Sonic the Hedgehog 3 (2024)
There's a moment about halfway through Sonic the Hedgehog 3 when my son got up, wandered out of the room, and didn't come back for a while. He's the target audience. He loves these films. And when a Sonic movie loses the child in the room, you have to take the hint, even if you're sitting there still enjoying yourself well enough.
Three films in, this series has settled into a groove, and the question Sonic 3 raises is whether a groove and a rut are the same thing. Jeff Fowler is back in the director's chair, and everything that made the first two work is present and correct. The problem is that "present and correct" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. The energy that looked effortless early on is starting to look like effort. The joins are showing. You can feel the formula underneath the fur.
That said, the film has a couple of genuine tricks up its sleeve, and they matter. Keanu Reeves as Shadow is a shrewder piece of casting than it might sound on paper. He plays the brooding newcomer straight, all low-voiced melancholy and coiled threat, and it works precisely because he doesn't wink at the audience. The comic three-way between Sonic, Knuckles and Tails has also sharpened considerably. Where those dynamics felt a bit loose before, there's now a rhythm to them, a proper running joke that pays off in the way good ensemble comedy should. That's worth something.
And then there's Jim Carrey. Handed a double role this time, playing both Robotnik and his grandfather, he is still the single best reason to turn up to one of these films, and doubling him only doubles the fun. Film after film he is the highlight of the whole enterprise, the one performer who seems to exist at exactly the right frequency for this material. I think back to what he was doing in films like The Mask and you can draw a straight line to what he's pulling off here: the same gift for physical comedy, the same willingness to go completely over the top and somehow make it land. He's a treasure, frankly, and I hope they never stop giving him the work.
So there is plenty to enjoy. I'm not going to sit here and pretend I had a bad time, because I didn't. Fans of the series will find enough to justify the outing, and I count myself among them. When I reviewed Sonic the Hedgehog (2020), I was genuinely surprised by how much fun it was, how well it handled the awkward business of bringing a video game icon to the screen. That goodwill is still in the account. But this instalment is making a fairly substantial withdrawal on it.
The Keanu and Carrey elements give Sonic 3 its moments, and the central trio is funnier than it's been. But the film around those bright spots feels a little too comfortable, a franchise easing into middle age and coasting on charm it established elsewhere. A fourth film, if it comes, is going to need a fresh trick or two. Something to jolt the room back to attention the way the first one did.
Three and a half stars. Same score as the last one. Which, now I think about it, is probably the most honest summary of where this series finds itself right now.
Rating: ★★★½ | Year: 2024 | Watched: 2026-08-12
Where to watch
Watch in the UK
Stream: Netflix · Now TV Cinema · Paramount+ Amazon Channel · Netflix Standard with Ads
Rent: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Buy: Apple TV Store · Rakuten TV · Amazon Video · Google Play Movies
Physical: Amazon UK · Zavvi
Watch in the US
Stream: Amazon Prime Video · fuboTV · MGM+ Amazon Channel · Paramount Plus Premium
Rent: JustWatch TV · Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies
Buy: Amazon Video · Apple TV Store · Google Play Movies · YouTube
Physical: Amazon US
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