Sometimes, a kids’ movie can be great even if it doesn’t satisfy an older age group, especially if that older age group is familiar with the IP. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” falls directly into this category. As a family-friendly adventure flick, it works, but as an adaptation of the classic game “Sonic Adventure 2”, it fails in many ways. Yes, there’s incredibly fast pacing, but at the same time, this is the first sign that it’s not confident in its own ideas, visuals or plotting.
“[The] story was way too predictable—I knew everything that was happening,” Ahmed Ali (9) said.
The third installment in the franchise starts off with Sonic’s “Bearth-Day,” which is essentially the anniversary of the day he came to Earth back in the original film “Sonic the Hedgehog”. After roasting marshmallows, Tom (James Marsden of “Hairspray”) blatantly explains the theme of the movie the viewer’s about to watch to Sonic (Ben Schwartz of “Parks and Recreation”) because the writers continue to think their fanbase can’t understand the simple story they’ve written. It’s strange, considering that most kids’ movies at least let you think about what it’s trying to say, but this movie just says it straight up as the creators view its audience as illiterate.
Then, coincidentally, Shadow (Keanu Reeves of “John Wick”) is released from his prison at a G.U.N. (Guardian Units of the Nations) base near Tokyo. With a dazzling voice performance from Reeves, this beautifully animated scene shows promise. However, some of the concept art caught flack online for being made using AI, which is disappointing—especially since this is a billion-dollar company that can afford talented, human animators. It is even more disappointing for a “Sonic Adventure 2” adaptation since that story was made with nothing but love and appreciation for the franchise. The writer of “Sonic Adventure 2” even created storyboards simply to express his true vision and yet, an artist decides to use AI slop instead of natural talent to conceptualize the film version.
After the events of Shadow’s escape, G.U.N. contacts Sonic to stop Professor Robotnik’s evil black hedgehog. They hop in a helicopter and head to Tokyo, where Sonic, of course, has to make another pop culture reference for the thousandth time. Then, Tails gives Sonic handcuffs, which is entirely against his characters in his games, as Sonic is the embodiment of freedom and canonically stated to only hate oppression. His adaptation in the movies isn’t even mischaracterization anymore—it is just an insult to the original creation. For example, in the original “Sonic Adventure 2”, Sonic was literally put in captivity due to Shadow’s actions yet never held a grudge against him and gave him freedom.
Now, let’s list some positives: the climactic fight scene with Shadow is smartly animated and the creators genuinely seemed to take their time with this scene. The lighting, the action and the camera all add up together to make a magnificent scene of Sonic chasing Shadow on his motorcycle. Near the end of this scene, you’ll notice a reference to the “Akira Slide” (essentially a motorcycle sliding using your legs to slow it down; originating from the legendary 1988 anime movie “Akira”).
As the scene continues, though, Sonic gets knocked down, and this is where the pacing problem I stated before truly starts, as now we’re in a Chao Garden, which references the fairy-like creatures from “Sonic Adventure 1”. However, it is ultimately disappointing, as it is just a reference and nothing more—nostalgia for nostalgia’s sake.
Later in the story, Eggman (a nickname for Jim Carrey’s Dr. Robotnik) meets Gerald, his grandfather who was in prison for 50 years and isolated from all of humanity crafting a super weapon of destruction for his freedom. Yet he acts like a total joke, which is somehow even more mischaracterized than Sonic himself. The story continues to feel rushed and everything that happens feels underbaked and merely an excuse for Carrey (“The Mask”) to act as goofy as possible on screen.
“The ending felt forced and planned out, I could predict everything. What’s the point of watching something if you know what’s going to happen?” Steven Brennen (9) said.
Continuing to deviate from the original “Sonic Adventure 2”, the latest iteration of the beloved video game for the silver screen attempts to have an interesting story, yet the game still exceed’s at storytelling along with everything else the film attempts to change or explore. The movie overall doesn’t seem to want to appeal to anyone over the age of five, which is frustrating, as “Sonic Adventure 2” was such a tragic story even adults could enjoy.
You just can’t make a story as good as its original version without passion, and certainly not without the main character acting like himself.
