Sonic Live Action Movie Thread (Read OP for topic rules) "Trailer 2 on Page 482)

[Jango]

Well, they could at least add a joke with the new Sonic mocking the old one, like in Deadpool 1. Same director even.

[ShadowSJG]

Is the movies writing worse than Pontaff though?

[Milo]

16 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

Its actually got me legit curious about seeing more of the old model in motion. You could probably make a pretty penny by including some stuff as a DVD extra.

I seriously can't imagine half the visual gags in the new trailer even working with the old design. It wouldn't look right twirling nunchaku or even in a batting stance. What with those tiny hands and all.

Honestly, I presume all of the visual gags with the old design would had failed miserably. Like the scene with Sonic with bathtowels wrapped around his body. Or throwing darts while wearing a comically-oversized shirt. And especially the baseball scene where he's making noises with his mouth and doing armpit farts.

The old design's offputting enough in their attempt to ground it in realism. But seeing a design that's supposed to be realistic, engaging in goofy slapstick antics like those above like a cartoon?...I can only envision people in the theater just sitting there in blank silence.

[Shaddy Zaphod]

Put me in the same camp as...everyone else, really. The design is indeed not horrifying. I feel a lot less averse to calling this thing Sonic, and I applaud Tyson and the art team for getting this thing into a less embarrassing state in such a short amount of time.

At the same time...yeah, it still doesn't really seem good. I don't like the design's proportions, I still don't buy Carrey as Eggman or Schwartz as Sonic, the plot still has nothing to do with the games, and it's still a god damned live action version of a Japanese cartoon. It's still fundamentally flawed and the trailer writing isn't convincing me any more that it's an exceptional example of any of the things it does try to be.

As with before, all it leaves me wondering is if they cared this much about fans' feelings on the film, why did it end up as a live-action Jim Carrey Sonic-and-a-cop-in-the-real-world movie in the first place?

[Dr. Detective]

I have several thoughts.

Okay so... first I want to talk about how weird this whole situation has been. It seems like there's something about Sonic that ushers in practices that are strange and almost unheard of. I've literally never heard of anything like this, where a studio designed a character to be a certain way, promoted it with posters, toys, and other merch only to say "We take it back!" and then re-design it so drastically like this.

Sonic looks adorable now. He's so cute and cuddly that I could see myself giving him a plushy hug.

The action also looks cool. They've got down a neat sense of speed that feels like it'll be rather exhilerating in a theater.

The humor is still awful and yet I'll admit to laughing at it more than the other one just because the atmosphere charmed me a lot more with a more cohesive and genuinely fun tone. The rubberband ball thing got some light chuckles and the randomness of, "Of course I'd like a latee. I LOVE THE WAY YOU MAKE THEM!" in a threatening voice is the kind of stupid I can get behind.

All that said, this movie still looks bad. Its still got the hallmarks of the typical hollywood nonsense. Pointless random dancing, light fart jokes, screaming, cheesy one-liners, "thing from another world comes to ours" plot. No re-design was going to all change that.

However, its certainly helped a bit of the charm come through. I've gone from not wanting to see it to maybe seeing it on a Monday when the theater is empty so as to not be seen by other people.

I still wish it were animated and... better written... but at least the thought "I wonder what Tails would look like here." isn't followed by my body involuntarily cringing.

[Sr101]

Looks great. It's a kids film, but beyond the watered-down writing this is pretty much the best case Hollywood scenario alongside detective pikachu.   

[Jango]

I love this shit:

I love Tyson, seriously.

[Dr. Mechano]

I like the redesign. It looks so much better than the nightmare monstrosity in the first trailer. Sonic himself also comes off as a lot more funny and likable here.

I really enjoyed Robotnik's new scenes in the trailer as well. I feel like Carrey is doing a good job channeling Eggman's manic, over-the-top, hammy persona. It's not one-for-one game Eggman, but it still feels "right" to me. He's easily the part of this movie I'm looking forward to the most.

Honestly, I'm really liking Agent Stone a lot too, for what little we've seen of him. He seems like a really fun right-hand man for Carrey to bounce off of, and I'm really enjoying their interaction in the trailers.

Put me in the "cautiously optimistic" camp. I'm still expecting it to be a dumb video game movie, but I think it'll be a good time.

[AdventChild]

Along the usual Hollywood focus group ploys, another thing that I forgot to address is Tom and the whole “friendship” that’s gonna feel phoned in. Because what is his purpose here other than being a reactant to Sonic’s antics?

Nothing really since there doesn’t seem to be any visible traits that make him an interesting or standout character so far. It’s like they are making James Marsden into the Eddie Valiant to Sonic’s Roger Rabbit. But it clearly doesn’t feel like its needed esp with Tom feeling like a blank slate. Not to mention Eddie has clear character that one can relate to. And there doesn’t seem to be any chemistry between the two even by the trailer. Heck it feels that Sonic was trying to hold up the scenes by himself whenever they’re on screen.

Also none of this was in the games as well since one can try to relate to Sonic alone because at the very least he has character and even relatable on his own. And what is wrong with including obvious fan favorites like Tails and  his other friends who clearly have chemistry and relationships with? Not enough A or B list celebrity star power to bring more seats in the theater?

[Tara]

It's... okay, I guess?

I actually think there are some clever set pieces in the movie; namely the Green Hill Zone in the beginning.  And the design looks better but I'm still not convinced on it.  One thing I was concerned about which was thankfully worked on was the expressiveness of Sonic's face.  Even while better than the old model, the promotional material for the new design always gave Sonic this sort of dead smile that made him look like a bootleg plush doll and I was sort of worried that the actual film would look like that.  But the expressions are very vibrant and alive.

The problem, again, comes down to the plot and the writing which... just looks kind of drab, and the rest of the plot just seems like a Wikipedia list of recycled tropes I've seen in other films.

So basically it's gone from unwatchable garbage that is actually visually assaulting to... more than a little generic, I guess.  I probably won't be lining up at the theater for it, but maybe if someone dared me and paid me five dollars I'd watch the movie when it comes to DVD or something.  Probably not buying it or anything, because I don't want that design on my shelf.

[Muscles Maximum]

Sonic in this movie is really hyperactive and kind of annoying. He's honestly how I imagine a character like Charmy is supposed to be. Not Sonic.

[Dr. Detective]

You know, I don't entirely hate the idea that warp rings can be used to casually jump between the two worlds. On top of that, Sonic seems much younger here. He's clearly a lot more vulnerable and doesn't seem to have any friends. This kind of feels like it could double as an origin story for the games, honestly. 

It's a hard idea to get out of my head but it's lining up kind of well so far. 

I do want to add that I don't think I expressed just how awful the Jim Carrey dancing scene was. I just... you see that and you're just reminded of the weird, Hollywood gloss this movie is being coated with. If you ever forgot it to begin with. 

[Big Panda]

2 minutes ago, Dr. Detective Mike said:

This kind of feels like it could double as an origin story for the games, honestly. 

Yeah...no thanks.

[StaticMania]

Sonic having no friends is all fine and dandy as an "origin" , but his character doesn't seem the type to be really bothered by that.

He'd be like Kakarrot, just being by himself until he just so happens to make friends.

Not in the same way obviously.

[Dr. Detective]

1 hour ago, Mythical Panda said:

Yeah...no thanks.

I'm mostly talking about the overall, basic details. 

Younger Sonic is alone and scared. Escapes to the human world. Makes a human friend. Robotnik, on the edge of insanity tries to capture him and slowly transforms into the Fat-man we all know, then, somehow, the two of them are returned to Sonic's world with Robotnik now bald and obsessed with taking it over.

With it working off the two-worlds canon and it being so incredibly basic that it probably won't contradict much, it feels like it could be a basic template origin for what the games are right now.

Not saying I'm on board with what the games are right now but it really feels like you could almost slide it right in without much of a problem. You know, aside from the fact that the movie still isn't going to be all that good. 

[Meta77]

I think the movie will be good fun honestly. Can't be any worse than anything Segas wrote since Sonic adventure.  It's a simple plot to cater to fans of the series and light enough for children and parents taking them to enjoy for about a hour and 10.

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

10 minutes ago, Meta77 said:

I think the movie will be good fun honestly. Can't be any worse than anything Segas wrote since Sonic adventure.  It's a simple plot to cater to fans of the series and light enough for children and parents taking them to enjoy for about a hour and 10.

Exactly my feeling. Theres really nothing to be offended at other than the original movie design. Never thought this movie was going to be totally faithful to the sonic lore....and in fact, there is no really consistent lore across the entire franchsie anyway. I wish there were but because there isnt and this isnt promising to be the new direction of the series, I'm going in expecting to have fun with it and enjoy myself at the movies.

[Jango]

Yeah, I'm a much more visual guy because I work with graphic design, so the old look of Sonic like... really threw me off. I got in terms with the story since I knew I shouldn't expect a 1:1 adaptation of the games, which, like @UpCDownCLeftCRightC put, isn't consistent at all either. We got some closed arcs, like the Death Egg saga and the 2 Adventure games, but the tone itself has shifted and bounced so much in the past years that anyone can hand pick an era and go with "this is Sonic", only a few personality traits have been kept over the years, and not exactly the best ones... We have the heroic, foot taping, cool dude Sonic from the Genesis games, as well as the wise cracking cringeworthy Sonic from Colors and forth. I won't lie: movie Sonic really sounds and acts like he would in the Pontaff and Graff material or even more so, the Boom series. So it isn't aaaall that distant from the games' reality.

Other than that, the story will likely be generic as people are saying with a few references to the games, lots of exposition and cringe jokes between a few good ones (which this movie has).

TBH, actually seeing a character that now looks like Sonic doing stuff feels much better because I can picture those moments more clearly and go: "-Huh, yeah, I guess he would do this in a game too". The old design was so bad that it became too distracting. You could put that Sonic doing the most Sonic thing you can imagine, it would still be ruined because the design was so wrong. Now at least a bit of the "Sonic feeling" has been restored. There are a few moments in this trailer that look very Sonic, and now toped with the better design, it feels like Sonic.

 

[Lord-Dreamerz]

Just to clear it up. Sonic doesn't have a white band between his eyes anymore. What you see is just his muzzle color going up between his eyes little.

Which was a good idea when separating his eyes for a design I say.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Some of you might enjoy this.

I decided to re-watch the trailer and tried to find every reference and Easter Egg possible.

 

There's some that I'm not 100% convinced on, like the the red baseball hat being a reference to Sonic Unleashed/Underground, but since the GH is obviously Green Hills, figure SU would also be something.

There's a lot in the motel scene, not just the ledge balancing Sonic, but the TV is showing a movie in which both Time Miller and Jeff Fowler worked on... Then it shows a weird product placement for ketchup and Enterprise car hire.

A few smaller things which may or may not be direct references but rather accidental ones, like the tumble dryer being a small nod to the origin of Sonic in Fleetway/SOA's sonic comic. Also the kung fu Sonic is more or less parodying both Enter the Dragon and The Karate Kid.

 

[SBR2]

If I may try to defend Eggman dancing I think the idea is that he got energized by Sonic’s quill so he's even more hyper than usual. Also the arm fart felt more like a joke about stupid baseball hand motions to me.

[Sapphirine Wind]

It really does sound like they're going for a younger Sonic. I feel like it'd be conveyed a bit better if he sounded like it, because I can see why anyone would be annoyed by him and his antics; they sound like they're being pulled by someone older.

Anyways, he looks much better. I'm genuinely considering seeing this movie now.

[Dr. Mechano]

I 100% stand by the Eggman dancing scene. It's not like Robotnik dancing is unprecedented in this franchise:

 

Eggman has a storied history of getting his groove on, and Jim Carrey is merely continuing that tradition.

[Harkofthewaa]

Yeah, I think I'll be seeing this now. It may turn out to be mediocre, but at least it isn't going to be a trainwreck. Honestly, if they bridged the eyes this design would be perfect. Still a ginormous improvement over the abomination we had before.

[Blacklightning]

A quick PSA for the fanbase, seeing as I've seen it crop back up again here and there and it's quickly become a pet peeve of mine: if you still don't like what you see and aren't seeing the movie because of it, good for you. If you're genuinely excited and want to see it either way, I'll be totally honest right now and say I don't agree, but I can see why, and it's ultimately your choice and I respect that.

But if you're going to see the movie to "see how bad it is", stop. Just stop. All you're ultimately achieving is convincing them to make more of the thing you clearly never liked, never would have liked and never will like, and it's a trap the fanbase has already fallen for in the games for the better part of a decade and a half. And if you had anything resembling a spine and a sense of impulse control, you'd start voting with your wallet so people high up actually have an incentive to get their shit together. It doesn't matter if you have some scathing critique or something lined up afterwards, because frankly they're not listening to you - because they obviously would have never let the project get this far if they were - and your time would be equally as productively spent inhaling a gigantic wheelbarrow of cocks instead.