After two very successful installments of the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie franchise, as well as a spin-off mini-series, Paramount Pictures finally released the trailer for the third film on Aug. 26.
“Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is set to release on Dec. 20 of this year and be an early Christmas present for the massive audience the adaptation has garnered.
After Knuckles and Tails were introduced in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2,” Paramount is going for the kill with their newest additions to the cast: the Ultimate Lifeform, Shadow the Hedgehog is coming to the big screen.
Before we dive into all the trailer has to offer, let’s talk about the first two movies of the series and the expectations the third must live up to.
“Sonic the Hedgehog” (2020) was the last movie I watched in theaters before the COVID-19 pandemic hit, so it took a lot of time to resonate with me while the theaters were closed.
It also ended up being the last movie I ever watched in Troy’s “Continental Cinemas,” which is sorely missed. To those that didn’t even know Troy had a movie theater, my heart breaks for you because that was the primary source of ‘things to do in Troy’ when I was growing up.
I thought the movie was a pretty strong take on the Sonic franchise. It incorporates Sonic into the modern world pretty well and has good interpretations for most of the franchise’s lore.
The plot itself is pretty paper thin, though. Sonic must team up with this guy to travel from Wyoming to San Francisco to receive an item while fighting off the evil Dr. Robotnik.
So, the writers paid attention to The Hero’s Journey in ninth grade English class – that’s great.
There’s a lot of shameless product placement in the movie that’s very apparent, too, like countless driving establishing shots of the Toyota Tacoma. It was enough to at least make me question if the theater was including ad breaks.
The dialogue is so plain and boring throughout, and it drags down the whole movie for me.
It’s bad when I can guess exactly what’s going to be said and be correct over half the time.
The second movie suffers with the exact same problems, but even worse. Awful dialogue, a mediocre plot, overused tropes and out-of-touch humor plague the entirety of the sequel.
There’s an entire dance sequence to “Uptown Funk” that has no reason to be included.
You think that’s bad? How about Knuckles’ first scene where Dr. Robotnik agrees to team up and says, “I will show you de way.”
And you can’t forget about when they make Dr. Robotnik hit the floss mid conversation completely unprovoked. This could be passable for a YouTube fan animation back in 2019, but NOT for a movie studio with a $110 million budget.
You have to do something incredibly wrong to make me not like a Jim Carrey character, and the second movie is really teetering on the line.
I think “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” can be the savior of the series, and it will largely depend on how well Shadow is integrated. He’s being voiced by Keanu Reeves, but the writing we’ve seen so far in previous installments has shown they can make even the most likable actors get on your nerves.
Despite two sub-par movies to start things off for Sonic on the big screen, I’m still very excited for what’s coming in December. Apart from Santa. And New Years Eve. And Dead Day’s Eve . . . December is going to be packed . . .
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