Working nicely in line with the central attitude of "the fast and non-furious", the Sonic The Hedgehog movies have turned into a very entertaining series that stress the importance of family units (not blood family, but any family unit that you make for yourself, which is an important difference) and just keep adding more and more characters to each instalment. I'm absolutely shocked that Vin Diesel hasn't tried to engineer some kind of crossover event yet.
The plot this time around sees our spiky blue hero (Ben Schwartz staying on voice duty) threatened by a powerful stranger (Shadow, voiced by Keanu Reeves). Sonic has Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) and Tails (voiced by Colleen O'Shaugnessey) by his side, as well as Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter), but he may need the help of someone else. Someone unexpected. Someone who used to be an enemy. Enter Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey). But there may be more than one Robotnik on the scene today. Which is bad news for Sonic, but good news for fans of Carrey.
Also maintaining a number of the same people behind the camera, mainly director Jeff Fowler and writers Pat Casey, Josh Miller, and John Whittington, this third Sonic movie somehow conveys the sense that every one of the main players had just as much fun as they want viewers to have. The 110-minute runtime flies by, thanks to the extra characters being introduced, or at least teased, quite early on. There are also so many gags and silly little asides that the sheer quantity more than makes up for the varying quality.
Schwartz remains a great voice for the speedy hedgehog, Elba is very fun as the group member always aiming to be more serious and wary than everyone else, and O'Shaugnessey balances him out by being light and upbeat throughout most of her scenes. Reeves delivers someone angsty and dangerous, and feels like a very welcome addition to the core cast. Then there's Carrey, serving up more Carrey than ever before, and having a ball doing so. Whether he's being engrossed in a Spanish soap opera, delivering the expected snark, or performing a hilariously unnecessary choreographed dance number to a Chemical Brothers track, Carrey proves that he's still damn good value when it comes to delivering big laughs. Marsden and Sumpter may not be given much to do, but they still get a couple of good moments that make them just as welcome as the other returning players.
Don't get me wrong, this isn't any kind of modern classic. It wouldn't end up topping any charts (unless it was a chart consisting of movies centred around speedy blue hedgehogs), but it's absolutely perfect entertainment for those who enjoyed the first two movies. Some might think it slightly better than the previous movie, which would make this a series that has continually improved with every instalment, but I am going to settle for calling it an equal to its predecessor.
7/10
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