With all that running around, you would think the little hedgehog is tired. Well, he may not be, but his franchise kinda is. Adding yet another level of non-comic incredulity to the proceeding, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 littered the Christmas screen for almost two hours. Was it an enjoyable two hours? Well … I suppose if you’re 7 and haven’t seen Sonic or Sonic 2: This Time It’s Personal, sure, you could love Sonic 3, the sonicky sonicistic Sonic of the all. For most of the rest of us … not so much.
There’s a new sonic in town, a dark sonic. He’s Shadow (voice of Keanu Reeves), a spiteful and vengeful little jerk who has been on Earth for decades, but in contained prison isolation. That’s a pretty neat trick, btw, cuz Shadow easily overpowers Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba), in their first encounter. Hey, big toast to the team that was able to imprison shadow for 50 years, huh?
Shadow is pissed off that government agents took away his friend half a century ago … so naturally, this vengeance translates to a plot about blowing up the Earth. The latter i
s attempted by the duo of Dr. Ivo Robotonik (Jim Carrey), and the doctor’s grandfather, Professor Gerald Robonik (also Carrey). Jim Carrey is clearly having a lot of fun in this film. I’m not sure any of the animated characters made me laugh, but the doctor and the professor playing mirrored dance, dance revolution to beat laser beam triggers is one of the highlights of the season.
Oh, and James Marsden and Tika Sumpter are around as well, cuz they’re Sonic’s guardians. And, besides, somebody’s gotta be a human in this film,
right?
The Sonic franchise is approaching that level of silly where it’s all colors and lights and sounds. It’s not quite there, yet, but so much of this film is self-parody that it’s hard to take anything seriously. Obviously, I’m not the target audience, but I LIKED the first one … and I found merit in the second. Today’s film wasn’t terrible, but we’ve shied so far from the “lone alien trying to carve out his own path” that it’s hard to believe such a theme in the first film ever existed. The entire franchise now all feels like a blue blob of pure screen energy. Hey, that might be your thing. Maybe you like Idris Elba voicing a humorless cartoon meathead. Maybe you like dual-mode Sonic. Maybe you even like Tails … doing whatever Tails does. Me? I didn’t hate it, but I’m done. I like Robotnik, but I don’t need to see another Sonic film.
Once schemed a Doctor Robotnik
Who doubled his villainous shtick
But the cartoon flurry
Repelled without worry
Leaving the old guy looking like a dick
Rated PG, 110 Minutes
Director: Jeff Fowler
Writer: Pat Casey, Josh Miller, John Wihittington
Genre: I hope Jim Carrey’s having fun
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: If you need to love a non-Christmas family film this season …
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: [sarcasm] You know what this franchise needs? To be more cartoonish[/sarcasm]
