Sonic the Hedgehog 3 a Hit or a Miss?

Sonic 3 is a live-action film that takes place on planet Earth with the world famous blue hedgehog named Sonic, voiced by Ben Schwartz, along with his friends Miles “Tails” Prower, who is a two-tailed fox voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey, and Knuckles the Echidna, voiced by Idris Elba. The three friends are seen on a camping trip with other members of their family, consisting of Tom Wachowski, played by James Marsden, and his wife, Maddie Wachowski, played by Tika Sumpter. Oh, and let’s not forget their beloved pet dog named Ozzie. The goal of this story is to act as an adaption of the storyline from the video game Sonic Adventure 2 (SA2) that released for the Sega Dreamcast back in 2001, which introduced a new foe, a black hedgehog named Shadow the Hedgehog who is voiced by Keanu Reeves in the film. As the story goes in the game, Shadow was released from imprisonment by the notorious villain Dr. Ivo Robotnik, aka Eggman. The game brought into light more of Eggman’s history, and with the growing popularity of Shadow and the Sonic franchise, this movie is based on those main plot points from the video game. With Shadow’s release, he aims to take revenge on the world for the loss of his friend, Maria Robotnik, at the hands of human beings. However, to understand how the movie produced by Paramount Pictures faired, we must dive into the canon of the series for us to note if the movie was a successful adaptation of the video game’s storyline.

The Original Story

To understand the Sonic 3 movie, we must first need to know how SA2 got started. The game, like its RPG predecessor, has multiple storylines featuring our star cast, which goes as such:

1. Sonic is arrested by a group called The Guardian Units of Nations (G.U.N.) due to a case of mistaken identity between himself and another hedgehog who escaped their prison facility, Shadow.
2. Tails hears news of Sonic’s arrest, escape, and recapture and is on his way to conduct a jailbreak with the help of a pink hedgehog named Amy Rose (Rosy the Rascal), who is madly in love with Sonic.
3. Knuckles is guarding the Master Emerald, which is a powerful gem entrusted to him by his now lost people, where he is interrupted by a rival treasure hunter who calls herself Rouge the Bat, which forces him to shatter the Master Emerald into pieces, to prevent it from being stolen. With the pieces of the emerald scattered around the globe, like the first installment of the game, Knuckles aims to recover the pieces and restore the Master Emerald.
4. Rouge the Bat, although a treasure hunter, is also a government spy working for G.U.N., where her bout with Knuckles was only a side quest, given her desire for precious treasures. Her mission was to get close to Eggman and Project Shadow for intel to thwart Eggman’s plot.
5. Eggman was the one who learned of his late grandfather’s work and broke into Prison Island to uncover the Ultimate Lifeform developed by his grandfather, Prof. Gerald Robotnik, 50 years ago called Project Shadow. Once Eggman breaks in, he releases the Ultimate Lifeform, and to his surprise is a black hedgehog named Shadow.
6. Shadow’s storyline starts once he is released by Eggman on Prison Island, where they eventually meet up with Rouge, who offers her treasure-hunting services to help them obtain extremely powerful gems known as the seven Chaos Emeralds. The three form a team to uncover the seven emeralds to power a device called the Eclipse Canon, which is part of a space station known as the Space Colony Ark.

Now, Our Story Begins…

The movie produced by Paramount Pictures with a budget of over $120 Million takes an entirely different turn of events, though borrowing some of the plot elements of the game for the film. The movie starts on Prison Island, which is off the coast of Japan, where prison guards are watching over Shadow in a giant container, who has mysteriously awakened from his 50-year slumber. Shadow breaks free from the prison and runs across the water to Japan’s shoreline. Meanwhile, Sonic and his friends and family are having a camping trip, where Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles engage in a foot race. Sonic wins but notices holograms of Tails and Knuckles were placed at the finish line. Sonic rushes back and notices that this was all a surprise party, which was the anniversary of his arrival on Earth. As they continued their festivities, G.U.N. soldiers arrive to ask Sonic and his friends for help in capturing another alien in Japan. They arrive, where the alien foe they must face is Shadow the Hedgehog, who overpowers the heroes. After regrouping at the Chao Garden children’s restaurant with the leader of G.U.N. named Commander Walters, Eggman’s robots attack the heroes, resulting in Commander Walters’ injury. They are saved by an unknown motorcyclist armed with special gadgets, who we later find out to be Eggman’s assistant named Agent Stone. Commander Walters gives Sonic a passkey before becoming unconscious due to his injuries. Now, Sonic and his friends escape the Chao Garden restaurant to eventually get reunited with Agent Stone and Eggman once again, who is played by comedian and actor Jim Carrey. Together, they learn that someone else is using Eggman’s technology, so they form an alliance to find the person responsible for the hacking and the release of Shadow. Thanks to Eggman, they trace his machine’s activity to an abandoned facility. Upon splitting up, we discover the person who is responsible for all of this is Eggman’s grandfather, Prof. Gerald Robotnik, who is also played by Jim Carrey. Now, with Sonic’s passkey, the new alliance of Prof. Gerald, Shadow, and Eggman with Agent Stone must uncover the second passkey held by G.U.N. to resurrect the Eclipse Canon developed by Prof. Gerald for G.U.N., which was in exchange for his freedom from his past 50-year confinement.

Who Didn’t Make the Cut?

Sonic’s world is filled with a plethora of colorful characters. However, here is a list of characters who did not make the movie’s casting:

1. Rouge the Bat – The treasure hunter and government spy for G.U.N. is responsible for sneaking on Eggman and Shadow’s team due to her skills as a treasure hunter.
2. Amy Rose – Although she makes a surprise unrelated cameo at the end, her original mission was to free Sonic from prison, while Tails acts as a diversion for the G.U.N. troops.
3. Big the Cat and Froggy – Big and Froggy made their first appearance in the first Sonic Adventure game, but in the sequel, Big makes background cameo appearances at certain stages in the game. This would have made a great addition to the film, causing the audience to constantly be looking for Big in the background, which would have increased audience engagement throughout the film. Also, this would have made for a good easter egg, which would have led to the threat from the first Sonic Adventure, being the foe Chaos, due to Froggy absorbing Chaos’ tail in the game upon his release from the shattered Master Emerald. It is important to note that the Master Emerald broke in the film before this one, but Chaos did not emerge, so this easter egg would have been quite useful for world-building.
4. The Biolizard – Biolizard is the final boss of SA2, and he is the prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform developed by Prof. Gerald. Biolizard harbors the will of Prof. Gerald, who went insane due to the loss of his granddaughter. Biolizard’s objective is to destroy all life on Earth as an act of revenge on behalf of Prof. Gerald. Biolizard is destroyed due to the combined power of Sonic and Shadow in their super-state transformation caused by absorbing the power of all seven Chaos Emeralds.

How does the Sonic 3 movie differ from the original canon?

Aside from the change in how the narrative starts, it is important to understand the characterizations of the main characters in the plot and their origins. To do this effectively, we must not only utilize the storyline of the SA2 game but also the stand-alone Shadow the Hedgehog game that was released in 2005 and the Sonic X Shadow Generations game released in 2024, which reveals more of Shadow’s history.

Shadow’s Story

Shadow’s origin came to be because of Prof. Gerald, which took place 50 years before the events of SA2. Prof. Gerald worked on a research facility in space called the Space Colony Ark, and his granddaughter Maria was onboard as well. Maria became ill, and due to Prof. Gerald’s knowledge of science and bio-engineering, he looked for a cure utilizing Chaos Control and sought to create the Ultimate Lifeform to aid Maria. Prof. Gerald’s first attempt was a failure, resulting in the creation of the prototype of the Ultimate Lifeform referred to as The Biolizard. With all hope lost, an alien by the name of Black Doom, who hailed from the Black Comet, provided aid to Prof. Gerald in exchange for his help to conquer Earth. Thanks to blood from Black Doom, Prof. Gerald created the Ultimate Lifeform, the black hedgehog, which Maria named Shadow. In the process of testing Shadow’s abilities and living on the Space Colony Ark, Prof. Gerald began to create a weapon called the Eclipse Canon, which required the power of the seven Chaos Emeralds to function. G.U.N. caught wind of Prof. Gerald’s plans, so they invaded the Space Colony Ark to seize all research and arrest Prof. Gerald. Maria aided Shadow’s escape to Earth by sending him down in a pod, but the young Maria was shot and killed by a G.U.N. soldier. Shadow’s pod was recovered and placed in Prison Island. Prof. Gerald faced life in prison and went insane up to the time of his death. The Eclipse Canon laid dormant on the Space Colony Ark. Thanks to the Sonic X Generations and Shadow video games, the players learned that Prof. Gerald was a benevolent scientist, opposite that of his grandson Eggman. The purpose of the Eclipse Canon was not to use on Earth, but to use against Black Doom upon his invasion of Earth, to destroy the Black Comet and the alien army that would come from it. The grief of the loss of his granddaughter was what made him go insane, but his original intention was to save Earth from Black Doom using Shadow and the Eclipse Canon. Maria’s life ended because she wanted to save Shadow so that he had a chance to be happy and a hero to the people of Earth.

Sonic 3’s Story

Now, the film takes a different turn of events from the original canon. Prof. Gerald is evil and wants to destroy all life on the planet using the Eclipse Canon due to the loss of his granddaughter. Originally, Prof. Gerald died in prison and went mad due to the grief of the loss of his granddaughter, so he should not be alive in the film and was never the one to release Shadow after 50 years of his confinement. As a result, Prof. Gerald in the film is seen to be over 100 years old and just as whimsical as Jim Carrey’s portrayal of Eggman was, despite them being total opposites. Although Jim Carrey’s performance of Eggman could be seen as somewhat accurate, his portrayal of Prof. Gerald was not and felt more like he was playing the role of the Grinch that Stole Christmas all over again. This change in the characterization of Prof. Gerald was the most distracting of the movie and could have been avoided. Originally, Jim Carrey had no intention of returning to the franchise, but in an interview, he noted his return was due to a need for capital since he bought a lot of things. Whether his answer was a joke or serious, the film’s depiction of Eggman and Prof. Gerald was no laughing matter, which took away the thematic approach of a grieving old man out for revenge, where his final wish was harbored in the monster that he created before Shadow.

Modifications in Sonic 3

Other changes to the tale include:

1. Shadow was found inside of a comet-like structure 50 years ago and underwent a series of tests by G.U.N. as an alien lifeform instead of being created by Prof. Gerald off of the blood of Black Doom.
2. Maria’s death was caused by an explosion at the hands of a stray bullet by a G.U.N. soldier, instead of Maria being shot in the back for helping Shadow escape in a space pod onboard the Space Colony Ark.
3. In her passing, Maria never says her iconic speech, which emanated throughout the entire SA2 storyline, which was:
   
   “Shadow, I beg of you please do it for me, for all the people on that planet. Give them a chance to be happy. Let them live for their dreams. Shadow, I know you can do it. That’s the reason why you were brought into this world. Sayonara, Shadow the Hedgehog.” -Maria Robotnik
   
   Instead of Maria being the thematic character, Tom became the thematic character and Guardian Archetype for Sonic. Maria’s full speech throughout the game was forgotten by Shadow until the game approached its end. Maria was meant to be the prime motivating factor for all of Shadow’s actions, thus being his Guardian Archetype and the thematic character for the whole story. In the film, Maria is seen as a tragic character harboring a slightly similar message, though not as iconic.
4. The Chaos Emeralds were not a requirement for the Eclipse Canon’s use. The power supply came strictly from Shadow’s energy once he began running.
5. The Chaos Emeralds are part of the Master Emerald, which was never the case, and is used as a plot device to save time, thus having a quick Super Sonic and Super Shadow transformation.
6. Sonic becomes Super Sonic by using the seven Chaos Emeralds to go to the Eclipse Canon and fight Shadow across the globe, as well as in outer space.
7. Shadow becomes Super Shadow by separating Sonic from the Chaos Emeralds with a push, where once the two of them collide gain into the Chaos Emeralds, Shadow achieves the same transformation. Their fighting would eventually lead them to the moon.
8. Throughout the film, Shadow never uses the Chaos Control technique, which requires a Chaos Emerald to warp time and space. Instead, he uses a teleportation maneuver called Chaos Snap, which he first uses in the stand-alone Shadow the Hedgehog video game. Chaos Control was the main subject of research that drove the creation of a cure for Maria and the creation of Shadow.
9. Shadow’s motivation for a change of heart was not due to him fully remembering Maria’s last words but from a conversation he had with Sonic. Shadow would then recall again his conversation with Maria on how even though a star has died, the light from the star still shines.
10. Prof. Gerald dies by being stuck in the butt by one of Sonic’s quills by his grandson Eggman, which launches him into the energy vortex of the Eclipse Canon that was created by Shadow.
11. Super Shadow uses Doom Spears to destroy a fleet of machines leaving the Eclipse Canon when this move was never used in the SA2 game. Shadow later uses Chaos Spears in the 2006 game Sonic the Hedgehog, which came much after SA2, so Doom Spears was just a nod to the new game that was released called Sonic X Shadow Generations.
12. Upon stopping the Eclipse Canon from firing at Earth, Sonic loses his super-state and falls to the Earth instead of Shadow, which causes Knuckles and Tails to rush out of the Eclipse Canon station into outer space to save Sonic by using a golden ring that warps them back to Earth safely.
13. Eggman is presumed dead in the Eclipse Canon station’s explosion, along with Shadow. Originally, Shadow was the only one who was to be presumed dead as he fell to Earth.

Final Rush

The overall feel of the movie franchise, from the first installment to this third one, felt as if it was a retelling of an animated Sonic TV show called Sonic X, which aired in 2003. However, instead of having Chris and his family take care of Sonic, we have Tom and his wife take care of the blue hero. Upon review, it would have made for a much better movie if they tried to incorporate Chris instead of Tom, which would have given the movie a vibe similar to Steven Spielberg’s E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. They tried to incorporate some of the game’s lore into the movie, like the Chao Garden and Chao costumes, but the Chao in canon are real beings that live in Sonic’s world, where Chaos is the one who protects them. So, what would this mean for Cream the Rabbit if she was to be introduced into the movie franchise, since her partner is a Chao named Cheese? After the end of the film, we have a post-credits scene with Sonic finishing his race against Tails and Knuckles, only to be faced with a foe from the video game franchise called Metal Sonic, who was a robot developed by Eggman in the lore of the game Sonic CD from 1993. To our surprise, Sonic is surrounded by a multitude of Metal Sonic robots, which canonically makes no sense because there is only one Metal Sonic. Sonic gets aid from a hooded figure wielding a giant hammer, who destroys those Metal Sonic robots. Under the hood is Amy Rose, who Sonic meets for the first time. Due to this introduction of Amy, it became clear that this version of Amy has been modified due to her lack of feminine charm as a hedgehog who is madly in love with Sonic. This is evident in not just her fighting ability and introduction, but her dress attire and facial expression. From her first appearance in the game Sonic CD alongside Metal Sonic, her inclusion in the video game franchise since the first Sonic Adventure, and her adaption into TV shows such as Sonic X and Sonic Boom, it becomes even more likely that Amy’s characterization might take a more feminist-based approach, which may be derived from the Sonic Boom TV series back in 2014. If a fourth installment is in production, then as of now, it is unclear as to what Amy’s official role will be and how this would tie into Eggman and Metal Sonic. Only time will tell if Amy’s femininity will remain intact, which was the intent of her creation.

Last Story

Overall, this movie works for children and people who are not familiar with the original story. However, those who are familiar with the story’s lore may find the movie to be lacking luster. Because of this, the story feels rushed, which may also be caused by the alterations of certain storylines and characters. If this movie is to be reworked to capture the original heart of the SA2 story, then it would have been best to make this a two-part film and include both Rouge the Bat and The Biolizard to provide some form of consistency, just as the show Sonic X achieved. In essence, this movie is fun for children, which might be the main reason for the push of its non-canonical representation of the tale. The film incorporated some musical snippets from the SA2 soundtrack, but it failed to provide the same emotional impact provided by the game due to the way it was cut and mixed. Sayanora, Shadow the Hedgehog feels apropos to describe Sonic 3.