Sonic The Hedgehog 3

January 17 – 21

7:00 pm nightly
1:30 Sunday Matinée
PG — 1 hr 45min
2024 ‧ Action / Adventure

It’s not often that each movie gets better in a trilogy, but Sonic 3 is the best of the bunch. There’s action-packed goofiness a plenty thanks to Jim Carrey pulling double duty, but what I didn’t expect was a surprisingly moving performance from Keanu Reeves. The dream of the ‘90s is alive with Jim Carrey giving not one but two gleefully deranged performances that harken to his rubber-faced comedic greatness of three decades ago. Do you miss the slapstick antics of Dumb & Dumber? Here, you get Robotnik & Robotnik. Carrey reprises his malevolent mastermind role from the previous two Sonic movies while also playing Gerald Robotnik, Dr. Ivo Robotnik’s equally evil grandfather. Both are verbose and elaborately mustachioed. And the moment these long-lost relatives find each other features a fourth-wall break that surpasses anything that occurs in Mufasa: The Lion King.

In theory, though, you’re here for Sonic, voiced once again with fast-paced swagger and sass by Ben Schwartz. But he keeps getting upstaged by his co-stars in this zippy third installment from director Jeff Fowler. Keanu Reeves provides his signature quiet intensity to the role of Shadow. Imagine John Wick as a super-powered, diabolical space hedgehog and you’ll get an idea of the seriousness with which Reeves approached the assignment. Whoa. All of this is to say that Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is way better than it has a right to be.

Make sure you stay all the way through the credits for a couple of teasers of what’s to come. Based on the gasps and squeals from several people at a recent press screening, it could be out of this world. While the first film felt like it was a kid’s film, this third film feels like it’s aimed at young adults with its story and tone although the jokes never fail to find their place for the younger audience. The best way to describe Sonic 3 is as a Marvel movie mixed with a Minions movie mixed with Spy Kids.