“This may terrify children,” I repeatedly thought to myself, sitting through a bolder but much grimmer installment in a series that’s often been content to be mostly lighthearted fare for families and young audiences. The first Sonic the Hedgehog film felt like a standard but sometimes poignant fish-out-of-water story with some grandly ambitious set pieces and inappropriate humor; the second film felt scaled back in both areas but was otherwise highly enjoyable despite perhaps feeling unambitious.
Sonic the Hedgehog 3 feels like it’s stepped out of the shadow of its previous entries’ story molds: Sonic gets along well with his human family and his animal friends, and the film, which stops to make a few jokes at the superhero genre but thankfully doesn’t feel derivative of it, makes a strong attempt to tell its story in its own way without feeling formulaic. It isn’t always successful, adopting a few too many story molds for its own good, but it’s still a lofty recommendation whose level of violence and often ominous mood may alienate some audiences.
Projected Realities 
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