Critic Reviews

Sonic The Hedgehog 3 lets its animated heroes shine. There’s less “live” in this impressively blended live-action movie, which is not a detriment.

This is a franchise that has treated its supporters with respect while opening its arms to newcomers. Because of that, the weaker elements of the film feel unimportant in the wake of a genuinely entertaining time that will no doubt thrill audiences of all ages.

Jim Carrey is the real star of this trilogy. Carrey's signature brand of improvisational comedy serves him well once again here, as his gleefully cartoonish villain continues to be a highlight of his recent acting works.

The outcome is a "Sonic" movie that feels like everything fans love about the games distilled into a film that's fast, flashy, a hell of a lot of fun, and boasts an absolute banger of a soundtrack.

The action in this film is honestly better than anything in the recently released "Kraven the Hunter." The sequences toward the beginning of the movie are particularly impressive.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 gets the job done, and should provide entertaining diversion for families during the holiday season.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is wired-up synthetic fun. It’s a trivial kiddie flick that moves at the speed of your mind playing video games.

The Sonic movies have built their success on mixing light doses of Gen-X nostalgia with shiny, sparkly, speedy CGI action, and this new entry has that in spades. But for all their swiftness, the fights and chases in these pictures tend to have a predetermined quality; it can sometimes feel like watching someone else play a video game. That’s why giving the characters some shading helps.

The series still has lots of heart, but its quality is moving in the wrong direction.

The series may actually be subject to a bizarre formula: The looser and more disparate the parts of a Sonic movie are, the better the whole somehow holds together. At least that would explain why Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is, improbably, the best of the lot so far.