By Jewel Marie
Imagine living in a time where video game adaptations made good movies. Imagine watching a movie that perfectly mixes action, character development and good story-writing. Now imagine Keanu Reeves as a three-foot hedgehog. That is basically Sonic 3.
Sonic the Hedgehog has become an extremely successful movie franchise in just five years after having one of the most controversial starts possible. Back when the original trailer for the first movie got released, fans were furious at how hideous and uncanny Sonic’s movie design looked. Backlash online was at its biggest and Sonic’s movie run was about to be considered one of the biggest flops of all time.
That all changed with one tweet.
On May 12, 2019, the movie’s director Jeff Fowler tweeted “The message is loud and clear. You aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be.” With just one design change, the future of the movie franchise was fundamentally changed. The first movie was considered wildly successful and just two years later, Sonic 2 released in theatres while also becoming even more successful than the first movie. Now, after just five years, Sonic’s third movie installment released and became one of the highest-grossing video game movie adaptations on the planet, even surpassing the previous two installments. On top of becoming a beloved movie franchise, Sonic 3 also served as Shadow the Hedgehog’s movie debut, voiced by Keanu Reeves. Shadow is considered one of if not the most popular characters among the Sonic community. Given Shadow’s widespread popularity and the fact he was being voiced by celebrity talent, fan interest reached an all-time high.
Growing up I was one of the biggest Sonic fans I knew, and on top of that I have fond memories playing Sonic Adventure 2 on the Nintendo GameCube when I was still in grade school. Given Sonic 3 was a direct movie adaptation of the story of Sonic Adventure 2, watching this movie was a given. And it did not disappoint.
Sonic Adventure 2, in my opinion, had an amazing story and gave the Sonic 3 movie so much potential. Fair warning, spoilers are ahead.
In Shadow’s time there, he made a friend in one of the professor’s granddaughters, Maria. Everyone else at the facility looked at him as nothing more than a lab rat, but Maria became Shadow’s one real friend.
One day, however, the government decided to cover up Shadow and, in the aftermath, an explosion in the lab killed Maria. The explosion was pinned on Shadow and he was put in stasis for 50 years until 2024[1] .
This movie is action-packed all around. As Sonic and friends fight to save the world, the movie explores the duality of both hedgehogs.
Sonic, while having a tragic backstory, was able to find new friends and family while leading a happy life. Shadow, meanwhile, experienced nothing but anger, pain and resentment. Because of this, he sought out revenge on the world that took Maria away from him.
Jim Carrey also not only reprised his role as the evil Dr. Eggman but also took on the challenge of playing two different characters, ultimately pulling off what I consider to be the best performance of his entire movie career.
Every character had their time in the spotlight. The movie was exciting from start to finish, and with a fleshed out post-credits scene and a fourth movie already on the way, Sonic the Hedgehog continues to shine on as one of the biggest comebacks in movie history.
Sonic the Hedgehog 4 will release on March 19, 2027.
