Okay, genuinely, can someone explain to me why so many ppl wanna see Keanu Reeves voice Shadow in movie 3? Like I’ve seen several ppl suggest that and I just don’t get it??? Do y’all actually want him to do it? Is it just for funnies? Like what’s the real reason?
Maybe im out of the loop but I just don’t get the appeal of having him come in to voice this character.
Paramount is going to want a celebrity voice actor for Shadow; just like they got for Knuckles. Keanu Reeves’ voice (or at least, the voice he uses in a majority of the movies he’s in) sounds similar to David Humphrey’s portrayal as Shadow, and he’s made his career playing edgy badasses like Neo and John Wick. He has experience doing voice over work (though mostly for Matrix-related projects) and has done movies geared more towards kids like Sponge on the Run.
Put simply, he ticks off a lot of the boxes that Paramount is looking for while also being a meme in his own right.
Going into the movie, I knew that the end credits scene here would add in either Metal Sonic or Shadow. I predicted the former would get added; they made a big deal of Robotnik using one of Sonic’s quills to empower his machines in the first movie, so I figured that plot point would reach its natural conclusion with Metal Sonic being built. I also feared that, because of that, Shadow would likely end up becoming a literal Sonic clone and more or less taking Metal Sonic’s role if he was chosen as the end credits character instead, stripping him of all the traits that make him unique.
As the movie progressed, I slowly but surely realized that Shadow would end up being the end credits character over Metal Sonic. Not only was the quill’s plot relevance almost completely dropped very early on, but Robotnik never displayed any desire to build any new robots (or at least not something like Metal Sonic), instead relying on his pre-existing stash. The final nail in the coffin was the utterly baffling and unnecessary wedding scene that only was in the plot in order to establish that G.U.N. exists in this universe, an organization that Shadow has heavyties to.
But fellas. I am SOglad I was wrong in my prediction and SOexcited to see what they do with Shadow going forward. Like I said, my biggest fear was that he’d be a clone of Sonic made by Robotnik and completely scrap his original backstory and arc for being too dark and too weird for a Hollywood kid’s movie. So hearing the very quick rundown they give on his situation (even if it felt a little forced) made me incredibly happy. Edgy the Hedgy is here, babyyyy! I don’t expect a one-to-one adaptation of Sonic Adventure 2, but I do know that they’ve done their homework and will at least capture the same tone and emotional beats, just like they did with Knuckles.
I also wonder if they’ll mention anything about the Black Arms, even if just in passing. The way these movies are set up means that they would fit in surprisingly well, now that I think about it. Sega has been verypicky about referencing the Black Arms in recent years, though, so they might just ignore that aspect of Shadow’s backstory. I also wonder how they’ll explain Shadow being an anthro hedgehog while supposedly being from Earth. Sonic X also had to deal with this problem and their solution was to just not mention it, but I feel like Paramount will at least try to provide some kind of explanation for it.
I got to see the movie and overall, I really liked it.
The bond between Sonic and Tails is adorable, which was one of my biggest points of interest. I also loved the general familiar bond and the characters’ characterisation, plus the fighting scenes.
However I have some nitpicks and here I’ll go a tiny bit into some spoilers, but nothing heavy.
One of the biggest things I’m a bit iffy about is that despite the premise, between the post-credit scene of the first movie, the logo and the general initial promotion and the fact it introduced the two characters to each other… I think it didn’t focus on Tails enough. Tails develops as character and does many useful things, his inventions saved the group more than once, but in terms of screentime and relevance in his portrayal… he lacked a bit, which is something I really wished wouldn’t happen.
Sonic and Tails’ bond is fantastic and I loved all their bonding scenes (included the dancing match), but I think the wedding showdown or the build-up for it could have been reduced easily in favor of more moments between the two to see them bonding. For two characters who are supposed to consider each other close as brothers, to have a special partnership like no others, it didn’t feel like there was enough a focus in the movie, which I think should have been. Sure we have more things coming to see it but if we didn’t it would have left their bond a bit vague and up to the air compared to the depth it’s supposed to has. It was one of the things that worried me most when I discovered Knuckles would be in the movie and related a lot to the plot. I thought his plotline would overshadow Tails and his bond with Sonic and to be honest, it didn’t that much. Knuckles fits very well in the movie, it’s just that compared to Tails’ plot, he seems much more a bigger focus. It could have easily been fixed with less focus on the humans’ side and more on the two “brothers”. Cut out a bit of the pre-wedding moments, speed up the showdown (they could even have showed Sonic trying more to wake up Tails while they’re captured and Tom talking to him about it, observing how Sonic is so concerned about a creature his father just met. Seeing how much he cares). Cut a bit Eggman’s sidekick scenes even to show more Sonic and Tails moments where they share similar passions etc…
It’s kind of the same for Tails’ backstory. He was the only one who didn’t get a proper flashback of his past and was just lightly addressed, even if the dancing battle implied what he had been through was much more terrible than addressed. I hope this will be fixed with the next movie(s?) and the spin-offs, because I understand animating new characters (the bullies) could be troublesome additional work, but for s main character like him it would have been really important and needed. Tails has a lot of room for more development both as character and as relationship with Sonic and there’s room to see more about his past. We could see so much more and I really hope we will, because otherwise it would be a big lack that once again hit the same character of the brand in more than one universe.
I also didn’t love the humour of the movie, the comedic scenes, aside a few. But they didn’t bother me a lot.
Going back to what I liked, I’ll focus again on Tails and Sonic because their moments were really beautiful. How Sonic wanted Tails by his side from the start and encouraged him, how in synch they were in the dance, how Sonic is just “woah cool” when Tails imply he looked a bit too much into his life… I LOVED the fireplace scene, even if I wish we saw an actual flashback and their talk lasted more. But seeing Sonic cover Tails like that and the fox back at him with his tails was so heartwarming! Just like I adored the angst when Tails got hurt and Sonic more than once was super worried and begged him to wake up, or him shouting at the GUN agents about his friend being hurt and needing help.
Kinda sad from then we didn’t get more moments specifically between the two, even in the end. The hug between Tails, Sonic, Tom and Maddie was super cute but not really just… between those two.
Overall, very cute movie, just wished for more Tails and more of his and Sonic’s brotherly scenes.
After watching Sonic 2 (and officially loving Knuckles now, well THIS Knuckles), I just thought of something:
- Knuckles would not only protect his family, he would protect anyone or anything that he believes needs his protection.
- So imagine like Sonic at the beginning of the film when he tried to be Batman, Knuckles does everything in his power to protect the “weak and helpless”.
I plan to see the movie very soon, but meanwhile, here’s Eggman with his Master Emerald Powered Form, Chaos Eggman as they call him ! ( Sorry if this is a surprise for you, but it was in the trailer ^^’ …)
Anyway, so far, it’s one of the first time we see Eggman applying the power of the Emerald directly on himself ! ( I mean, AOSTH and Fleetway aside ), this and the comedy of Jim Carrey, once again, all this combined might be an interesting take on the character.
