Sonic and his pals race to help Santa save Christmas in the stop-motion animated short A Very Sonic Christmas

Christmas isn’t the only thing around the corner. Sonic the Hedgehog 3 races into theaters on December 20, bringing the Blue Blur and his pals to fans for an all-new live-action animated adventure! To celebrate the festive season and arrival of the threequel, Paramount Pictures unleashed A Very Sonic Christmas, a stop-motion animated short featuring Sonic (Ben Schwartz), Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey), and Knuckles (Idris Elba) saving Christmas for all children across the globe.

In A Very Sonic Christmas, Sonic celebrates the gang’s first Christmas by showing Tails and Knuckles how to bring holiday cheer in style. After decorating the tree, dressing everyone in an ugly Christmas sweater, and leaving a chili dog out for Old St. Nick, Sonic says the only thing left to do is visit Santa Claus. Using one of his golden rings to teleport Santa to his home, Sonic introduces the jolly elf to his friends. All is merry and bright until Santa realizes he’s sprained his ankle. As Sonic comes to terms with the disaster, he offers to drive Santa’s sleigh and deliver presents, thus saving Christmas. The short’s animation harkens back to 1964’s classic stop-motion animated holiday special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, bringing nostalgic vibes to an entertaining promotional treat.

The first reactions to Sonic the Hedgehog 3 arrived yesterday, with several reviewers praising the threequel as the franchise’s best film.

Collider’s Steven Weintraub said Sonic the Hedgehog 3 “is definitely the best one yet. The addition of Shadow (voiced by Keanu Reeves) adds a great antagonist that isn’t empty calories. But the reason to see the Sonic movies is Jim Carrey. He’s such a brilliant performer and he never gives less than his everything. Was a lot of fun watching him play off himself. He plays two roles in the sequel.”

ComicBook.com’s Chris Killian added, “It’s not often that each movie gets better in a trilogy, but #SonicMovie3 is the best of the bunch. There’s action-packed goofiness a plenty thanks to Jim Carrey pulling double duty, but what I didn’t expect was a surprisingly moving performance from Keanu Reeves and a third act that might make Sonic fans a little weepy-eyed. Also – there are two big post-credits scenes so AVOID SPOILERS. It’s clear [Jeff Fowler] and crew have a great affinity for the Blue Blur and he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.”

Paramount‘s Sonic the Hedgehog franchise is stronger than ever, with fans anticipating more features and spinoffs as the studio strategically portions out new characters and Dr. Robotnik’s next dastardly plan. I might need to go to the theater for this one. What have I become?

Did you enjoy A Very Sonic Christmas? Let us know in the comments section below.