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

[Big Panda]

Alright, I rewatched the scene and yeah, it does sound like her, now that you mention it.

Still couldn’t help but think *something* about the performance was different. Different voice direction maybe?

[Stasis]

16 minutes ago, Sega DogTagz said:

Oh! While we are talking about Easter Eggs, there are a few I haven't seen brought up yet.

Obviously mega-spoilers abound 
 

  Hide contents

 

-Every time Sonic took a massive hit, the camera made it a point to show that he dropped his ring sack

 

 

Spoiler

Yeah, when he falls from the skyscraper and the rings go everywhere, I took that as a nod towards him getting injured and his rings scattering. After being tranquilised he drops them through the portal. What were the others? Does he drop them after the mini bomb explodes? 

 

[Sega DogTagz]

10 minutes ago, Stasis said:

  Hide contents

Yeah, when he falls from the skyscraper and the rings go everywhere, I took that as a nod towards him getting injured and his rings scattering. After being tranquilised he drops them through the portal. What were the others? Does he drop them after the mini bomb explodes? 

 

 

Spoiler

 

I counted three.

Once when he got tranq'd and dropped like a rock.

Again when he got hit running down the skyscraper and fumbled all the rings. (bonus points for collecting them before running off again)

and a third time when he got exploded right before entering the ring portal at the top of the pyramid. He fumbled the sack allowing Tom to scoop them up and use them for himself.

 

 

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

Saw it last night. I'm quite happy with this. Movie did what I expected but there were a lot of nice Easter eggs. Enjoyed Carrey and Schwartz a lot. Love the post-ending hints of course.

I never expected a great movie but I think this was definitely on par with the pikachu movie and if the box office holds up it will get a sequel. Would see again for sure.

Please, nobody go in looking for it to be some 1:1 dramatic origin story. It's a hollywood production for the mass market with lots of nice touches for fans. That's it.

[Big Panda]

I couldn’t help but notice a bit of a logic fart in one scene:

It’s shown that Sonic can run on pretty much anything at any angle, he’s even seen running up, down, and across different buildings when Robotnik’s chasing him through San Francisco.

...so why couldn’t Sonic just run up the side of that skyscraper to retrieve the ring bag rather than going through the rigmarole of having Tom smuggling him up there in the bag?

[DarkRula]

9 minutes ago, Big Panda said:

I couldn’t help but notice a bit of a logic fart in one scene:

 

  Hide contents

It’s shown that Sonic can run on pretty much anything at any angle, he’s even seen running up, down, and across different buildings when Robotnik’s chasing him through San Francisco.

...so why couldn’t Sonic just run up the side of that skyscraper to retrieve the ring bag rather than going through the rigmarole of having Tom smuggling him up there in the bag?

Dramatic licence for needing everyone in the right position to get the action started with a bang. Easy to overlook in that sense.

 

Seen it. Loved it. It managed the story effectively for what it wanted to achieve.

[Strickerx5]

Saw it last night.

It's ok.

I think the best summary I can give is if some exec made a, by the books, road-trip/ fish out of water screenplay with some basic action set pieces tossed in. But then, in a bit of a twist, gave that to someone who actually knew a bit about the series for like 10 minutes of edits before they started shooting. There's a number of neat little nods and easter eggs thrown in but the base plot is still, for the most part, run of the mill.

There were some decent jokes, and a couple that didn't land. Ben kept scenes lively as Sonic. Didn't expect to like Tom as much as I ended up doing (Maddie was a decent character too for, like, the three real scenes she gets). Carry is good fun as Eggman (you can really tell that he was actually having fun in the role). So, at least I can't really complain about the casting.

The actually story however... yeah, it's unsurprisingly what keeps this movie from going any higher than average for me. It's not even that it's bad, just boring in a number of areas and predictable af. Hell, the trailers basically did a good job summarizing the movie. There were a number of sections that really didn't add much at all to the plot, some comedy attempts that really didn't work at all (like seriously, some of the lines and gags are pretty awful at times), and was just overall unexciting.

One thing that some may find off putting is that Sonic... really doesn't follow his standard character format at all. His kid side is played way up. Usually, at least from my understanding of the character from his many various interpretations, he's always had this more laid back attitude about everything. Here, he's bouncing off the walls and is never really chill at all. I mean, I can't say that it didn't work here for the most part but it is something I noticed.

Though, one small thing I did actually like about this was that whenever Sonic took a rather hefty blow, it would usually result in him losing his little sack of rings which would spill all over the place which is a nice (and somewhat unexpected) bit of loyalty to the source material. Also loved how the final battle mimics the games quite a bit but I won't go into too much detail there.

One more thing I'll add here is that I probably need to somewhat retract one of my earlier opinions of the movie when we got the new model. I originally said that it probably wouldn't help the movie itself out much at all. Though, I admittedly somewhat underestimated how much the simple act of seeing a well animated Sonic would do in terms of my enjoyment of the movie. That older model probably would've turned this post from a solid ok to a pretty negative bit. Seriously, it might be shallow, but I can't help it. The effort that went into how Sonic emotes here is probably the one thing from this movie that I'd actually want to see continued in the mainline.

Though...

Spoiler

please never subject me to sonic flossing (the dance move) ever again

... he does it twice too...

But yeah, overall I doubt actually seeing this movie is going to change anyone's already formed opinions on it. It's not the train wreck we saw coming up til that second trailer but it's not great either. Hits a lot of the same beats as Detective Pikachu if I'm being honest (though I feel that movie was more competent with the source material overall).

Honestly, it's just good to see that the series won't be completely failing on two entertainment fronts cause honestly, even back when the idea of this movie was in the hands of Sony, it looked to be going there faster than Sonic himself.

[Ryannumber1gamer]

I’ll do a full post later, but I do really want to say that the general atmosphere of the audience was great, and I really have to give the movie that. I saw kids and adults alike getting excited about the movie. In my showing, there were tons of kids wearing Sonic hats, carrying figures and plushies around, and even a kid in full costume who was posing alongside the movie Sonic on the big screen. It was such a good feeling to see so many people loving this franchise.

It wasn’t even just Sonic himself either, I spotted a few Tails and Knuckles plushies brought along, a Mario and Sonic plush, and even a Silver. That was on top of hearing some parents being hyped as well and talking about the film with their kids beforehand, even talking about Shadow and Silver appearing. It was so cool.

Best moment though...

Spoiler

The reactions to Tails’ post credit cameo. People were beginning to leave after the Eggman scene, only to stand up and wait before leaving, and the levels of hype when Tails appeared was through the roof with kids shouting “IT’S TAILS!!!” 

Man, seriously, it warmed my heart seeing so much hype for this franchise.

[mayday2592]

Spoiler

Thought it was strange that Tom and Robotnik both freakout when they see Sonic for the first time but everyone else acts like it's no big deal. Also weird that Sonic felt he had to leave Earth when he was discovered. Earths a big place and it wouldn't be hard for someone with his speed to go underground to another part of the world and  never be seen again.

All in all, I liked it and thought it was solid.

[Graystripe2000]

Deadline is reporting that the movie made $17 million today......except the day isn’t even over.

https://deadline.com/2020/02/sonic-the-hedgehog-birds-of-prey-will-ferrell-downhill-valentines-day-box-office-1202860119/

[CaptainRobo]

Stuff that I found from the internet.:

 

There are already pre-orders of the steelbook edition of the Blu-ray.:

Spoiler

 

[Big Panda]

1 hour ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Best moment though...

  Hide contents

The reactions to Tails’ post credit cameo. People were beginning to leave after the Eggman scene, only to stand up and wait before leaving, and the levels of hype when Tails appeared was through the roof with kids shouting “IT’S TAILS!!!” 

Man, seriously, it warmed my heart seeing so much hype for this franchise.

I’ve heard multiple accounts of audience members behaving like this during film screenings and I always assumed it was just an American thing until this post, because I have NEVER been in a cinema audience like that.

[Sega DogTagz]

35 minutes ago, mayday2592 said:

  Hide contents

Thought it was strange that Tom and Robotnik both freakout when they see Sonic for the first time but everyone else acts like it's no big deal. Also weird that Sonic felt he had to leave Earth when he was discovered. Earths a big place and it wouldn't be hard for someone with his speed to go underground to another part of the world and  never be seen again.

 

Spoiler

Maddies sister also straight up faints and Maddie herself as a delayed panic attack.

 

[Stasis]

36 minutes ago, Big Panda said:

I’ve heard multiple accounts of audience members behaving like this during film screenings and I always assumed it was just an American thing until this post, because I have NEVER been in a cinema audience like that.

The one and only time I've ever experienced this was with the twist at the end of the last Twilight movie. The whole room just erupted! It was awesome.

[dbzfan7]

4 hours ago, Big Panda said:

  Reveal hidden contents

Both Wikipedia and IMDb are claiming that Collen Villard is voicing Tails in the mid-credits scene, but I really didn’t think it sounded like her.

Spoiler

 

 

[Multikaris]

9 hours ago, Big Panda said:

I couldn’t help but notice a bit of a logic fart in one scene:

 

  Reveal hidden contents

It’s shown that Sonic can run on pretty much anything at any angle, he’s even seen running up, down, and across different buildings when Robotnik’s chasing him through San Francisco.

...so why couldn’t Sonic just run up the side of that skyscraper to retrieve the ring bag rather than going through the rigmarole of having Tom smuggling him up there in the bag?

Maybe he no longer wanted to? 

On 2/13/2020 at 4:58 PM, MasterChaosZX said:

Were people really expecting 80%+?

RT usually is not kind to to most comedies or kids films.. only Disney manages those high scores.

65% is pretty good.

Even for the ones that don’t deserve it like their take on The Nutcracker. That movie made me nauseous. Sonic’s finisher attack was a highlight of the film.

 

It’s the Light Speed Attack! Never expected that one to be in the film.  An even less expected special attack was the freakin' Time Break from Secret Rings.
 

I also found the Sanic nod to be done with taste.

[Sonicka]

How was this film not complete trash? I can’t believe it. I actually loved it.

All the fan-references were neat, characters weren’t actually annoying, there seems to be a nice little backstory for Sonic (unfortunately not explored a lot here) and the visuals were decent to boot as well. That opening on Green Hill with Hyper Potions gave me tingles, and the chase scene with the tribe of echidnas had me very interested in lore for potential sequels.

I adored Movie Sonic in this - he’s portrayed quite differently to “Game Sonic” - but that’s ok. He has the attitude of a hyperkinetic little kid... But it actually makes sense within the root and themes of the story why he acts like he does. Ben pulls the character off easily and for me he was more endearing than annoying.

Carrey as Eggman wasn’t half bad either - a more comical performance for sure - but I look forward to seeing where he could  take his character in the future.

In fact the supporting cast weren’t terrible either, not even those that had little to do. 

I dunno, I honestly went in expecting a 3/10 movie and was pleasantly surprised. To rate it as Sonic Fan - I would say this is a fanboy 9/10.. But if I come away and look at it more level headed this is easily a 7.5/10 for me with plenty of room for improvement. It was great fun, and an excellent video game adaption which respects the source material enough whilst crafting its own universe of ideas (again, surprising considering that original trailer backlash). 

I actually dragged my mate along with me to this (and he’s not even a fan of Sonic) and even he enjoyed this, a kids movie! We went for a laugh, and were ready for cringe... but were actually quite shocked by the quality and effort put in and laughed at the jokes that landed - the audience atmosphere was packed and positive making it all the better.

Now I really want “Movie Sonic” to become its own thing now - I hope a sequel gets green lit as I’m game.

 

@CaptainRobo Those scenes were in the movie. They simply retooled the Sonic Animations and Audio from different parts of the film and spliced them into the trailer in different areas. 
 

For example the Adult Sonic in Green hill animation was actually copy pasted from the desert area in the actual cut. Similarly the “I have no idea” bit after the explosion happens but matches Sonic to better capacity in the movie - for the trailer they just copied pasted the dance animation from when he got his sneakers into the scene. (I always thought it felt a little off in the trailer... now I know why).

[Ryannumber1gamer]

Alright, this is probably gonna be fairly unstructured, but my thoughts:

Spoiler

Firstly, I do have to say that the movie is a legitimate pleasant surprise. It looked like it was going to be a trainwreck since that first trailer. Hell, even before that, and I can only imagine the hell the team went through to get this movie up to the standard it's that. @Strickerx5 made a really good point that I think is important - this film could not work with the original design. A huge chunk of Sonic's likeability comes from how he's animated, how expressive he is, etc.

But I think if we had to assume no reshoots/reedits were done, it really goes to show how tone-deaf that original trailer was. How much it looked like Paramount or someone else deliberately chose literally the worst possible scenes they could have. Sonic's personality is that of an hyperactive curious kid, and you'd have the manhog running around trying to be expressive. It doesn't work. The design did not translate well for this. Two scenes that show this off well is both the "Uh, Meow?" scene, and the car chase scene. 

In the original trailer, the "Uh Meow" scene was weirdly off. Not even counting Sonic's design, he makes this weird pose, and a happy expression for no reason, before screaming at Tom. The final design properly fixed it so when Sonic does the line, his face is in a state of surprise, and it has a more awkward delivery, fitting better.

The car chase scene is the same. Take a look at how Sonic is when he's explaining why he's here to Tom in the original trailer, to the scenes from the Second trailer, where he's talking about the rubber-band ball. Sonic in the former looks really lifeless, drained of energy, while the latter is constantly hopping around, looking excited at everything. I really, legitimately believe had the original design remained, about 90% of the jokes just would not have hit whatsoever. Sonic's model, expressions, and even a few voice deliveries are totally off to make it work.

Anyways, I digress. On the film itself, I should make it clear that it's not brilliant. It's not even great per say, but it's good, for what it is, and I think given the circumstances, that's perfectly alright. I went in expecting a trainwreck, I came out pleasantly surprised with a decent movie. 

In terms of positives, it's been said before, but Sonic and Eggman are the highlights. Sonic's really different from the games, since on top of being an excited child who's curious with the world, he's actually got a lot of mental problems. He's clearly going through depression, he feels completely isolated from the world around him, and he's slowly going more and more crazy.  However, Sonic's scenes have a good chunk of the laughs as well. The Uh Meow joke was actually decent with his new model now, and quite a few of the jokes got me, including Sonic psycho-analysising himself, and especially the Quicksilver sequence inside the bar. 

I actually liked some of the scenes between him and Tom as well. Tom is placed firmly into the "forgettable as hell" category, but he's got some fairly good moments, and even a few good lines. I really like the sequence inside of the bar where he and Sonic are knocking off Sonic's bucket list, leading to Tom getting mildly drunk, and Sonic messing around with all the stuff inside, and having a blast interacting with the people inside the bar.

Jim Carrey as Eggman, wow, I am sorry I ever doubted this. Jim sinks into this role hard, and it's easy to see. He's having a blast in every single scene he's in, and perfectly reflects Eggman's sense of superiority, his threatening demeanour, his over the top personality, and more. Jim's having fun with the role, and it brings this wonderfully brilliant energy to every scene he's in. In particular - I criticised the dancing sequence from the trailer, but I actually really liked it here. The song was a really nice choice for Eggman, and it being filled with a few good references is also great (If you look closely, not only is there a "Badniks" label on the breaker box, but you can see the names of the playlists Eggman has made, including a “Tunes of Anarchy" one).

The soundtrack is also absolutely excellent, like seriously - I would not be shocked if Paramount just ripped the songs from the original cut, and went back to the drawing board, because after the disastrous Gangster's Paradise trailer, you'd be shocked just how right they've got it here. The songs are all specifically chosen to fit the sequences they're present in, and either be there for comedic effect, or to legitimately heighten a scene.  Highlights for me were Where Evil Grew (The song to Eggman's dance sequence), the song that plays during the Quicksilver sequence, and the song from the opening sequence where Sonic's taking the turtle though high speeds. 

Also, I know that this is probably the most shallow thing ever, but man, when they reference original game stuff, it is charming and just washes over you with nostalgia. It's weird, I was really effected by it before on the trailers, but just something about the atmosphere of being around other Sonic fans in the cinema, while Genesis-era Sonic played as the start of the SEGA logo was so cool. I especially loved the credits sequence where it replays the movie's events in 16-Bit Genesis form, complete with new Genesis-era sprites for Classic Sonic, Carrey!Eggman sprites, and more. It really reminded me of that one bit of Chemical Plant Zone in Wreck It Ralph's credits.

I know when we saw it in the trailer too, it looked good, but something about just seeing a small portion of Mania's intro as the theme for GHZ in the opening sequence melted my heart then and there. Seeing Sonic's world fully realised, with the Knuckles tribe and everything, it's a great moment to witness on a massive cinema screen, although frankly - it does make me wish we could've just gotten a movie taking place in Sonic's world fully. 

The post-credit scenes were also great. Seeing Tails was great, and Carrey going full insanity Eggman was brilliant

In terms of things that weren't so great...yeah, the human characters. I've been saying this from Day 1, and I really was hoping the movie might change my mind, but it didn't. The human characters were a bad bad idea from the start, and they're still not good here. As I said - Tom is fine enough, if not forgettable, if only because he gets good focus, but he's as dull as dishwater when Sonic isn't involved. Maddie...she had three scenes and she was meh. Maddie's sister was annoying, Jojo (the little girl), considering she gives Sonic his trademark shoes only appears for literally two minutes, and interacts with Sonic even less during it. The residents of Green Hills just go farther and farther down in quality. I think Agent Stone was probably the best, discounting Tom, but only more so for seeing Eggman play off him.

And it'd be one thing if the humans were just bland or forgettable, but they do hurt quite a few aspects of the story that I felt like it could've made it stronger. Like, key example - Eggman basically has zero rivalry with Sonic. One of the most iconic hero/villain dynamics of gaming history, and it basically pops up in the last ten minutes with no rhyme or reason. Why? Because Eggman doesn't have a rivalry with Sonic, he has a rivalry with Tom.

Tom is the one that Eggman makes wanted. Tom is the one that talks to Eggman at several points of the movie, making quips to him, while Eggman is making threatening remarks and stories back. Eggman threatens Tom with death, and then the death of Maddie later in the film. Eggman is pissed at Tom for decking him in the face. It's really one of the weakest aspects because they do try to establish Sonic and Eggman's rivalry later, but because they waited so late for it, it comes out of nowhere, and doesn't even have build-up.

Eggman never reacts to Sonic's nicknaming of him (If you look back to Adventure 1, Eggman saw it as a humiliation to be called that at first and stated his name was Dr. Robotnik). Considering this is literally the first time the two meet and interact properly, Robotnik doesn't even react to Sonic's jeers, and instead shares banter with Tom. When Sonic and Eggman are having their chase sequence, Sonic isn't throwing any snappy remarks or jokes or quips at Eggman, while Eggman says a few to himself. When the chase is over, Sonic just gets hit with a laser blast, and that's that. Eggman doesn't have any final remarks, or says anything about Sonic being bested, or anything else.

Instead, he starts talking to Tom again, questioning why he'd throw his life away for Sonic, mocking the residents of Green Hills for helping a little alien (which is another problem altogether - Green Hills' residents pop out of nowhere to help Sonic in the end, despite Sonic spending literally not even one second with them), and then Sonic just blasts Eggman into Mushroom Hill Zone, and that's it.

It's really shocking how despite Sonic and Eggman - individually being the best part of the movie, the two really do not interact much at all. Almost none of the playful banter between the two are there. None of rivalry, dynamic, or anything is there. And it's because for such a large chunk of the movie, they gave it to Tom, while only giving it to Sonic for the last 15 minutes or so.

The other example is how they manufactured the godawful "breakup" plot. There's a point in the movie where Sonic just acts like a douchebag because Tom is planning to move on from Green Hills PD to SFPD. Sonic starts saying that Tom's a jerk, and that he's abandoning people, and that he'll abandon Sonic while fighting Eggman, and everything else...just because Tom wants to move on with his life and get a better job. I get that Sonic hates having to leave, but it's such a weird ass thing to throw at us, like Paramount just decided they needed strain at one point, and couldn't decide how to do it. Sonic getting his panties in a twist over something so meaningless is weird as hell, and it comes and goes just as quickly. Literally just there for one sequence, and forgotten in the next. I really wish it was just cut, because it does nothing for the movie and ruins an otherwise really good action sequence.

The pacing and story just feel pretty bleh in general. The story is pretty much just cliched and an excuse plot, more than anything. Which - fair enough, you can somewhat look past it, but it's still a pretty big problem, all things considered. It doesn't feel natural at all. They rush through Sonic's origins in GHZ in two to three minutes, leaving the Knuckles tribe unexplained, and making it hard to give a shit about Longclaw's death (Longclaw is also painfully bad design-wise, and does not fit the Sonic world, since she's realistically designed compared to Sonic and the Knuckles tribe). It's weird, because the first 20 minutes feels really good for setting up Sonic, but it also feels like it's just a bit too fast for it's own good, and the final sequence with Sonic and Eggman in SF really feels like it should've been in the middle of the film as their first big confrontation together before the finale. 

Last thing I want to mention - Sonic's electricity power is honestly bleh. It's not explained, it's randomly tied to emotion, and Sonic doesn't really overcome it as much as he just sort of controls it at the end randomly? It's used three times total, and the first two times, it's unprovoked because he got angry and can't control it. But the third time, he suddenly can, because he has people to fight for I guess? I don't know, it feels really slapdash.

Going into some nitpicking details - I thought it was lame as hell how Mushroom Hill was designed, and frankly, I think it might speak to a previous iteration of the film. IIRC - the original version of the film was meant to have Sonic and Longclaw on Earth, not in Sonic's world, so it feels like Green Hill was added post redesign, which makes sense since the Knuckles Tribe was also originally lizard creatures, which indicate that they decided to throw in more game-accurate details after the fact. But it feels like Mushroom Hill was designed to be more realistic, and that hurts it. On one hand, it's meant to be a place of isolation that drives people insane, but on the other hand, being the only other zone we get to see other than GHZ, it's lame as hell how it's not really accurate to the games at all, looking more like a wasteland more than anything.

The 16-bit remix of Blitzkerg Bop isn't in the movie, and that saddens me. 

I wish there were a few more easter-eggs specifically to the Adventure and Modern eras. Seeing the easter eggs at all are really fun, but I wish they didn't just limit it to only Genesis/Classic.

Overall, I think the movie is good. It's not great, not brilliant, and not bad. It's just good. I liked what we got of Sonic and Eggman, I got a few good laughs out of the jokes, there were a few heartwarming moments, and Carrey managed to surprise me with a fantastic version of Eggman, but the film's still got a lot of problems, and ones I still feel like should've been fixed from the start. The film is at it's strongest when it just allows Sonic to be Sonic, when it brings to life the games we all love, and the characters we've known for years. That still should've been the focus to me, and I still wish we got that.

For now, this isn't bad. Considering how much of a trainwreck it looked like it was gonna be, you have to give them that. They managed to take a product that looked like a total disaster, and get it up to a decent quality. I definitely think they took time to do some changes post-launch as well. Several moments have been tweaked or are completely non existent in the movie. For example, Sonic's "Go round 2 with the blue" was used as a boastful taunt in the trailers while he says it while being knocked unconscious in the movie. The infamously bad ham sandwich gag has more to it now (although IMO, it's still a lousy joke), and other such moments, like Adult Sonic in GHZ, and Sonic claiming he'd "need to basically save their world". 

Biggest changes is the intro though, the scripts and leaks beforehand all pointed to Sonic and Longclaw growing up on Earth while the people in Sonic's world that wanted his powers were a type of lizard creature, so they seemed to have overhauled a bit of it to make it more accurate to the games, which is all the better. I think the film probably would've been a lot worse if they hadn't done that retool. 

Right now, I'm really interested to see how they handle Knuckles in the future (if they get to that point). Given the Knuckles tribe's role in this film, Sonic would have legitimate reason to distrust and fight Knuckles, so that'd be cool.

But yeah, I think I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10. Maybe a 6 if you aren't a Sonic fan already. But as is, it's good, but not much else.

 

[SatAMhog]

Argh! I have to wait until tomorrow to see this movie.  Once again, mother nature ensures that I don't see a movie on opening night. lol  I'll give my thoughts tomorrow but I'm hyped that people apparently are enjoying this movie!!  Can't wait for tomorrow!

[UpCDownCLeftCRightC]

6 hours ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Best moment though...

  Reveal hidden contents

The reactions to Tails’ post credit cameo. People were beginning to leave after the Eggman scene, only to stand up and wait before leaving, and the levels of hype when Tails appeared was through the roof with kids shouting “IT’S TAILS!!!” 

Man, seriously, it warmed my heart seeing so much hype for this franchise.

Totally agree. My theater was pretty hyped at that point. Really made a lot of people happy.

[Almar]

21 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Alright, this is probably gonna be fairly unstructured, but my thoughts:

  Hide contents

Firstly, I do have to say that the movie is a legitimate pleasant surprise. It looked like it was going to be a trainwreck since that first trailer. Hell, even before that, and I can only imagine the hell the team went through to get this movie up to the standard it's that. @Strickerx5 made a really good point that I think is important - this film could not work with the original design. A huge chunk of Sonic's likeability comes from how he's animated, how expressive he is, etc.

But I think if we had to assume no reshoots/reedits were done, it really goes to show how tone-deaf that original trailer was. How much it looked like Paramount or someone else deliberately chose literally the worst possible scenes they could have. Sonic's personality is that of an hyperactive curious kid, and you'd have the manhog running around trying to be expressive. It doesn't work. The design did not translate well for this. Two scenes that show this off well is both the "Uh, Meow?" scene, and the car chase scene. 

In the original trailer, the "Uh Meow" scene was weirdly off. Not even counting Sonic's design, he makes this weird pose, and a happy expression for no reason, before screaming at Tom. The final design properly fixed it so when Sonic does the line, his face is in a state of surprise, and it has a more awkward delivery, fitting better.

The car chase scene is the same. Take a look at how Sonic is when he's explaining why he's here to Tom in the original trailer, to the scenes from the Second trailer, where he's talking about the rubber-band ball. Sonic in the former looks really lifeless, drained of energy, while the latter is constantly hopping around, looking excited at everything. I really, legitimately believe had the original design remained, about 90% of the jokes just would not have hit whatsoever. Sonic's model, expressions, and even a few voice deliveries are totally off to make it work.

Anyways, I digress. On the film itself, I should make it clear that it's not brilliant. It's not even great per say, but it's good, for what it is, and I think given the circumstances, that's perfectly alright. I went in expecting a trainwreck, I came out pleasantly surprised with a decent movie. 

In terms of positives, it's been said before, but Sonic and Eggman are the highlights. Sonic's really different from the games, since on top of being an excited child who's curious with the world, he's actually got a lot of mental problems. He's clearly going through depression, he feels completely isolated from the world around him, and he's slowly going more and more crazy.  However, Sonic's scenes have a good chunk of the laughs as well. The Uh Meow joke was actually decent with his new model now, and quite a few of the jokes got me, including Sonic psycho-analysising himself, and especially the Quicksilver sequence inside the bar. 

I actually liked some of the scenes between him and Tom as well. Tom is placed firmly into the "forgettable as hell" category, but he's got some fairly good moments, and even a few good lines. I really like the sequence inside of the bar where he and Sonic are knocking off Sonic's bucket list, leading to Tom getting mildly drunk, and Sonic messing around with all the stuff inside, and having a blast interacting with the people inside the bar.

Jim Carrey as Eggman, wow, I am sorry I ever doubted this. Jim sinks into this role hard, and it's easy to see. He's having a blast in every single scene he's in, and perfectly reflects Eggman's sense of superiority, his threatening demeanour, his over the top personality, and more. Jim's having fun with the role, and it brings this wonderfully brilliant energy to every scene he's in. In particular - I criticised the dancing sequence from the trailer, but I actually really liked it here. The song was a really nice choice for Eggman, and it being filled with a few good references is also great (If you look closely, not only is there a "Badniks" label on the breaker box, but you can see the names of the playlists Eggman has made, including a few for "World Domination").

The soundtrack is also absolutely excellent, like seriously - I would not be shocked if Paramount just ripped the songs from the original cut, and went back to the drawing board, because after the disastrous Gangster's Paradise trailer, you'd be shocked just how right they've got it here. The songs are all specifically chosen to fit the sequences they're present in, and either be there for comedic effect, or to legitimately heighten a scene.  Highlights for me were Where Evil Grew (The song to Eggman's dance sequence), the song that plays during the Quicksilver sequence, and the song from the opening sequence where Sonic's taking the turtle though high speeds. 

Also, I know that this is probably the most shallow thing ever, but man, when they reference original game stuff, it is charming and just washes over you with nostalgia. It's weird, I was really effected by it before on the trailers, but just something about the atmosphere of being around other Sonic fans in the cinema, while Genesis-era Sonic played as the start of the SEGA logo was so cool. I especially loved the credits sequence where it replays the movie's events in 16-Bit Genesis form, complete with new Genesis-era sprites for Classic Sonic, Carrey!Eggman sprites, and more. It really reminded me of that one bit of Chemical Plant Zone in Wreck It Ralph's credits.

I know when we saw it in the trailer too, it looked good, but something about just seeing a small portion of Mania's intro as the theme for GHZ in the opening sequence melted my heart then and there. Seeing Sonic's world fully realised, with the Knuckles tribe and everything, it's a great moment to witness on a massive cinema screen, although frankly - it does make me wish we could've just gotten a movie taking place in Sonic's world fully. 

The post-credit scenes were also great. Seeing Tails was great, and Carrey going full insanity Eggman was brilliant

In terms of things that weren't so great...yeah, the human characters. I've been saying this from Day 1, and I really was hoping the movie might change my mind, but it didn't. The human characters were a bad bad idea from the start, and they're still not good here. As I said - Tom is fine enough, if not forgettable, if only because he gets good focus, but he's as dull as dishwater when Sonic isn't involved. Maddie...she had three scenes and she was meh. Maddie's sister was annoying, Jojo (the little girl), considering she gives Sonic his trademark shoes only appears for literally two minutes, and interacts with Sonic even less during it. The residents of Green Hills just go farther and farther down in quality. I think Agent Stone was probably the best, discounting Tom, but only more so for seeing Eggman play off him.

And it'd be one thing if the humans were just bland or forgettable, but they do hurt quite a few aspects of the story that I felt like it could've made it stronger. Like, key example - Eggman basically has zero rivalry with Sonic. One of the most iconic hero/villain dynamics of gaming history, and it basically pops up in the last ten minutes with no rhyme or reason. Why? Because Eggman doesn't have a rivalry with Sonic, he has a rivalry with Tom.

Tom is the one that Eggman makes wanted. Tom is the one that talks to Eggman at several points of the movie, making quips to him, while Eggman is making threatening remarks and stories back. Eggman threatens Tom with death, and then the death of Maddie later in the film. Eggman is pissed at Tom for decking him in the face. It's really one of the weakest aspects because they do try to establish Sonic and Eggman's rivalry later, but because they waited so late for it, it comes out of nowhere, and doesn't even have build-up.

Eggman never reacts to Sonic's nicknaming of him (If you look back to Adventure 1, Eggman saw it as a humiliation to be called that at first and stated his name was Dr. Robotnik). Considering this is literally the first time the two meet and interact properly, Robotnik doesn't even react to Sonic's jeers, and instead shares banter with Tom. When Sonic and Eggman are having their chase sequence, Sonic isn't throwing any snappy remarks or jokes or quips at Eggman, while Eggman says a few to himself. When the chase is over, Sonic just gets hit with a laser blast, and that's that. Eggman doesn't have any final remarks, or says anything about Sonic being bested, or anything else.

Instead, he starts talking to Tom again, questioning why he'd throw his life away for Sonic, mocking the residents of Green Hills for helping a little alien (which is another problem altogether - Green Hills' residents pop out of nowhere to help Sonic in the end, despite Sonic spending literally not even one second with them), and then Sonic just blasts Eggman into Mushroom Hill Zone, and that's it.

It's really shocking how despite Sonic and Eggman - individually being the best part of the movie, the two really do not interact much at all. Almost none of the playful banter between the two are there. None of rivalry, dynamic, or anything is there. And it's because for such a large chunk of the movie, they gave it to Tom, while only giving it to Sonic for the last 15 minutes or so.

The other example is how they manufactured the godawful "breakup" plot. There's a point in the movie where Sonic just acts like a douchebag because Tom is planning to move on from Green Hills PD to SFPD. Sonic starts saying that Tom's a jerk, and that he's abandoning people, and that he'll abandon Sonic while fighting Eggman, and everything else...just because Tom wants to move on with his life and get a better job. I get that Sonic hates having to leave, but it's such a weird ass thing to throw at us, like Paramount just decided they needed strain at one point, and couldn't decide how to do it. Sonic getting his panties in a twist over something so meaningless is weird as hell, and it comes and goes just as quickly. Literally just there for one sequence, and forgotten in the next. I really wish it was just cut, because it does nothing for the movie and ruins an otherwise really good action sequence.

The pacing and story just feel pretty bleh in general. The story is pretty much just cliched and an excuse plot, more than anything. Which - fair enough, you can somewhat look past it, but it's still a pretty big problem, all things considered. It doesn't feel natural at all. They rush through Sonic's origins in GHZ in two to three minutes, leaving the Knuckles tribe unexplained, and making it hard to give a shit about Longclaw's death (Longclaw is also painfully bad design-wise, and does not fit the Sonic world, since she's realistically designed compared to Sonic and the Knuckles tribe). It's weird, because the first 20 minutes feels really good for setting up Sonic, but it also feels like it's just a bit too fast for it's own good, and the final sequence with Sonic and Eggman in SF really feels like it should've been in the middle of the film as their first big confrontation together before the finale. 

Last thing I want to mention - Sonic's electricity power is honestly bleh. It's not explained, it's randomly tied to emotion, and Sonic doesn't really overcome it as much as he just sort of controls it at the end randomly? It's used three times total, and the first two times, it's unprovoked because he got angry and can't control it. But the third time, he suddenly can, because he has people to fight for I guess? I don't know, it feels really slapdash.

Going into some nitpicking details - I thought it was lame as hell how Mushroom Hill was designed, and frankly, I think it might speak to a previous iteration of the film. IIRC - the original version of the film was meant to have Sonic and Longclaw on Earth, not in Sonic's world, so it feels like Green Hill was added post redesign, which makes sense since the Knuckles Tribe was also originally lizard creatures, which indicate that they decided to throw in more game-accurate details after the fact. But it feels like Mushroom Hill was designed to be more realistic, and that hurts it. On one hand, it's meant to be a place of isolation that drives people insane, but on the other hand, being the only other zone we get to see other than GHZ, it's lame as hell how it's not really accurate to the games at all, looking more like a wasteland more than anything.

The 16-bit remix of Blitzkerg Bop isn't in the movie, and that saddens me. 

I wish there were a few more easter-eggs specifically to the Adventure and Modern eras. Seeing the easter eggs at all are really fun, but I wish they didn't just limit it to only Genesis/Classic.

Overall, I think the movie is good. It's not great, not brilliant, and not bad. It's just good. I liked what we got of Sonic and Eggman, I got a few good laughs out of the jokes, there were a few heartwarming moments, and Carrey managed to surprise me with a fantastic version of Eggman, but the film's still got a lot of problems, and ones I still feel like should've been fixed from the start. The film is at it's strongest when it just allows Sonic to be Sonic, when it brings to life the games were all love, and the characters we've known for years. That still should've been the focus to me, and I still wish we got that.

For now, this isn't bad. Considering how much of a trainwreck it looked like it was gonna be, you have to give them that. They managed to take a product that looked like a total disaster, and get it up to a decent quality. I definitely think they took time to do some changes post-launch as well. Several moments have been tweaked or are completely non existent in the movie. For example, Sonic's "Go round 2 with the blue" was used as a boastful taunt in the trailers while he says it while being knocked unconscious in the movie. The infamously bad ham sandwich gag has more to it now (although IMO, it's still a lousy joke), and other such moments, like Adult Sonic in GHZ, and Sonic claiming he'd "need to basically save their world". 

Biggest changes is the intro though, the scripts and leaks beforehand all pointed to Sonic and Longclaw growing up on Earth while the people in Sonic's world that wanted his powers were a type of lizard creature, so they seemed to have overhauled a bit of it to make it more accurate to the games, which is all the better. I think the film probably would've been a lot worse if they hadn't done that retool. 

Right now, I'm really interested to see how they handle Knuckles in the future (if they get to that point). Given the Knuckles tribe's role in this film, Sonic would have legitimate reason to distrust and fight Knuckles, so that'd be cool.

But yeah, I think I'd give it a solid 7 out of 10. Maybe a 6 if you aren't a Sonic fan already. But as is, it's good, but not much else.

 

You're spot-on about the problems the film has, though I'll point out something about the Eggman:

Spoiler

"Eggman" being an insult is just something localizers cooked up. Naka said it's an affectionate nickname.

 

[Indigo Rush]

Saw the movie.

I'm happy to say that I thought it was good! It had a nice message and exceeded my expectations; though I would not have been able to sit through the whole thing if he looked like he was going to before the redesign. 

I don't see it winning any awards, but if you were going to do a live action Sonic movie, they did a better job than I thought they'd do. 

[Jovahexeon Jax Joranvexeon]

44 minutes ago, Ryannumber1gamer said:

Spoiler

Right now, I'm really interested to see how they handle Knuckles in the future (if they get to that point). Given the Knuckles tribe's role in this film, Sonic would have legitimate reason to distrust and fight Knuckles, so that'd be cool.

 

Boy, now wouldn't that be ironic?

Spoiler

Especially if Knuckles is the one who tries to be friendly first or needs Sonic's help, only for Sonic to not trust him in the first place.

 

[DryLagoon]

I'll probably end up talking more about the movie itself later in this thread, but for now I wanted to share the experience I had at my theater, and I'm looking forward to seeing what reactions you all had at yours too.

Firstly this movie was way more packed than I had expected on a Valentine's night. It was so packed I think it might have been sold out. Kids with Sonic plush, couples, even Nintendo t-shirt fans were all there. More than at Frozen 2, and way more than at Birds of Prey last week. I'm kind of glad as the crowd reaction added to the experience, it felt like the "and then everyone clapped" meme came to life. During the Sega logo showing off Sonic and other Sega games everyone clapped and cheered. There was some kid quoting the lines from the trailer. A lot of the jokes had laughs. Rest of the reactions will be spoilers.

Spoiler

Both times Sonic flossed the crowd laughed while clapping, I'm unsure if they just found it funny or not. When the "...meow?" scene came up everyone said it in unison and then laughed. When it seemed like Sonic was defeated and then got back up with glowing eyes everyone cheered. But the best part was the mid credits scene. I have never in my life heard a theater cheer so loud as when Tails appeared. It was so loud I couldn't even hear the line at all.

Honestly, the crowd was way more excited about the movie than I expected. It really felt like the public cared and liked this movie and wanted more, even if it was just this one theater. It made me think maybe there's still hope as long as Sega can keep the momentum going after.

[Meta77]

Just got back. for my 30 years of being a sonic fan. well i mean i am 30 but you know from the start this is everything i wanted in a sonic film. gotta collect myself. it was to fun