What’s It About
Sonic, Knuckles and Tails reunite to battle Shadow, a mysterious new enemy with powers unlike anything they’ve faced before. With their abilities outmatched in every way, they seek out an unlikely alliance to stop Shadow and protect the planet.
MOVIESinMO REVIEW
You know how sometimes sequels can be hit or miss? Well, let me tell you about this one. So, we’re jumping back into the world of our favorite blue hedgehog, and this time, the Wachowski family is trying to do something pretty relatable – just take a nice, peaceful vacation. I mean, who doesn’t want that, right? You’ve got Sonic (voiced by the incredibly energetic Ben Schwartz), Knuckles (with Idris Elba’s perfect gravelly voice), and Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) all packed up and ready for some R&R with Tom and Maddie. But here’s where it gets interesting—and by interesting, I mean everything goes completely sideways. There’s also a hedgehog named Shadow, who is being voiced by Keanu Reeves (how cool is that?). He has been asleep for about fifty years, but now he thinks it is time to wake up and create chaos. So much for a nice, peaceful vacation, right? Before you know it, everyone is off to Tokyo to deal with whatever crisis it has become. Amazing casting, huh? Can we talk about Jim Carrey for a second? He does not just one role; he plays two this time! He reprises his role as Dr. Robotnik as well as that of Robotnik’s grandfather, Gerald. Let’s just say watching the two variations of the Robotnik interact is pure comedy gold. If I had to choose one scene to denote the hilarity, I would choose Robotniks trying to get into a vault, attempting to do so not in any ordinary fashion, but by way of an entire dance number. It’s this wonderfully strange stuff that only Jim Carrey can do. What I thought was incredibly clever about this movie is how it constantly shifted styles. For a moment, you are watching some grand action sequence, then suddenly it feels like a kid-friendly horror movie, and before you know it, boom! We’re in the middle of a musical number. If you think, “Wait, doesn’t this sound a little random?” well, good: that’s the beauty of the overall slid being an accurate, clever throwback to the original Sonic games! Each level had a distinct feel and a distinct soundtrack, and that’s precisely what that is in movie form! There’s even a killer little joke about blowing on a flash drive to get it to work, which totally took me back to the blowing on a game cartridge era. Major nostalgiaburst! The chemistry between Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles has really hit a peak in this one. You can tell they’ve come a long way for teamwork since the last two. Ben Schwartz continues to absolutely nail Sonic’s couldn’t-sit-still-if-you-paid-me energy, and having Colleen O’Shaughnessey back as Tails is just perfect for anyone who knows the games. But can we talk about Idris Elba as Knuckles? He somehow steals the show with some of the funniest lines in the movie. I think having his own TV series helped him develop that character. Adding Keanu Reeves as Shadow was an interesting choice. I’ll be honest – it takes a bit of time to get used to his voice coming from this animated hedgehog. But once you get Shadow’s backstory and understand all the family trauma he’s dealing with, it really clicks. It’s like they took the John Wick level of intensity and somehow made it work in a family movie. Pretty impressive, right? The idea of “we need to save the world” might seem familiar, but the movie works well because you really care about the characters by now. And visually? Wow, some of those scenes – especially the last fight between Shadow and Sonic – are beautiful. The animation team really did an amazing job. Here’s the thing though – while Jim Carrey absolutely steals every scene he’s in (twice over!), there’s this lingering question about future movies since we’re not sure if he’ll be back. There’s already talk of Sonic 4 for Spring 2027 and I find myself wondering if they would handle it if he doesn’t return. Is it going to win an Oscar? Probably not. But does it need to? This is pure entertainment that somehow manages to please both kids and adults who grew up playing Sonic games. It’s actually kind of amazing how they’ve managed to make one of the best video game movie series ever-and that’s not an easy feat! Oh, and one last thing-don’t forget to linger after the credits. You know how it is with movies today – there’s always something special for the fans! What I really like about this third movie is that it makes things more serious and adds depth to the story, which the first two movies didn’t have much of. It still keeps things fun and family-friendly, but there’s just enough serious stuff to make you actually care about what’s happening on screen.
OUR RATING – A SHADOWY 8.5