Review: 'Sonic the Hedgehog 3' offers fans a story they know, and gives the rest of us double the Jim Carrey antics

I’m not sure if the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movies are getting better or the manic misadventures of the super-speedy video game character have worn me down and I’m more susceptible to laughing at the silliness.

In “Sonic the Hedgehog 3,” what is now a trio of fast furry creatures — Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz), helicoptering Tails (voiced by Colleen O’Shaughnessey) and muscular Knuckles (voiced by Idris Elba) — are introduced hangng out with their human parents, Tom (James Marsden) and Maddie (Tika Sumpter) out in the woods. Then a helicopter from the Guardian Unit of Nations, or G.U.N., arrives, and Director Rockwell (Krysten Ritter) has an assignment.

A new alien has arrived, and it’s up to Sonic, Tails and Knuckles to figure out what he wants. He’s called Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves), and it appears that destruction is his agenda — and going through Team Sonic is the first item on that agenda.

Sonic & Co. need help, and they reluctantly agree to seek it from their old enemy, Dr. Ivo Robotnik — which is where Jim Carrey returns, his mustache still bushy and his evil habits still percolating. Team Sonic and Robotnik go to the lab where Shadow had been kept prisoner for 50 years, which is where Robotnik discovers that his own grandfather, Dr. Gerald Robotnik, was Shadow’s keeper.

While the two Robotniks reunite for evil purposes, director Jeff Fowler and three credited writers provide the backstory. It turns out that Shadow’s origins are not that different from Sonic’s — except that he was raised as a lab experiment, and the only happiness in his life was his friendship with Gerald’s grand-daughter (Ivo’s cousin), Maria (Alyla Browne). When a lab disaster leads to tragedy, Shadow wants to exact vengeance on the Earth — and the elder Robotnik is happy to help him fulfill that wish.

Fans of the “Sonic” games — like the two who live in my house and call me Dad — will recognize this story as the basis for the 2001 game “Sonic Adventure 2.” Fans will also enjoy the many Easter eggs and not-so-subtle references to the games, from music cues to new characters introduced in the mid-credit scenes.

It doesn’t take a fan to see the patterns of this franchise repeating themselves — like how Shadow, like Knuckles before him, is introduced as a villain with incredible powers, but things change as the story progresses.

The other constant in this franchise is that Jim Carrey is the reason to watch. Double duty — as Ivo Robotnik, aka Dr. Eggman, and his grayer, more beer-bellied grandpa — means twice the opportunity for Carrey to improvise jokes and play the movie for the silly spectacle that it is. “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” generates a fair amount of comedy and silly action, though being a fan of ol’ Sonic makes the movie that much more rewarding.

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‘Sonic the Hedgehog 3’

★★★

Opens Friday, December 20, in theaters everywhere. Rated PG for action, some violence, rude humor, thematic elements and mild language. Running time: 110 minutes.