Director: Jeff Fowler
Cast: Jim Carrey, Ben Schwartz, Krysten Ritter, Natasha Rothwell, Shemar Moore, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Idris Elba, Keanu Reeves
Screenplay: Pat Casey, Josh Miller, John Whittington
110 mins. Rated PG.

Sonic the Hedgehog has become the little video franchise that could. The first film, struggling to solidify an appealing design for its title character, opened at the exact time COVID lockdowns began in 2020 and became more successful than anyone expected. The sequel seemed to come and go, but it sneakily brought in $400 million worldwide on a reasonable budget. Then, the franchise’s big bad, Jim Carrey (The Truman Show) considered retirement and wasn’t sure if he’d return for another installment. Thankfully, he did return, because his inclusion uplifts a fairly traditional franchise follow-up that struggles to find new footing, ultimately making a flawed-but-very-entertaining third trip with the titular hedgehog.

Picking up where the second film left off, Shadow (Keanu Reeves, The Matrix) a hedgehog with a very different background to Sonic (Ben Schwartz, The Interview), frees himself from a G.U.N. installation and plans to avenge a loss from 50 years prior. Sonic and his team, now including Tails and Knuckles (Idris Elba, Avengers: Endgame), realize that they are no match in taking on Shadow themselves, and they team up with the villainous Dr. Robotnik (Carrey) in order to protect their world from Shadow’s vendetta.

I’m not joking when I say that Jim Carrey is exceptional as both Dr. Robotnik and his own grandfather, Gerald Robotnik, in a dual role that sees him playing off the only person capable of matching his energy…himself. It seems with every installment of this series, Carrey is given a little more room to play, and it’s been one of the main elements bringing me back each time. I’ve loved Jim Carrey as a performer for many decades, and he’s harnessing some of that 90s energy with Robotnik, which matches the time frame of several Sonic films and helps to instill some comfortable nostalgia to the property without being overbearing. His Dr. Robotnik has a terrific character arc this time around, given much more space to work with, and his take on Grandfather Gerald, “in the saggy flesh” as it were, might be even better.

The voice work is all solid once again, with newcomer Reeves providing a nice enough vocal performance even though Shadow isn’t given much from an acting perspective, his story being mostly revealed through montage and visual storytelling. Ben Schwartz and Idris Elba have proven to be absolutely inspired casting choices, much like Carrey as Robotnik. Colleen O’Shaughnessey also turns in reliably strong vocal acting as Tails.

There’s a level of consistency to the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise in which each film has seemingly the same strengths and faults, similar plots, and pretty much the same post-credits scenes. That’s not always a bad thing, as James Marsden (The Notebook) returning as Sonic’s human friend Tom adds a level of connective heart to Sonic’s journey, but the screenwriters smartly made the decision to lessen his role this time around. Marsden is great, but he’s become a little less necessary as the series has gone on. For the most part, he’s in the first movie because the filmmakers believed that audiences would need a human surrogate to connect with the material, but Sonic, Knuckles, and Tails have become perfectly capable of leading the franchise, so Marsden has less to do. I wish they’d made the same choice with Rachel (Natasha Rothwell, Wonka) and Randall (Shemar Moore, The Death of Superman). These are two side characters that are not necessary in this film much like its predecessor. They pop up, derail the film for a few minutes, and then disappear.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 struggles a bit to build momentum at the beginning, and it has a bloated third act, but two incredible performances from Jim Carrey and the silly adventure tone that the franchise has maintained elevate this installment to being maybe the best one yet. The entertainment here should work well for younger and older viewers, even those that may have missed previous installments (I hadn’t seen the Knuckles show when I attended my screening, and it didn’t take away from the joy I experienced). It’s an entertaining and fun movie that franchise fans will certainly enjoy.

3.5/5
-Kyle A. Goethe