Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Movie Review

 Overview.

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 Is an adaptation of the best Sonic game ever made. Sonic Adventure 2. But it does its level best to completely ruin the already phenomenal plotline and focus on the wrong characters. Scenes range from amazing to unbelievably awful. 

Plot.

As the source material's plot is amazing, it will come as no surprise that Sonic 3 has the strongest plot out of all 3 films. The story follows the darker themes of the Sonic universe. however, there are some weak points.

Shadow Escapes from G.U.N.

As a huge fan of the game this film is based off of, I was excited for this movie the day I heard it's release date. But that kind of ruined it for me. If you are looking for a 1-1 recreation of the game, you will not get that here. It's just not nearly faithful enough. I have seen multiple adaptations that were not super faithful such as Unreal Tournament: XAN from Secret Level. But most of them still kept to the original format. Sonic 3 has multiple completely original sections of the plot. However, these are the weaker parts of the film.  Sonic 3 is a perfect example of trying to change a story that doesn't need to be changed. I understand that the setup from the other 2 films couldn't really be removed for 3. But the main thing I'm talking about is the horrible Robotnik sections. Sonic 3 is a film adaptation of the darkest Sonic game. I did not watch this movie for crappy jokes.

Shadow and Maria Robotnik

But it's not all bad. Shadow's character development is amazingly written, and the movie picks up at a certain point. The plot has good parts and bad parts. Shadow's backstory is a great section, The final moments of the film are great and when there isn't an idiot doctor it's actually a great film. If I wasn't a fan of the source material, I probably would have said this was a great plot. But certain parts of the plot were changed when they should have just stayed the same. The plot goes into the darkest aspects of Sonic the Hedgehog but that's a recipe for success. 

Execution.

Shadow and Sonic

Sonic 3's execution is a 50/50 bag. Certain scenes are complete garbage while others are amazing. Shadow was executed perfectly. No complaints. His character development is second to none in the Sonic cinematic universe. Gerald Robotnik... Not so much. The scenes with Eggman and Gerald are downright awful. I am not against Sonic's jokes and Knuckles screaming "BREAK GLASS IN CASE OF EMERGENCY!" but this is out of hand. 

Eggman and Gerald breaking into G.U.N.

I mean... There isn't much else to say but "What the heck?!"  There is a sort of "Now we're cooking!" moment in the movie where it just gets better. But if not for the completely awful handling of Gerald and Ivo I would have put this score much higher. I also hate how they did the Chao Garden. It's funny but it's also really weird. Being a Sonic Adventure 2 fan sort of ruined the movie though. As it's not as faithful as I would have hoped.  Sonic 3 does its best to mess up and is mostly carried by its source material.

Characters.

Ok. Let's get one thing straight. I DO NOT WATCH THESE MOVIES FOR JIM CARREY.

Eggman aboard the ARK

They could literally remove him from these movies, and I would not care. Eggman and Gerald are easily the worst characters in this film. They've started to use Tom and Maddie much better. Tails was never bad. Knuckles is the actual funniest character and Sonic and Shadow are amazing. Shadow's character development and backstory are a sub plot of themselves. But Eggman and Gerald are completely awful. Sonic Adventure 2 is not a "Funny Story" And Eggman's ridiculous scenes are just too much. Completely awful. I would prefer if they actually focused on guys like Tails, Shadow and Sonic. Not this fool. Tom and Maddie however are used much less than Sonic 1 or 2.  Tom is used for one important scene and a few other scenes but mostly the plot focuses on Shadow and Sonic. Sonic has a great character arc too. As does Tails. However, Knuckles misses out and is one of the few characters without a great development arc. At the end of the movie, I disagree with the new character. Amy Rose is the character at the end of the film. More of Sonic's rivals should be added in the future. Silver the Hedgehog would be a great selection.

Maria and Shadow in a Flashback scene.

Maria Robotnik is more of a story character. But despite only being in the movie for a few separate scenes she influences the story a lot. As far as acting goes... Keanu Reeves as Shadow was an excellent choice. Ben Schwartz is as good as ever as Sonic. Its arguably his best performance in this series yet. As much as I hated Eggman in this movie, I have to say that Jim Carrey did a good job acting. Tails, Tom, Maddie and Knuckles all were not featured as much as the other characters, but they all did great with their roles as well. Sonic 3 got the best acting out of all the stars.

Verdict

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is a good adaptation. But certain scenes and characters do not fit the theme of the source material and end up screwing up the overall score. Being a die-hard fan of Sonic Adventure 2 ruined this for me in a way. As a lot of creative liberties were taken with the film. Here are the scores.

Plot: 89

Sonic 3's plot benefits from its source material having one of the best plots in all of gaming.

Soundtrack: 71

Legendary Sonic track "Live and Learn" is used but they got sued for using it. And I hate that they had Jelly Roll make whatever garbage that was at the end.

Acting: 90

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 has the best acting in the series all across the board. All the stars did a great job. Keanu was perfect as Shadow.

Looks: 97

Considering how the 2 main characters are CGI... I'd say they did amazing. 

Execution: 50

As I said it's a 50/50 bag. some scenes are perfect. Others.... Not so much.

Overall: 78 💥

Despite its flaws, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is easily the best of the 3 films and a great adaptation.