Sonic the Hedgehog Cinematic Universe Thread (& Knuckles)

Watched the movie last week and Tails was absolutely adorable, especially during the dance scene.

I really liked Knuckles and my ears perked up when he asked about grapes in his dessert. Really good job there.

I hope Amy isn't in the third movie because I have ABSOLUTELY no idea how you can incorporate her when Shadow is there and she already isn't. If 3 had been a Sonic CD adaption then I could see her along for the ride for SA2, but as it stands, if a fourth movie was a potentially a CD adaption I don't know how you'd do that when Shadow is already around.

The only way would be if Shadow wasn't there but I don't see that happening unless Shadow dies or something and I can't just see that happening. Anyway, looking forward to the third in like...2024.

 

I think sonic 3 should keep the orchestral soundtrack personally, but just with occasional sonic-y flair, and even the occasional track directly from the games mixed in there.
Think what the drowning bit in 2 did, but on a larger scale throughout the whole movie. And of course, if city escape and live & learn arent in the movie, I'm gonna ̶f̶u̶c̶k̶i̶n̶g̶ ̶k̶i̶l̶l̶ ̶t̶h̶e̶ ̶c̶o̶m̶p̶o̶s̶e̶r̶ be pretty dissapointed.

 

This is the real issue, imo. There's a lot of room for improvement in the score, but the answer isn't in re-using old themes. I'll always want my new favorite thing, rather than a repackaging of another thing I like. In a perfect world the score would be so memorable and exceptional that no one would be trying to patch-spackle it with old melodies. But even if it was a 10/10 that felt Sonic-y to its core, I'm not 100% certain it would stop people from asking from more old stuff to be slid in. I guess that does just come with the territory of being perceived as an adaptation.

 

I never thought about it from the angle of just modern movies as a whole not having that many memorable scores - that makes a lot more sense. I didn't really pay much attention to the soundtrack to be honest, but that in itself could be seen as a negative - if I'm being honest, it didn't really add or take away from the scenes, it was just kinda there, blending into the scenes and not really adding much. Listening back to it afterwards I was like "oh, a lot of this doesn't really jump out", so I don't really blame people for saying it just sounds underwhelming.

Sonic 3 could definitely use a bit more oomph in it's OST. I 100% agree that it doesn't have to be old music (it's music made for a video game, not for a movie!), but I'd love something more intense and maybe guitar-heavy (Bit of a bad explanation, but you get what I mean, I hope). I will admit, I just have a bias towards that, since I think guitar riffs sound cool, but whatever.

I think that Jon Batiste GHZ remix kinda made people think that game music has to be in there, but I feel like that is sort of an exception rather than a rule. Plus, it's good to see new stuff as opposed to just relying on old tracks a lot, I guess.

 

I do not see how anyone can argue against using game music when it’s something that goes perfectly with a movie and there’s so much to choose from.

I understand there’s some license or cost issue behind it but to be in favor of not using it makes no sense. If there was game music nobody would be saying it was wrong to include it.

I love both movies. I’ve wanted live action Sonic forever but it’s sorely missing any music the franchise is known for. It does not have to be filled but wanting some of the popular game music is not an unusual expectation.

 

I've never wondered about game tracks during each movie's viewing.
Whenever a game sound or track sprang up in a movie, I felt delighted.
I'd rather be surprised by a minute reference than be hunting for them.

But easter eggs, nods and references are usually fun to find and enjoy.

 

I just wish the soundtrack was good.
It's a Sonic the Hedgehog movie and yet I can't remember a single track from it. That's...really disappointing.

 

What you shared is the total opposite of what I'd be advocating for if I for some reason was asked to settle some heated discussion of whether you should go for something entirely original or "THE THING!" - what I'm saying is this bit that WAS in the movie could have been more noticeable. Personally found it a tiny bit hard to be in the moment just because I was searching for that, which might be a me problem, but I think it would have put me back on track if I did hear that. Again, maybe entirely on me and I was just searching too hard to find it.

Also, I hope I don't come off as complain-y or insatiable. I know that's an easy thing to do, and I'm not trying to do it. Just trying to put current thoughts into words as best I can. I'll try harder to evaluate the soundtrack on its own when I can buy the movie.

That's something I completely agree with and I think what I was trying to imply the whole time but I kind of took that part as a given (which is an issue for me). to me it's a bit of a list of priorities and conditions. If the soundrack stands entirely on its own, then it's perfect as is. if it doesn't, then it'd at least be helpful or interesting to incorporate the old in a new way, and if it's a mix of both then that's also great. if it doesn't do any of the above then I respect the willingness to go for the first one but it's kind of the worst case scenario, but I also won't fault the composer for trying.

 

Well, I think it would be neat if SEGA itself helped with the soundtrack. It obviousbly doesn't need to be the whole score, could be just some songs specifically. We have amazing composers like Jun Senoue, Naofumi Hataya, Kenichi Tokoi, Tomoya Ohtani, Richard Jacques and Tee Lopes (this is just some random exampels, btw.) So yeah, I think it would be neat to have one of them in the movie.

Speaking about Tee Lopes, I think he actually showed some interested to compose for the movie on Twitter.

 

I dunno if it goes "perfectly", but I won't deny that it doesn't sound bad. But I kind of feel like it might be better to make tracks that are just very similar to those, taking inspiration from them rather than just putting them in there. I'd love to hear the songs I love in a movie, but at the same time I don't want it to be done so much that it just kinda feels like I'm watching a fan edit of the movie. I'm sure they'd do fine even if they did, but I'd rather it be kept to small motifs that are like "ahhh, I know that" moments. If they really did pull the trigger and use game music, I'd hope it's kind of in moderation or at the very least done well. I don't think I'd want it playing for the entire scene, but maybe at key moments like a big fight or something.

Yeah I think just having a bit more motifs for key moments would be fine, and give scenes a nice amount of flair. I've said it before, but it's likely that them deviating from game music so much comes from them wanting to keep the Sonic movie more like a movie, just one starring a video game character, and they just throw in cues/easter eggs/story beats/etc. from the games that are still radically different.

The drowning theme motif was definitely just thrown in for fans to notice, but they're probably going at the soundtrack as a whole from the angle of "It's not a video game, it's a movie, so we give it a movie's soundtrack". It definitely does sound like something you could hear in any movie, though I don't really dislike it so I dunno. Them (likely) taking that angle I suppose is fair, but I do think the soundtrack could generally use a bit more oomph - but as Linkabel said earlier, that's something that is common with a lot of modern movies nowadays. I would love some more stuff that is recognizable, though I'd prefer them going "Hey, we can make stuff like this. Let's do that," and they make a soundtrack that's really good and keeps the vibe of Sonic songs and what makes them good without taking away from the film. Some sort of video game/music soundtrack hybrid, I guess.

 

When I was watching the movie, I was just happy they had the moment of Sonic taking in the air bubble. That was all the game references I needed in that moment. I do agree that the scene didn't need the full drowning theme. It was good as is. I do wish that the final fight with the Death Egg Robot had the that final boss theme from Sonic 2, but I don't think having game music automatically makes the movie better. I hope we get to hear Crush 40 in the third film with it's final battle but if Live and Learn ends up not fitting the mood and tone of the scene then do something different.

 

I was hoping that when Sonic called Tom to ask him to save him from the avalanche he would've said "hey Donut Lord, I'm goin' through some Hard Times!"

 

funnily enough, I can totally picture the SA1 Icecap snowboarding theme over it, but...that expresses more of a "cool shit" vibe than a "dire fleeing from Eggman and Knuckles" vibe, so I can see why they wouldn't go with it.

 

"What's the matter, Tom? What, do I look like some kind of Stranger in Moscow?"

 

I think the movie team could successfully introduce Amy in the 3rd movie. I personally think they did a good job introducing both Tails and Knuckles in 2 (tho I know others disagree). Additionally Amy wasn’t playable in SA2. She had moments important to the plot but going from SA1 to SA2 felt like a devolution for Amy. I think the movies can correct this. I’m sure Amy will be more active in the 3rd movie than she was in SA2 (given that Tails is more active in the 2nd movie than he was in the genesis games). But, like Tails, she probably won’t be her fully confident developed self yet.

There’s also the possibility of Amy (and other characters) being introduced in the Knuckles tv show. The 2nd movie had quick flashbacks reminding the audience of the 1st movie so I see no reason why they couldn’t have quick flashbacks to the Knuckles show.

 

In that case, they'd need to account for people who havn't seen the show by making sure that such a revela doesn't completel come out of nowhere from a movie-only watchers perspective. It's the Kingdom Hearts problem of making sure spinoffs dont contain story critical information.