Sonic 3

Currently only in theaters

Runtime: 1 hour and 49 Minutes

Rated PG

Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, and their human pals all return after hiding the Master Emerald to face a new threat unlike anything they have fought before, Shadow the Hedgehog. Shadow has been locked away for years by the agents of G.U.N. Now that he is loose he is set on exacting revenge. After realizing Shadow may be too much for them alone, Team Sonic turns to an unlikely ally, Dr. Robotnik!

Themes: “There are no winners with revenge.”

Heroes, aliens, Earthday Birthdays, government cover-ups, evil, power, family, science, loss, past mistakes, friendship, grandfathers, trust, revenge, super weapons, trust, jealousy, anger, rage, pain, trauma, love, memories, sacrifice, death, choices, free will, secret experiments, long lost relatives, space, and familial love.

Language:

A*s - 1 D*mn - 2 Hell - 1 Religious Exclamations - 4

Other phrases to be aware - “what the what now…” “…butt kicked…” “holy crab” (play on words)

Name-calling such as egghead, Dr. Ro-butt-nik, Dorkie-pine, loser, etc.

Stuff to be aware of: “Fear not my friends, my teeth are muscles.”

Sexual - There is a joke made by a character who has gained weight about having “man boobs.” A man’s bare chest is seen when his shirt is ripped off. In past Sonic movie articles I have mentioned that it is unclear if Dr. Robotnik/Eggman’s assistant, Agent Stone, just really cares for the doctor as a friend or if there is a romantic attachment. Stone mentions in this movie, “I lost you once, I can’t lose you again.” At the end of the movie, the dialogue seems to point to them being close friends and maybe having a father-son type relationship. The word love is never mentioned, but they do share a moment that their tight bond can be felt.

The following comments are made throughout the film - “I’m undesirable to all genders,” “who did what to whom?,” “why are you tied up. Do that on your own time. You disgust me.” and “my bodacious body.”

Scary - Shadow floats in a tube of liquid and when he breaks out (in dramatic fashion) it kind of plays like a horror movie and he beats up multiple guards, throwing one against a window and cracking it. There are a few jump scares in the movie. Characters appear out of no where or on unexpected loud noise will cause some to jump.

Violence - This movie has about the same level of violence as the first movie. There are multiple scenes with people with futuristic guns and people getting beat up. There isn’t any blood or gore in any scenes. One character drills through another character’s boot (while he is wearing it) with a power tool. In one scene a grandfather bends his adult grandson over his knee and spanks him.

(Spoiler Alert) There are several named characters that are badly hurt or die in this movie. One particularly sad death is in a flashback scene, a girl (probably around 10 years old) is killed by an explosion. This girls and others who are hurt and/or die do not have any level of gore in the scenes, but it is obvious that they die. I am aware some parents will want to know who dies and how. If you would like to send me a message please do and I can discuss it with you.

Other - There is a sarcastic/sexist comment made about women being in the military from one of the villains.

Overall:

Seeing It With Your Family:

This third installment seems just slightly more mature as far as cursing, sexual jokes, and violence go, but also the story is much darker. Shadow’s backstory is very sad/dark and involves a character’s death. The writers seems to want the stakes to feel higher in this one, and it worked. There is a sense of not being sure who will live or die, but adults will probably be able to predict most of it. Many of the inappropriate aspects from from Jim Carrey, and it makes me wonder if it was in the script or he was just ad libbing and they kept parts. My ten-year-old and eleven-year-old daughters watched it with me. They were never scared, but there were tears of sorrow shed several times. There are some intense, but also very sad scenes.

What I Thought:

The first two movie were okay. They were made for kids and the parts I enjoyed the most were the pop culture references. While the stories in the first two weren’t award winning and were predictable they were fun family movies. I say all of that to say I think this is the best one of the three. It still isn’t gonna win any awards and its predictable, but they changed a few things the first two did wrong.

This third movie doesn’t focus on stories about the human characters. We don’t have a wedding going on or we don’t have a buddy road trip happening. This movie is about Sonic, Shadow, and Robotnik and they each get story arcs and character development. These movies are called SONIC so we want TEAM SONIC and you get that here.

This one also starts out fast. After about the first ten minutes you are in the middle of the action and drama with Shadow. No need for people to meet or become friends. Lastly, Jim Carrey is really set loose in this one. Now, depending on if you like Jim’s humor or not this could be good or bad. No one can match Jim’s energy and zainess, except himself and the writers seemed to know this. They have him playing two characters in this one. He goes full Carry mode here and the interactions he has when himself are pure Jim Carrey. I like this, but if you aren’t a fan of his Mask-style humor this may be a strike against the movie for you.

Is this the best video game adaptation. Nope. Is the story ground breaking? Nope again. Are the characters fun? Yes. Here is more good -the animation looks great, there are a ton of pop culture references, some funny one liners, and its a fun (albeit a little dark) movie that focuses on the right characters this time around. If your family is Team Sonic, you’ll enjoy this one. If you hated the first two, this one is better but probably not for you.

Extras:

There is both a mid-credits and end-credits scene. Stick around for a set up for the next movie coming in 2027.