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Threading the Needle(mouse): Sonic the Hedgehog 3

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Sonic the Hedgehog has become a hit movie franchise, and that fact is still kind of mind-boggling. Even putting aside the widely-panned promotional images from the first movie that resulted in the CG being completely redone, there were many years where Sonic was the butt of endless jokes. Now, the third movie features Shadow the Hedgehog, the ultra edgy character who has been mocked by the internet since his debut…and he’s great. The movie’s great. 

My inner child, the one that used to imagine himself as Sonic, is thrilled. The more critical adult that I am now is satisfied as well. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has broad appeal while being faithful to the spirit of the source material and telling a good story, and that’s a balance many studios are failing miserably to achieve right now.

The story of Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is basically an adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2 on the Dreamcast, but pared down to 90-ish minutes in a way that keeps the essence of the story and the narrative benchmarks. For example, the film pulls out the iconic theme, “Live and Learn,” at just the right moment. This is indicative of something the Sonic movies have been able to pull off that I think has helped their success: They know what to prioritize in the source material. When the Sonic games themselves have accrued a ton of bloat over time, and making films for Hollywood often means trying to cater to mainstream assumptions and expectations, this is a powerful skill.

Characters retain their core traits even when certain aspects of their personalities might differ from game portrayals, such that they can be given more broadly relatable/entertaining traits and quirks without being unrecognizable, like Sonic’s occasional vulnerable awkwardness is charming juxtaposed with his general smart-aleck nature. Knuckles lack of self-awareness balances out his portrayal as a stoic warrior. Jim Carrey as Robotnik is a scenery-chewing goof more reminiscent of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog than anything else, but it works because the movie captures his frustrated antagonism towards his nemesis. 

With Shadow too, the creators understood that you have to play his brooding nature pretty straight because he needs to come across as powerful but burdened by trauma. Keanu Reeves also performs Shadow almost perfectly, especially in the way he differentiates his voice from a similar character in John Wick. 

As I was watching the movie, I wondered where they might go next with any sequels. Sonic Adventure 2 is probably the last time any character has really cemented themselves in pop culture, and a lot of the games after that are filled with odd experimental gimmicks or rely on nostalgia. When the post-credits teasers hit, they took me by complete surprise. Now I really want to see Sonic 4.

Welco Metot Henex Tlevel: “Sonic the Hedgehog” Movie Review

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I originally was on the fence about seeing the Sonic the Hedgehog movie. But the praise it received from those I trust to have loving but honest opinions about Sega convinced me. So in preparation, I basically went all-in on Sonic. I finally played (and beat) Sonic Mania, which I had put off for a long time. I filled my playlists with songs from Sonic and Sonic-adjacent sources. In a way, it was a homecoming for me, because my very first online community was actually a Sonic and NiGHTS fanfiction site. A part of me will always love the blue hedgehog.

One thing that struck me about the film is how, despite Sonic having a continued presence throughout the decades, Sonic the Hedgehog the movie is essentially a nostalgia film that nevertheless has appeal to kids today. It’s not set in the past (smartphones exist), and the way they portray Sonic as kind of naive and lonely fits better in today’s environment, but the overall buddy flick sensibility feels like it comes straight out of the 1990s, when Sonic was at his peak in terms of recognizability. Even though Jim Carrey isn’t portrayed with the classic girth of Robotnik, he comes across as how the character (described as having an immense IQ but the maturity of a child) could have been translated well to film even in the 90s. In fact, Jim Carrey probably could have played Robotnik back then as well.

Sonic the Hedgehog the movie is a surprisingly solid movie that feels faithful to the core spirit of Sonic as a “cool dude with attitude.” So much could have gone wrong, and the fact that it was inches away from being a total disaster makes it all the more miraculous. Most notably, the original design for Sonic in the movie was met with such widespread panning that they had to redo all the CG. And it matters a lot! That re-design basically was the difference between Sonic being an endearing character and one who induces nightmares.

The artists responsible for fixing Sonic’s look also got their studio shuttered before Christmas in the worst thank-you ever. If all the success this film has achieved doesn’t somehow go back into paying all of these employees who helped save this movie, then my opinion of it will sour immensely. But for now, I think Sonic the Hedgehog is worthy of praise.

It’s fitting that both Sonic the Hedgehog the movie and Sonic Mania are processed blasts of the 90s. Perhaps it took those three decades or so for the nostalgia to come around and make the Sonics everyone wanted into a reality once more.