and delivery is also great and since he gets to have some different emotions going on in this movie, I think he handles them very well. In the third act, Sonic experiences anger, more than he has so far and I think Ben does a good job with capturing that within the character.  
• Colleen O’Shaughnessey as Miles “Tails” Prower. An anthropomorphic yellow-orange fox who can fly with his two tails and he’s the gadget guy on the team. He’s smart and comes in clutch with his gadget use or some of his quick thinking/brave moments. He’s so positive and a little naive at times, but he’s a kid so that makes sense. I love how innocent he comes off, like when he talks with Stone about being friends with Sonic and not his assistant. I thought that was a good scene. I was also so proud of him a few times in particular in the third act of the film. Colleen O’Shaughnessey has voiced Tails in the past and she’s so good in the role.
• Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna. An anthropomorphic red echidna warrior with superhuman strength. This movie finds Knuckles after the events of Sonic 2 and the Knuckles show where he has gotten a bit more comfortable being on earth and being part of the family. He’s the older brother to Sonic and Tails effectively but still due to his personality, he does still have his moments of being a fish out of water. Being that he’s now part of the team, he works well with Sonic and Tails, and I really love how he fits in with Tom and Maddie. There’s a scene where he engages with the hobbies Maddie discovered and I thought that was so cute. I also really liked the scene towards the end where he and Sonic have a little argument. That scene really shows how much Knuckles has grown. Idris Elba is so good as Knuckles, I really feel like after being a little skeptical when he was announced that first time, I really love his portrayal. His line delivery and the affected accent he does, makes Knuckles a lovable character.
• Keanu Reeves as Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow is a red-striped black hedgehog that came to earth in a meteor and ended up being part of a secret government program “Project Shadow”. He can teleport, is very strong and he’s fast but he hovers/skates. He’s so very cool lol. Shadow is angry and betrayed due to an event that happened 50 years ago, he’s been in stasis ever since and now that he’s awake, he wants revenge. He encounters Team Sonic and he is able to best them a few times and also goads Sonic. He’s basically what Sonic could have been under different circumstances. Keanu Reeves is very good in the role. You feel his sadness and his anger and whenever he interacts with Sonic; the extreme difference in their personalities makes them very engaging to watch. When he was announced, I was so excited because I felt like he would give Shadow a special kind of broody gravitas, similar to John Wick and I think he nails it. Definitely a standout.

Live Action Cast.

• Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik / Dr. Eggman & Professor Gerald Robotic. A mad scientist and Sonic’s archenemy. He has managed to survive the events of Sonic 2. Eggman briefly teams up with Team Sonic to find out who is using his technology but once he finds out about his family, he of course switches gears. Eggman is always a fun character, the way he interacts with Sonic in particular is always fun but he spends most of the movie interacting with his grandfather Gerald. Gerald is from an older generation, and while he’s silly similar to Eggman, he’s much more tough and “sinister” in how he goes about completing his missions. I can’t go too much into it without giving away the story but I think Jim Carrey is a great actor and he’s great at playing characters. I do wish he wasn’t playing Gerald too but it’s fine. But Eggman gets to have a little emotional moment in this film and of course now that a 4th film has been announced, I do wonder what’s going to happen with Eggman going forward.
  • One of my friends and I agreed that it would have been fun if Gerald was Dick Van Dyke but after realizing he’s 99, I think he would have been great but maybe 10 years ago. I’m not sure how spry he is these days.
• James Marsden as Tom Wachowski. Tom is the sheriff of Green Hills, Montana and Sonic’s adoptive father. He and Sonic have a really nice scene in the first act of the film that really informs the movie and helps to inform Sonic later on. It comes full circle. He gets more involved in the third act of the film to an extent and since he’s a likable guy, it’s easy to enjoy watching him (and Maddie) be involved in the little missions. James Marsden is extremely likable and you can tell that these are his kids!
• Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski. Tom’s wife and the local veterinarian of Green Hills who is also Sonic’s adoptive mother. I like Maddie and Tom as a unit so I’m glad that they’re usually involved with each other whenever they get to be actively part of Team Sonic. I like that those are her kids and she reacts like a mother would most of the time, or at least a mother of three anthropomorphic animals lol. I think she and James have nice chemistry with each other and I would like to see her have some personal moments with Sonic too going forward.
• Lee Majdoub as Stone. I enjoy Stone and I think he’s fun to have around with Eggman’s over the top personality. He has a line where he says what everyone’s thinking to Tails. But also, Stone just wants to help Eggman however he can. He’s a loyal henchman and he has a little arc himself where we see him struggle with his loyalty to Eggman. I think Lee Majdoub is fun as Stone, he has great chemistry with Jim Carrey and the CGI characters when he interacts with them.

Shadow’s Story. The way they introduce Shadow is so very cool but as the movie goes on and we learn about his past, it’s so easy to feel sympathy for him. I wish we got a bit more of him but I do think what we got was handled very well. The movie doesn’t give everything away right off the bat, it sprinkles his past in along the way but it’s not hard to understand why he’s angry and what is pushing his need for revenge. Plus, we get to see a lot of his powers as the movie goes on, how he operates in situations. He adds some brooding seriousness to the story.

Action Sequences. There are a good amount of action scenes. The movie starts out with one, with Shadow and I think they’re all done very well. Because of Shadow’s ability to teleport and his speed skating, the way he fights is different from what we’ve seen with Sonic gotta go fast, Knuckles punch and ask later and Tails’ reliance on gadgets. He also knows how to fight and not that Sonic doesn’t but he clearly needs a few lessons from Shadow lol. The motorcycle chase was fun. The fight scene during the climax was really fun as well. I thought it was well choreographed.

Emotional Moments. I think each movie has these moments but I do think this movie has the most and does them the best for all characters involved. Eggman gets to have a few emotional moments that I thought were handled pretty well. Shadow of course has plenty of emotional moments that helps to understand his character. Sonic has plenty and I liked the scene between him, Knuckles and Tails towards the end before the big climax sequence. I think he always has one with Tom and I really liked the one at the beginning, you see it in the trailer with the “in my lungs” comment lol. I wish he had one with Maddie, or that Maddie had some with Knuckles and Tails but Knuckles line at the end on the camping trip was so cute, I could cry lol.

Cons:

The Eggmans & the Family Tree. So, I need to know the family tree. I’m not sure how much all the trailers give away so I won’t go into detail about this but I wish the movie did a better job in explaining just how Eggman is related to Gerald and another character. There’s almost an indication where you think the movie is giving you answer but it doesn’t actually go far enough to not leave us with questions and considering how the movie ends, it’s probably not going to be an answer we’ll get in the next movie. I feel like the scene between Gerald and Ivo in the climax of the film, was the right place to explain it if it wasn’t going to be explained in any of the flashbacks or in their initial meeting.

I also find myself wondering in hindsight how the movie would have been without Eggman and just having Gerald and Shadow as the main antagonists. It would be crazy for him not to be there, but maybe he should have been in there sparingly?

Overall, I think Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the best one so far. I think the story is fun and emotional. The characters are always great and the actors are clearly having fun in their roles. The voice acting continues to be amazing. Keanu Reeves as Shadow is definitely a standout. The action sequences are fun and well choreographed. There are a good amount of emotional moments and they’re handled well. Shadow’s storyline was also handled well and kept his story and character sympathetic with the audience. I would have liked for the Eggman family stuff to be explained better. It still left me with many questions. But in the end, Sonic The Hedgehog 3 is a fun adventure with great characters and a great story. I recommend!

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars.

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