The third iteration of everyone’s favorite blue hedgehog is slightly more focused than its predecessors but inevitably succumbs to its luminescent spectacle that is void of compelling narrative.  The result is a film that indulges in grandeur and velocity whose stakes don’t completely permeate its viewer.

The film opens with rapid pace, clearly aiming to captivate its audience with sequences that include newcomer, Shadow (Keanu Reeves), flexing his muscles and then pivoting to Sonic and Friends playfully stretching theirs in some friendly competition.  The narrative then evolves to draw Sonic, Tails and Knuckles into the inevitable conflict with Shadow.  This first act feels primarily jarring as this transition occurs almost instantly, leaving the audience yearning for the necessary build-up that is essential to the conflict between the protagonist and their villain.  As the story moves away from this initial encounter, we then see Jim Carrey’s eccentric Dr. Robotnik come back into play.  His entrance comes with humorous reprieve which stymies its storytelling’s pacing and is in this context, quite welcome.  

Carrey once again supplies his signature charisma, abundant in both animation and fervor, which persists throughout the remainder of the film. Carrey’s performance is perhaps one of the pillars of the success of these films, which is no less in alignment with many of the characters he has embodied through the duration of his career.  His unwavering ability to elevate a family film beyond its lackluster storyline has made him the quintessential archetype for films of this genre.  

Sonic 3 has also evolved in scope and scale, with a climax imbued with sequences that quite literally breach the stratosphere.  Prior to reaching this point, the film attempts to establish Shadow as a villain inhabiting the familiar trope of trauma that eventually elicits feelings of vengeance.  We expect this trait to exist often within many antagonists but it is the delivery of this plot device that is inevitably the decisive factor of its efficacy.  Unfortunately, Sonic 3 is unable to transcend this concept of familiarity and follows a standardized recipe for what makes Shadow tick.  As a result, the climactic moments of the film meant to draw us into both Sonic’s and Shadow’s plight, yield mild empathy at their best.

While the film suffers from these narrative setbacks, you may too often be enamored with (or simply distracted by) its visual light-speed theatricality, to spend much time ruminating over them.  Sonic 3 will accomplish mesmerizing its younger audience, as well as its die-hard fans, at a pace worthy of its title character. Otherwise, it is best to go into it with the expectation that, like the games, a slower and more methodical process was never in its repertoire.