Sonic the Hedgehog 3 Review

I have seen a lot of crap live-action animated kids films, and "Sonic the Hedgehog 3" stands out as one of the much better ones. It doesn't achieve the level of cinematic impact as "Who Framed Roger Rabbit," which is unloved by me but certainly appreciated, but so what? It's fast moving, silly, illogical, irrelevant, not-quite-funny but consistently amusing time at the movies and a hell of a lot better than, say, the god-awful "Tom & Jerry" movie.

"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" is marginally better than "Sonic the Hedgehog 2," which in turn was marginally better than "Sonic the Hedgehog." In other words, it's far better than it has any right being. This is of course the third film based on the popular video game, and I'm not sure if you need to be at all familiar with the franchise to get enjoyment out of this closing chapter of the Hollywood trilogy, but I was most definitely thoroughly entertained.

The plot, if you could call a third film about a super-fast, wise-cracking CGI hedgehog and his CGI friends having anything but a threadbare narrative, finds Sonic (voiced nicely by Ben Schwartz) and his pals Tails (Colleen O'Shaughnessey, returning from the video games) and Knuckles (a perfectly cast Idris Elba), who are celebrating the titular animal's "beEarth day" (recognizing his first "day" on Earth, or however it's spelled) when they're called into action to stop a mysterious new threat: Shadow the Hedgehog. Keanu Reeves lends his voice here, an actor who's physical presence is usually better than his actual voice. He's fine, I suppose, but no one watches "John Wick" to hear Keanu speak.

He also needs to contend with Jim Carrey in a dual role, playing both Dr. Robotnik AND his grandfather Professor Robotnik, and he is as unhinged as ever. He's given free-rein to walk funny, talk funny, say funny things and pretty much, relive his glory days from the 90's. I love watching his flexible body slink around in ridiculous poses, contorting his face like a live-action cartoon; frankly, he's got a head more expressive than any of the actually animated ones. And having him play two different characters, gosh, it's wonderful. The world is a darker place when Mr. Carrey isn't goofing around onscreen.

But the plot, yes, see, it's explained that Shadow was found by scientists fifty years ago, and befriended the professor and his late granddaughter until G.U.N., the Guardian Units of Nations, try to take him away, which results in her death. It's a depressing detour from an otherwise candy-colored and coated story, but whatever; Shadow is thusly more "anti-hero" than villain, though that doesn't stop him and the old man from returning to exact revenge on humanity via space lasers.

It doesn't matter though- Jeff Fowler's direction is crisp and films the large quantity of action clearly so you can actually see what's happening, be it in Green Hills, Montana or London or even the moon. The superhero genre should be taking notes here. And the script, which somehow has three credited screenwriters (Pat Casey & Josh Miller and John Whittington), is lighthearted enough that a child's death isn't too much of a downer. It actually gives just enough humility to an otherwise saccharine experience, one where Jim Carrey has a duet with himself and occasionally speaks French.

Carry-On Review

While watching "Carry-On," it became clear this is the best Christmas action movie I've seen since "Die Hard 2," the kind where I found myself pausing the Netflix original, stressed, so I could exhale "I hate airports too!"

And it's funny, since on paper, the Jaume Collet-Serra directed thriller has almost nothing going for it: it lacks any big stars, set-pieces and, one would think most crucially, anything original, but it works. Taron Egerton stars as Ethan, an unmotivated and bit of a screw up LAX TSA worker, who's girlfriend Nora (Sofia Carson) is recently pregnant and both of them have to work at the airline on Christmas Eve. I know I know, how festive.

After Nora pleads with Ethan to try out again at the police academy, he persuades his boss (a usual crusty performance by Dean Norris), he's given a chance to run the computer at the baggage scanner, eying a promotion. But this last-minute employee swap causes a slight headache for totally-not-a-terrorist terrorist, played Jason Bateman, who's team was just about to kidnap the family of who was supposed to be running the scanner today. But this a scrappy terrorist, and through an earpiece, tells Ethan he was to let a man in a red hat and black suitcase with a little red ribbon on it through, no matter what the X-rays shows. Or what? His expecting partner will be killed.

Oh what a day to ask for a promotion.

The rest is the usual collection of cliches commonly found in not only action movies but also films containing scenes of airports, such as lines of frustrated travelers, legions of stressed workers, and no fewer than two scenes of where groups of people in nice looking clothing talk about how many people fly that day. But if the script by T.J. Fixman is rudimentary, then the direction, pacing, editing and performances are are effective, swift and most critically, exciting. It doesn't matter that the whole film depends on specific people having and not having access to their phones, but I didn't care in-the-moment.  What the villain wants is less important than the gobbledygook device he's trying to smuggle on, which is itself less important than the act of watching people on-screen care or not care. Even familiar situations like the hero seemingly out-smarting his foe, where anyone who knew the runtime was barely half over, I wondered "is this it, did he really do it?" It's ridiculous how potently suspenseful the filmmakers have made of this musty material.

And I haven't even mentioned Elena, the police detective (played well by Danielle Deadwyler), who at first one thinks assumes the role of the usual incompetent cop in these kind of pictures, only for her not only to be the smartest character here, but also have her own story trying to piece together the plot. It's really good stuff; I sat glued to my moderately sized TV, wishing the room was darker so I could soak up more of the movie real estate streaming so wrongly places upon the consumer. A few decades ago, this would have attached some audience opening weekend, but alas, here we are in late 2024, wondering what the hell is going on with the world.

There's a sense of urgency as Ethan runs through crowds of people all draped in coats and scarfs, Christmas music on the speakers, and he's more than capable to, ahem, carry an action film. When he moves, his slender frame calls to mind that of Robert Patrick, and yet when he talks, be it to his superiors, lover or bad guy, there's a sense of exhaustion, bewilderment and naivety.

Bateman makes for a pretty good antagonist too, a bit smarmy but calm and collected, ordinary enough looking not to draw attention to himself but a good enough actor to come across as arrogant and distrustful. He lacks the suave command of "Die Hard" baddie Alan Rickman, but honestly, he's more than enough qualified to make late-career playing adversaries.

I lifted my satisfied body from the couch, fully prepared as to what to say here, but then as a few hours went and my fingers finally got down to collect my thoughts, something strange happened: I couldn't remember a damn thing about it! The plot, characters, the thrills, all lost, "Carry-On" remaining but a tile on my Netflix home page, the app suggesting other titles ostensibly similar. Still, I do remember liking it, even if I can't remember it itself, suppose that's something.