Call it what you will, a children's movie, a video game adaptation, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is still an excellent movie, at least in my opinion. Released on December 20th, Sonic 3 is the third live-action adaptation of the videogame namesake. It introduces fan-favourite Shadow the Hedgehog to the cast, a mysterious doppelganger to the blue blur with a dark past. Unlike the first two films where it feels as if Sonic and his friends have been dropping into our world, Sonic 3 makes the world play by Sonic's rules.

Sonic 3 is clearly an adaption of the 2001 game Sonic Adventure 2. I had played this game several years back, and while I was still able to recognize the plot beats within the film, they were changed in such a way that kept me on the edge of my seat, guessing what would happen next. There were plenty of direct references to the original game, but they didn't feel forced. Everything I was hoping for and expecting was there. There were even things that I hadn't been hoping for that made an appearance! This was one of the best-constructed plots I had seen in a movie in a long time. It moved so much more quickly and had better pacing than the previous two Sonic movies. The film uses environmental storytelling and amazing dialogue to tell its tale. Long expositions are not needed to tell the tale. Even the flashbacks, which in my opinion were absolutely necessary for the story to be complete, used little exposition to describe the feelings of the past.

I'm not one to really care about the identity of the actors when I'm watching a movie. If they can make me believe that they are somebody else when they're on-screen, then I'm happy. And I believed I was looking at somebody else. The voices of the CGI characters were rich and full, pausing and speaking in rhythms that suited their characters. The live-action cast regulars played spectacularly, although there was a moment in the middle of the film where two of them appeared to be looking into space as they recited their dialogue. If you need some names to make you come to this movie, Jim Carrey plays Dr. Robotnik, aka Eggman, and Keanu Reeves plays the voice of Shadow.

It wasn't just the actors carrying the film, the filmography and CGI was excellent. I was breathless when the characters moved across the screen. Sonic 3 did not rely on quickly cutting between angles to keep the viewers focused. It used long, sweeping shots, always keeping the characters in frame. The shots were breathtaking. Every angle felt meaningful. The battle scenes were expertly choreographed, my heart was racing along with the speeds the fighters were duking it out. I don't want to give too many spoilers, but the best fight comes just before the climax.

Something that I would call a staple of the Sonic films, as they have been in all three films to date, is a lesson for Sonic to learn. I was expecting it, and when I saw the moment, I knew it would play some part in the plot. When that card was played, it was played in a way that didn't make it feel clichéd or pointless. It felt meaningful, and not simply a moral forced in.

The last thing I want to talk about is the music. Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 suffered from a soundtrack that felt generic for a big film. The music was not bad, it just did not feel unique to Sonic. Sonic 3 fixed that. The typical movie orchestra has their repertoire expanding with guitars, synth instruments and drum sets, which are much more in line with the soundtracks of the Sonic video games. If I may give one and only one spoiler to this film, it's that Live and Learn, the main vocal theme of Sonic Adventure 2 is all over the film score. It's amazing. It heard it everywhere. It makes the world feel like Sonic's world, it makes the story feel like Shadow's story. It completes the movie and I would have wanted my money back if it hadn't been in the sound track.

I don't know how much longer Sonic 3 will be in the theaters, but when I went, two weeks after it released, the theater was still full. There were still people sitting down, watching the movie, whispering to their friends and laughing when they saw a joke. The last film I had seen in theaters before Sonic 3 was Ant-Man: Quantumania. It was just me, my friend and three other people. There is something different about Sonic the Hedgehog 3. If you can't watch it in theaters, watch it with somebody.

Laugh, cry, live and learn.