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Sonic the Hedgehog is a very popular video game series that kids everywhere adore. It is Created by the Japanese gaming company Sega and is often seen as a rival to Nintendo's Mario. I personally have great memories of playing Sonic on my Sega Mega Drive as a kid, and I have really enjoyed watching the three movies based on the games.
For me, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is the best of the bunch. It is great to see Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles working together as a team and their interactions are just hilarious.
The movie was a big hit at the box office too. It earned over $187 million in the US and over $148 million internationally, bringing its worldwide total to around $336 million. That kind of success shows that this family friendly movie really was liked by its audience.
A big draw for Sonic the Hedgehog 3 was supposed to be the introduction of Shadow, which was teased in a post credit scene at the end of the second movie. While Shadow definitely had his moments, the real standout performance was Jim Carrey playing both Dr. Ivo “Eggman” Robotnik and his grandfather, Professor Gerald Robotnik. Carrey absolutely nailed both roles. I honestly can’t imagine anyone else playing Eggman as perfectly as he does.
shadow was a great villain and we got a glimpse into his backstory. We learned that he arrived on Earth 50 years ago and formed a close bond with a girl named Maria. Tragically, something terrible happened to her and Shadow is driven by a desire for revenge against those responsible.
So, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gives us this revenge storyline with Shadow. He is portrayed as a character with a painful past, having been held captive by the government for 50 years before being freed by Eggman's grandfather.
Action star Keanu Reeves does a fantastic job voicing Shadow. In fact, all the voice acting was so good that I'd love to hear these actors in future Sonic games too. Shadow's ability, Chaos Control, lets him teleport and manipulate time giving him a real edge over Sonic in terms of speed.
Right from the start when Shadow is released, he causes chaos and Team Sonic shows up to stop him. But Shadow easily overpowers all three of them.
Eggman and his grandfather are trying to find the key to an ion cannon and Shadow's helping them. They get one key from Sonic and the other is in a secure facility in London. Team Sonic tries to stop them but Shadow proves too strong and they get the second key.
After Shadow launches the ion cannon, Sonic gets the Chaos Emerald from Knuckles and uses it to transform into Super Sonic, gaining the ability to fly. He heads into space to confront Shadow.
The fight is intense. Shadow punches Super Sonic causing him to drop pieces of the Chaos Emerald which then transforms Shadow into Hyper Shadow. They battle fiercely until Super Sonic finally defeats Hyper Shadow, but chooses not to finish him off. This makes Shadow realize that revenge isn't worth it. So Super Sonic and hyper Shadow team up to destroy the ion cannon which is about to destroy Earth.
In a surprising turn, Shadow and Eggman make the ultimate sacrifice to save the planet and are hailed as heroes. I thought Shadow was gone for good but a post-credit scene reveals he survived the explosion which was a great surprise.
I think Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is an excellent movie and the best in the franchise. The action is fantastic just like in the games and cartoons. My only real complaints are that we didn't get a proper backstory for Shadow like we did for Sonic in the first movie showing his home planet and how he came to Earth.
Also, the movie felt a bit rushed. Given Shadow's complex character, I would have loved to see more of his story. The movie is about 1 hour and 49 minutes long and it could have benefited from a longer runtime.
The human characters were also well done, especially Jim Carrey in his dual roles, and James Marsden and Tika Sumpter as Tom and Maddie who played important supporting roles.
Overall, I will give Sonic the Hedgehog 3 a 9.9 out of 10. It is a great movie with a lot to offer and I highly recommend watching it with your kids to relive some of your own childhood memories.
Image source : Photo by Nik on Unsplash
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