"Sonic the Hedgehog 3" may be rated an all-ages-friendly PG, but that didn't stop Jim Carrey from delivering some dialogue that really hits below the belt, among other things only the grown-ups in the audience will catch.
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00:00Sonic the Hedgehog 3 may be rated an all-ages-friendly PG, but that didn't stop Jim Carrey from
00:05delivering some dialogue that really hits below the belt, among other things only the
00:09grown-ups in the audience will catch.
00:12Before the final act of the movie, Sonic asks for Tom and Matty's help to break into GUN
00:16headquarters in London to stop the Robotniks' and Shadow's plan of world destruction.
00:22So Tom and Matty make their way to the server room to turn off an energy force field that's
00:26preventing Sonic from entering.
00:27They must then insert a special USB thumb drive into GUN's main server to grant Tails
00:32access to the security system.
00:34Alas, it doesn't work, at least not at first.
00:37So Tom decides to blow into it, despite Tails' warning that it won't fix anything.
00:41But somehow the blowing works.
00:43This is obviously a reference to the 16-bit era of gaming from the 1990s and the widespread
00:47belief that blowing into a game cartridge would help start up a game that wasn't booting
00:51properly.
00:52Oh yeah!
00:53Oh my god!
00:54Oh yeah!
00:55Oh yeah!"
00:57But there's not much evidence that this blowing ever actually worked, and considering that
01:01most video games nowadays are either disc-based, on SD cards, or downloadable, there's an entire
01:06generation or two that basically has no idea what cartridges even are.
01:11The climax of Sonic 3 takes place on a giant space weapon called the Eclipse Cannon.
01:16As Shadow and Gerald Robotnik plan on using the station's laser beam to destroy the Earth
01:21as revenge for the death of Maria Robotnik 50 years earlier.
01:24But Dr. Ivo Robotnik isn't exactly on board with that plan, especially since it's a suicide
01:29mission.
01:30This leads to a fight between grandfather and grandson, during which Gerald reveals
01:34cyber-scorpion attachments, while Ivo unveils cyber-mantis arms.
01:38Eventually, Ivo uses his claws to cut off parts of Gerald's mustache, with Ivo quipping
01:42that he's doing some mantis-scaping.
01:44This is obviously a pun on the term manscaping, which is just a fun word for the grooming
01:49and shaving habits of men.
01:50To get a little more explicit, manscaping often specifically refers to the shaving of
01:54pubic hair.
01:55Thus, this joke becomes a little risqué for what's ostensibly a children's film, but at
02:00least it will probably fly over most kids' heads.
02:02Look at them, they're silky and smooth.
02:04As Team Sonic and their human allies attempt to infiltrate GUN headquarters, the Robotniks
02:08are doing the same to steal one of two key cards that will get their world-ending Eclipse
02:13Cannon weapon up and running.
02:15After a dance sequence in which Ivo and Gerald deflect the laser security system, they finally
02:19reach the secret GUN vault with the key card.
02:22Alas, they then wind up caught in a variable gravity room, possibly referencing one of
02:26the levels in the 2001 Sega Dreamcast game Sonic Adventure 2.
02:30This is the first time that the Robotniks meet Director Rockwell, who's decked out in
02:33black tactical military gear, like the other GUN agents.
02:37This encounter prompts the 104-year-old Gerald Robotnik to exclaim incredulously about the
02:42existence of women in the military.
02:44It's obvious that Gerald is the butt of the joke here for his out-of-touch sensibilities.
02:48It's also something that a lot of younger kids probably won't pick up on, considering
02:52how long women have now been active in the American military.
02:55So if you get this joke, it means you remember a time when society was even more sexist than
03:00it is now.
03:02Ivo Robotnik is not in great shape when we first see him in Sonic 3.
03:05It seemed like he'd been killed off for good at the end of the second movie, when his giant
03:09Eggman robot exploded after fighting the glowing yellow Supersonic.
03:13But Ivo somehow survived, and is now living in an underwater robotic crab lair.
03:17He's overeating, to the point that he's starting to more closely resemble his video game counterpart,
03:22and he's also become obsessed with a steamy telenovela.
03:25Eventually, Agent Stone brings Sonic and his friends to Robotnik's lair as he attempts
03:29to clear the doctor's name.
03:30It turns out that Robotnik was in fact not behind the recent attacks from his drones,
03:35and that an imposter has been using his technology.
03:38Robotnik then offers to help Sonic, while also admitting that he has become undesirable
03:42to all possible genders.
03:44This is a surprisingly progressive viewpoint, especially from a villain like Robotnik.
03:47The implication seems to be that he's pansexual, or at least open-minded, about anyone with
03:52any sort of queer orientation.
03:54But it's a small moment that's easy to miss if you're a kid, or just not paying attention
03:57closely.
03:58I asked for a kick-ass franchise.
04:01Next thing you know, here I am.
04:04Agent Stone is Dr. Robotnik's loyal henchman.
04:07Despite being a more-than-capable fighter, marksman, technician, and even tailor, Stone
04:10is never fully appreciated by the emotionally abusive Dr. Robotnik.
04:14And when Gerald comes into Ivo's life, Stone is immediately fired and kicked to the curb.
04:19Despite all this, there are some implications that Stone's devotion is more than just professional.
04:23These hints were present all the way back in the first film as well, as it was immediately
04:26clear that Stone was not your typical henchman.
04:29Usually, henchmen are easy to manipulate, like Bebop and Rocksteady from Teenage Mutant
04:33Ninja Turtles.
04:34Or they're scheming and conniving, like Starscream and Transformers.
04:37But very rarely are they smart, cunning, and loyal, unless there are also some romantic
04:42overtones.
04:43This connection between Stone and Robotnik is never made fully explicit in any of the
04:46movies, so it's easy to miss if you're too young to be in the habit of shipping your
04:50favorite characters.
04:51He's back.
04:52He's back!
04:57Since the Gunn headquarters is located in London, the Sonic team is able to speed their
05:00way through some iconic landmarks.
05:02When Maddie and Tom are compromised, Sonic has to quickly enter the facility before Forcefield
05:06surrounds the building and makes infiltration impossible.
05:10But first, he decides to have some fun along the way.
05:12This includes stealing crowns and jewelry from the palace, messing with the British
05:15Royal Guards, and recreating the cover of the classic Beatles album, Abbey Road.
05:20He even manages to crack a joke at the expense of Ringo, referring to the drummer as the
05:23Other One.
05:24Peace and love.
05:25Now, we don't mean to imply no kid has ever heard of the Beatles.
05:29After all, the Fab Four are probably the most famous and most influential rock band of all
05:33time.
05:34But they're not quite as ubiquitous as they used to be.
05:36A couple of them have been dead for decades, and everything fades away eventually.
05:40However, even kids who have been introduced to the Beatles by their parents or grandparents
05:44might not immediately clock a reference to a decades-old album cover, even one as iconic
05:49as Abbey Road.
05:51In the last act of Sonic 3, Gerald nearly destroys Earth with the Eclipse Cannon's
05:55laser until Sonic and Shadow stop the beam with their bare hands.
05:59However, the laser is too strong to hold onto for long, even with their strength infused
06:03by the Chaos Emeralds.
06:04So Ivo and Tails attempt to steer the laser away from Earth, but in the process, the laser
06:09cuts through the moon like a knife.
06:11This sequence is played for laughs, but it would actually be pretty catastrophic if something
06:15like this were to happen in real life.
06:16Pieces of moon debris would hit Earth like meteorites and destroy cities, tsunamis would
06:20cause devastating flooding, and extreme weather changes would lead to mass extinction events.
06:25The Eclipse Cannon may not have destroyed the Earth in one fell swoop, but that might
06:29have actually been preferable to all the destruction caused by the loss of the moon.
06:34Dr. Robotnik's obsession with the telenovela La Ultima Pasión might seem like a random
06:38gag at first glance, but there's actually more going on here beneath the surface.
06:42Sonic 3 features multiple scenes of the show, and all of them feature two brothers, both
06:46played by Christo Fernandez, fighting for the affections of the same woman.
06:50This culminates in a duel to the death to determine whom she will end up with.
06:54This mirrors the betrayal at the heart of the Robotnik family.
06:57Sure, Ivo and Gerald aren't fighting over a woman, but their struggle also concludes
07:01with a duel to the death.
07:02It's eventually revealed during the climax that Gerald betrayed his grandson, and was
07:06only using him to steal his advanced tech to fulfill his own vengeful desires.
07:10Their final fight ends with Ivo killing Gerald by sending him into an energy field.
07:15"...In the saggy flesh."
07:18But all these parallels will probably go over the head of anyone who's yet to fully develop
07:22their skills of literary analysis.
07:24Fans might laugh at the telenovela's over-the-top acting and the randomness of Ivo's love for
07:28it, but they probably won't clock all the thematic resonance.
07:32G.U.N. is an acronym that stands for Guardian Units of Nations, a multinational military
07:37organization that was first introduced in the game Sonic Adventure 2.
07:40In the latest movie, it funded Gerald Robotnik's project studying Shadow in order for them
07:45to exploit the Dark Hedgehog's power as an energy source or weapon.
07:49Of course, this plan backfired spectacularly, leading to the death of Maria Robotnik, the
07:53arrest of Gerald, and the imprisonment of Shadow.
07:56If you're someone who cares about justice, then this all brings up a lot of uncomfortable
07:59questions.
08:00For example, how is G.U.N. funded?
08:02It seems to mainly be headed by U.S. military personnel despite being headquartered in England.
08:06So is it an international organization like the United Nations or NATO?
08:10Do taxpayers have a say in how the funds are allocated, or is it somehow privately funded?
08:15In the latter case, there would be much less regulatory oversight, though there's still
08:19a decent chance that taxpayers would have to supplement the budget.
08:22We imagine that the screenwriters don't really have answers to all these questions, considering
08:26that this is supposed to be a silly, family-friendly movie.
08:29Still, it might be a good idea for parents who take their kids to see Sonic 3 to gently
08:32teach them that the exuberant resources used to produce G.U.N.'s military technology could
08:37have instead gone towards social safety nets, education, and infrastructure.
08:42It's made clear throughout Sonic Hedgehog 3 that Shadow was imprisoned by G.U.N. and
08:45stuck in suspended animation on a remote island off the coast of Japan for 50 years.
08:50This means that his imprisonment began around 1974.
08:54That date is made even more explicit when the flashbacks reveal 12-year-old Maria Robotnik,
08:58Gerald's granddaughter, who becomes Shadow's only friend in the G.U.N. research facility.
09:02It's clear by Maria's fashion sense alone that she's a child of the 70s, as she wears
09:06gaudy wool sweaters, bell-bottom jeans, and roller skates.
09:09The era is also clear via the use of a vinyl record player, although the song that they
09:13listen to, the Traveling Wilburys' End of the Line, wasn't released until 1989.
09:19While all of these visual cues are obvious to most adults, they're surely less so to
09:23youngsters who weren't alive at the time or haven't watched enough movies or shows that
09:27take place in the era.
09:28Even something from the 90s that takes place in the 70s, like That 70s Show, might be way
09:32too outdated to kids today.