"Sonic The Hedgehog 3" Review (Spoilers)

[matt_zimmer]

Also reviews for the latest episodes of American Dad!, Family Guy, The Great North, and Common Side Effects.



Sonic The Hedgehog 3

It's cute. It's better than the first two films. I'm trying and failing to understand the raves, and not coming up with much.

That being said I think it's important for me to acknowledge that this film does not offend me. Whether or not I think it's as amazing as its fans do (and I don't) the fact that other people took more from this film than I did is a good thing for the people who love it. And because the film doesn't offend me I can appreciate all the people who liked it. I don't need to channel my inner neckbeard to drone on about why y'all are wrong. The movie is inoffensive enough that I can acknowledge it might be simply that I'M the one who's wrong about it.

This is not going to be a super long review but there are some things I'll discuss.

Knuckles is my favorite character in these things and it sort of pisses me off how he was freaking sidelined on his own show. Idris Elba really does interesting choices because the writers give him interesting things to do. He's the best part of the movie for me.

I have to confess I don't have the same nice things to say about Keanu Reeves as Shadow. Reeves is a poor choice for a voice actor. I hear all these stories about how hard he "prepared for" this role and how "seriously" he took it, but the problem is Reeves does NOT have a good voice for voice-over. He's a great actor. Voice-over is more than acting skill. The voice itself should be memorable.

And honestly, the thing that bugs me is Reeves got the role because the studio reasoned he'd sell tickets. I don't necessarily agree little kids are gonna flock to a Sonic movie to hear Keanu Reeves. And celebrity voice casting is one of the most unfortunate things about modern animated films, and it's why, as a rule, I prefer TV animation to film.

I was annoyed it looked like we are about to be hit with a Robot Sonic cliffhanger, but Amy Rose shows up instead. I dislike tags in movies, but that made me smile.

If course Shadow is not dead (and frankly Robotnik probably isn't either) but I thought Robotnik's sacrifice was nice, and I especially like he dedicated it to this Stone cat, who I absolutely do not remember from the first two films at all, but is obviously important enough for that amount of character growth and callback. It's weird Maria actually seemed like a normal kid in the flashbacks despite being a Robotnik.

I probably mentioned before that I don't like Jim Carrey as Eggman / Robotnik, but I think he was tolerable at points with the dual role. Ivo will never live up to Maria, and I think that's an interesting level of pathos to a character who is otherwise pretty much a cretin.

Maybe the raves are for the same reason Transformers One was so well-received despite just being serviceable. There are a dearth of good videogame movies, and this the first really good Sonic one, so maybe it's understandable people are a little excited. I will not take that away from them. ***1/2.




American Dad! "Oh, Brothel, Where Art Thou?"

Not feelin' it. Everything felt redundant with previous episodes. Plus, Roger usually treats Rogu better.

Not my cuppa. **.




Family Guy "Live, Laugh, Love"

That was a pretty gnarly design on Shelly.

The 70's pooping music was great.

Yeah, nobody wants Jared in their thought bubbles.

I love the thing that actually made Joe Ha-Ha.

Love the substitute bully too.

Oh, God, Chris's Real Doll. Trying to return it is part of the dance. Gross.

Lois is extra pathetic in this episode, but they've kind of been devolving her that way for the last few seasons. It's not at Brian Griffin levels of suck yet. But it seems to me to be a similar disturbing trajectory.

Laughed at the old people names. Vivian.

Funny episode. ****.




The Great North "The Prince Of Hides Adventure"

Wolf is a VERY tough character to like.

I did love Beef's encouraging words at the end.

I laughed when Honeybee asked why he was telling people his wife was dead.

I don't think I'll EVER like Aunt Dirt. The character is a total dud.

Revamped the main titles a little.

So-so episode. **1/2.




Common Side Effects "Star-Tel-Lite"

I love television. I hate it, but I also love it. The thing I love about television isn't shows that are good. It's not even so much shows that are great. It's discovering that RAREST of show: Shows that are better than they have any right to be. That is the magic for me.

That is the magic contained in Common Side Effects. I don't even need to do much of a deep dive in this episode (The Kiss!) but pretty much everything felt right. A show doing right is not uncommon. A show FEELING right? That's something to celebrate.

We are witnessing something truly special. *****.

Comments

[a_natural_beauty]

Not gonna read this because I want to watch it but I just want to say I'm excited to see it someday in the future! :)

[matt_zimmer]

I hope you like it! My review was mixed but Nana really dug it.

[a_natural_beauty]

Okay, that's good to know! Two friends I made recently want to go see it, so I may do that at some point.

[neoultramike]

"And honestly, the thing that bugs me is Reeves got the role because the studio reasoned he'd sell tickets. I don't necessarily agree little kids are gonna flock to a Sonic movie to hear Keanu Reeves. And celebrity voice casting is one of the most unfortunate things about modern animated film"

- Okay I do fully agree with the idea that celebrity voice casting is sadly something that studios still sadly push when it's not really necessary and it is obnoxious in a lot of animated movies. However, you can't really just be all "Reeves only got the role because of the studio" because Reeves was THE choice to play Shadow overall from a majority of the Sonic fans, such as me. Like literally I was campaigning for him to play Shadow right when it was revealed in the Sonic 2 stinger Shadow would be in the next one. Why? Because quite honestly Reeves IS the perfect fit for Shadow's character. I get if you haven't really played or seen Sonic Adventure 2 it feeling like he was phoning it in but like that reservation and gruffness and edge is PERFECT Shadow. Like seriously seeing John Wick and it's various sequels made me see how Keanu has this fairly somber attitude in his cadence that does work for his voices as well. Granted it's one that does work if you are more familiar with the character but he does hit well as Shadow for me and I felt he did a great job.

"I was annoyed it looked like we are about to be hit with a Robot Sonic cliffhanger, but Amy Rose shows up instead. I dislike tags in movies, but that made me smile."

- You know the fun thing is when Sonic 3 was announced BEFORE Sonic 2 came out people were wondering what direction it would go as some wanted it to focus on Shadow and the Sonic Adventure 2 story, and others wanted Metal Sonic and Amy to have more a Sonic CD focus. I do feel they made the right call with the SA2 focus but am glad that means Sonic 4 will feature Amy and Metal. How that's going to be done exactly still not sure like I have an idea that would involve expanding up the multi verse that I doubt they'd want to go with but eh guess we'll see.

"If course Shadow is not dead (and frankly Robotnik probably isn't either) but I thought Robotnik's sacrifice was nice, and I especially like he dedicated it to this Stone cat, who I absolutely do not remember from the first two films at all,"

- Yeah obviously Shadow isn't dead (it should be pointed out in Sonic Adventure 2 he originally WAS supposed to do die but proved so popular Sonic Team brought him back and that was this whole major story arc for a couple of games including his own spin off) but Robotnick is a bit harder to determine since it's hard to know if they can get Carrey back. Like he was adamant on Sonic 2 being his swan song but was convinced to do more (mostly due to needing the money) and though I do feel if he did die they at least ended it on the right note, it is stil possible to use him like again I'm a huge Sonic fan I already have an idea on how he would be brought back at least for another film.

" It's weird Maria actually seemed like a normal kid in the flashbacks despite being a Robotnik."

- Well the thing is it's not like Robotnick is a cursed blood line like Eggman went mad from ambition and in the movies had more a backstory explaining why he became such an outcast. And Gerald went insane because of the government turning on him so like there is rationale for how these characters act. As for Maria, some have pointed out removing her also sort of being an outcast from society like she was in the games (because within the Sonic video game series she was on the ARK space station because she had an incurable disease Gerald was trying to cure and actually creating Shadow was one of the things he did to try and find that cure) does remove a bit of her connection to Shadow but... honestly I actually prefer the take of her in this movie. Since they actually SHOW the bond and fun she and Shadow had and their connection actually growing AS friends which makes the tragedy of her death have much more of an impact. Though as for Gerald himself...

"
I probably mentioned before that I don't like Jim Carrey as Eggman / Robotnik, but I think he was tolerable at points with the dual role. Ivo will never live up to Maria, and I think that's an interesting level of pathos to a character who is otherwise pretty much a cretin."

- His use here I am a bit more split on. I don't have much a problem of him still being alive since I get them wanting more of an antagonist as the point of the SA2 story was Shadow realizing he didn't want revenge and Eggman being used for this scheme of conquest but in the game you also had the BioLizard/Final Hazard as the big final opponent which woudln't make sense for the movies as that would require adapating Sonic Adventure 1 which they didn't do. Since yeah in the games Gerald was catpured and rotted in Prison Island and programmed this big plan of vengeance into his creations to try and destroy the earth but here can do so more directly. And yeah him having that line to Ivo is the kind of cold callous thing I could easily see the game Gerald doing. However the thing is in the games Gerald Robotnick was a much more serious and colder character who didn't really have any silliness to him. It makes sense for Robotnick in the films to be so silly because that's how Eggman can be portrayed a lot of the time in most any other medium, games included. Gerald though it feels more off to me. Some have argued it's a bit of an act which I guess it is and I do like that the only way Gerald is able to go about his vengeance now is using his Grandson's technology thus gaining his trust would make sense but to me a big reason I wanted to see Gerald here with Carrey is to see Carrey portray this much darker and serious villain which we see bits of but most of it is still rather silly.

"here are a dearth of good videogame movies, and this the first really good Sonic one,"

- I mean technically you DID give Sonic 2 the same grade of ***/2 stars out of 5 when it came out. And yeah I know "how I feel at the time is different then how I feel now" I guess I just have this weird thing where once I see someone's previous review that to me really locks in their opinion on a work and unless I see a reason for why they massively changed it I just always see them having that opinion. Which yeah I'm going to say is really stupid on MY part to feel. Like I was someone who was a bit luke warm on The Last Airbender movie when I first saw it in 2010 and didn't think it was like a horrid adapation which I certainly do now so like I know I can change opinions on media why can't others. Again it's just a weird thing in my brain I'll fully copt to.

[matt_zimmer]

I had no idea people wanted Reeves in the role. That weirdly makes me feel better.