One of the best scenes in Sonic The Hedgehog 3 was a pure Jim Carrey idea

The Sonic the Hedgehog film series gets bigger, bolder and better with each installment, and if post-credits scene for “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” is any indication, Paramount isn't about to stop. And honestly? It shouldn't be. As I noted my review of “Sonic the Hedgehog 3” the franchise might as well be Fast and Furious for kids and millennials who grew up playing the original Sonic video games. If the creative team behind this movie wants to continue working for years to come, we should step back and let it happen.

Now that the “Sonic” cinematic universe is embedded tails (my favorite boy)Knuckles and Shadow, the movies move further and further away from the live-action world of Green Hills, Montana and into the otherworldly lands featured in the Sonic video games (note: there are almost 150 Sonic the Hedgehog games as of publication). The most important person in the series is probably Jim Carrey's hilarious portrayal of Dr. Ivo Robotnik, a role he introduced in the first film and almost didn't return in “Sonic the Hedgehog 3”. Thankfully, he not only returned to play the role, but also pulled double duty playing Ivo and his grandfather Gerald.

In one of the film's best scenes, Ivo and Gerald prepare to break into a classified area blocked by a laser security grid. However, realizing that the special suits that Ivo invented are completely immune to lasers, Ivo and Gerald enjoy their trip down the hall with an elaborate dance sequence. It's hard enough for a production to film a dance sequence effectively, but it's a whole other thing when both dancing people are played by the same actor, with laser beams bouncing off them with every move. But according to director Jeff Fowler, the dance sequence, right down to the song choice, was Carrey's idea.

Fowler talked about the scene with Polygonnoting that the dance was a way to come full circle from the first film, as well as something Carrey really wanted when returning to the franchise. As he explained:

“In our early conversations, that was one of Jim's requests. In the first one (Sonic the Hedgehog), there's a moment where Robotnik is in his lab and thinks he's alone. He puts on music ('Where Evil Grows', 'The Poppy Family') and he just starts dancing. He's having a little dance party and then he's interrupted by (his sidekick) Stone. And so Jim wanted to dance again, of course we had to not only make him dance, but to go forward.”

They did it. The dance sequence feels like something Carey would have done in his 1990s heyday; it's a mix of physical comedy, face contortion and a commitment to doing things a little harder than anyone might expect. It was also Carey's idea to have the two Robotniks dance to “Galvanize” by The Chemical Brothers, which includes the phrase “Don't Hold Back” on repeat, making it a perfect inclusion. The Sonic team brought in choreographers and a dance crew to make it all happen. “Of course Jim wanted to do everything he could, but there was no way he could do everything, especially since he was dancing with himself,” Fowler noted. “So there's always going to be another person dancing with him, who would then become a replacement face.”

Fowler also said it took a bit of trial and error to get the lasers right, but he's extremely proud of the work of all the different teams that helped make it happen. “I think we've all seen sequences with laser grids and grids where people have to move,” he said. “But the idea of ​​just dancing, that was Jim Carrey, so perfect, and it was just fun to do.”