Gotta go fast! 'Sonic 3' will get your blood pumping!
The Blue Blurr has returned with the closing movie to his trilogy
Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves) brings a new threat in the wildly fun 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3.' (Courtesy photo | Sega Inc.)
"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" is a wild time at the movies. If you love video games, and/or Sonic Adventure 2, then this movie is for you!
The movie follows Sonic, Tails and Knuckles as they are tasked by special forces G.U.N. to take down a new hedgehog called Shadow. As the team encounters Shadow for the first time, they realize G.U.N can't be trusted, and find trust in an unexpected ally in order to stop Shadow from destroying the world.
I had a lot of fun watching this movie. Sonic is a character I've known since I was small, and when I heard Shadow was going to be the villain for the third movie, I was elated.
The hype continued to build when Keanu Reeves was announced as the voice for Shadow and that Jim Carrey would be returning to play Egg-man, leading to Sonic 3 becoming No. 1 at the box office, toppling "Mufasa: The Lion King".
Ben Schwartz has mastered his voice as Sonic, and he gives his best performance in this movie. Sonic's emotions are captured extremely well, and he receives a lot of character growth in this movie.
Colleen O' Shaughnessey does a wonderful job as Tails as always, and Idris Elba has great comedic timing when voicing Knuckles. Shadow voiced by Keanu Reeves was the standout, as many people had been anticipating seeing this character come to life on the big screen and he is phenomenal as the character.
Jim Carrey is also excellent in the movie. I think this is my favorite role for him as his Eggman is such a convincing but different take of the character. I can't explain it, it just works.
The action set-pieces in this movie are outstanding. This movie lives to entertain you, especially if you are a major Sonic fan. There are so many callbacks and fun needle-drop moments that will make your inner Sonic fan go crazy. I urge you to see this movie in a crowded theater or at least with Sonic fans. You'll have a blast.
However, the film isn't perfect. When the humor starts, you're reminded that this is a kids movie. A lot of the humor is obvious. You can expect jokes like fart jokes, misunderstandings and some cringe one-liners from Sonic, but there are a couple jokes that made me snicker, so not all of it is bad.
The pacing of this film is quick and at whiplash levels of tone. I understand why, but I feel like the movie could have used a couple minutes to breath and absorb some of the heavier messages of the movie.
This movie is an absolute blast and is a great film for kids to see and adults to enjoy, or take a nap, depending on who you are. The movie gets an 8.5/10 from me and be sure to stay all through the credits, you don't want to miss these post credit scenes!
Reviewer Carter Salley is a junior majoring in Media Arts. He is the co-host of Central Michigan Life's pop culture podcast "Raving Geeks."
