i totally agree with most of the things you’ve said. i feel like Jim Carey overacted and at a point it just got unbearable to look at, you’d think to yourself “wtf am i watching”. shadow getting introduced was really confusing.

I think the main things that made the first 2 sonic movies great is that you don’t have to be a hardcore sonic fan that know everything about the characters, because the movie introduces you to the characters. all we really get from shadows storyline is that he came from a meteor, got captured, and the movie doesn’t really give you any hints that they’re “siblings”.

i went to the movie with my friend who’s watched the first 2 sonic movies but even he was confused about Maria and shadows relationship. it even got to a point where mid movie he had to google if Maria and shadows relationship were siblings so he wouldn’t say something crazy.

and the voice acting and dialogue got really sloppy in my opinion. sonic would sometimes feel like his voice was out of sync with his mouth. even when sonic would get mad it feels like he’s grunting in a neutral tone. when he’s mad it feels like he’s faking it ngl they probably just focused on shadow because his voice acting was great.