Sonic The Hedgehog 3: The Kotaku Review
With Sonic the Hedgehog 3, the live-action adaptation of Sega’s speedy platformer is entering a new era. With each subsequent movie, the Sonic films have sought to shed the generic “family” movie image for one that was more honest to the anime-inspired twists and turns of the long-running platformer series. And this latest film succeeds. Sonic 3 is a loose adaptation of one of the most beloved stories in all of the series’ 30 years. While the film does tweak some things along the way, it doesn’t shy away from the otherworldly, supercharged melodrama that differentiated Sonic from its contemporaries in the early 2000s. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 still falls into the occasional trap of talking down to the all-ages audience with low-hanging jokes and some frankly groan-worthy segments, but more than ever, the third film earns the right to delve into the video game excess that made these characters so beloved in the first place. — Kenneth Shepard
