Sonic the Hedgehog 3 trailer triples the action and the bad guys

Reeves doesn’t put too much spin on his interpretation of Shadow, sounding very much like himself. But considering fans were hype as hell that he was doing Shadow’s voice, I think Keanu doing his best Keanu will go over fine with audiences. The trailer sets up Shadow the Hedgehog as the toughest enemy Team Sonic has ever had to face, requiring them to call in outside help. Jim Carrey returns as Dr. Robotnik, who has apparently let himself go. For Sonic 3, they’re not wasting a drop of Carrey’s comedic talent, having him play not one Robotnik but two.

Shadow’s arrival was teased at the end of Sonic 2. Although we didn’t get to hear him then, various outlets later reported that Reeves had been cast as the black-furred, gun-toting hedgehog with an attitude problem. Yesterday, Paramount began teasing the trailer’s imminent arrival by projecting images of Sonic, Shadow, and perennial baddie Dr. Robotnik on buildings all over the world.

Judging from the trailer’s sad narration of Shadow’s life of pain and suffering, Sonic the Hedgehog 3 is definitely taking its broader plot points from Sonic Adventure 2 — the 2001 game in which Shadow made his first appearance. We also got a glimpse of Maria, the girl Shadow befriends during his time as a lab hedgehog, and it’ll be interesting to see how the movie treats her fate.

Sonic the Hedgehog 3 chaos controls into theaters on December 20th.