Exactly. I was expecting it to be literally horrifying, that it would be physically painful to watch, and be mocked as the second coming of Sonic 06. It's certainly not a faithful translation of the games, but we already knew that going in, so some of us were willing to overlook it. As I've said before, anything that can't be mocked mercilessly as yet another "Sonic was never good" thing is a win in my book.
I liked it more than Sonic Colours. I know: "being better than Sonic Colours" is a bar so low that even my grandmother could clear it but it's the honest truth. I'm also kinda looking forward to the next movie than the next game by a significant margin. Granted, that might just be because we don't know what the next game is, it could be Sonic Jump 2 for all we know.
I still do not get the complaints that the movie was not close enough to the games. It’s not a 100% representation of any particular Sonic game but there are good reasons for this. 1. It’s the first proper movie. Expecting it to be full blown “Death Egg and Emeralds” or whatever people wanted right from the start was not going to happen because of budget and unknown reception. Plus it would not have made sense from Robotnik’s standpoint having never met Sonic before. 2. Everything it establishes IS exactly game-related and can be directly built on to match game events. It’s all there. It just was not front and center because that’s a lot to jump right into and again they needed to gauge reception. Of course they were gonna start off with a simple story/plot. Could Robotnik have already been a fat, evil doctor planning to rule the world with Badniks right from the start? Maybe but it would have been out of place imo. Like why didn’t he launch his takeover before Sonic was even known? At least this way it gives him a reason for being “pushed over the edge” and wanting to get revenge. I know its shown he has plans for building Badniks before these events but we don’t know how far along they are or what he was gonna use them for. He very well could have been planning to takeover the world in secret but he’s already better equipped than the military it seems. Maybe he’s not ready and Sonic’s power allows for this. Sonic’s personality was great imo. I have not seen much criticism of this but saying he’s not cocky enough, I don’t know. He does express overconfidence. I think making him really arrogant would have been a massive turnoff. I DO like his “too cool attitude” thing but it should not be his primary trait. He’s better being a mix of overconfident, thrill-seeking, heroic and cute. As for his powers it’s obvious they’re triggered by emotion. He gets angry having to play baseball alone. He’s trying to save them when he knocks out Robotnik’s tank and hears Tom express that he cares for him when laying on the street. The origin is unknown but it’s probably easy to guess. Not sure about whether he has control over it. It seems like it lasts as long as he feels that raw emotion then it just dissipates. The end being the strongest in that situation. So it might seem like I think the movie is amazing. No, I know it’s a basic storyline. I think it IS a genuinely good movie though. More so if you’re into Sonic. Some of the humor is actually pretty funny and it does a good job planting the game elements.
And you should wath the other movies it should be compared with: Hop, the smurfs, alvin and the chimpmunks, garfield... It's way better that the others of its genre, average stuff in the grand scheme of things but quality stuff for what's meant for. It doesn't treat kids as if they were stupid, but it's for them so you, as an adult, won't feel exactly thrilled by the result, so it does right what it has to, not what you'd want to. Oh, and it also gives Robotnik a reason to invade Sonic's world without actually messing with Earth that much.
Actually I’ve have seen all the Chipmunk movies. Thought the first 2 were entertaining. The difference is they’re not meant to be heroes. They sing and go on misadventures. Same with Garfield. He just hangs out and gets into things. I’ve seen both. Didn’t think much of them at the time. Have not seen Smurfs or Hop but want to since I’ve seen comparisons made. Ya Robotnik being sent there is a great way to have him invade Sonic’s world. These events give him reason to take over and care about stealing emeralds. Which I’m sure he’ll find out about. One other thing I wanted to say about Sonic’s personality. Not necessarily about the movie. I could be wrong because I don’t know exactly what everyone is thinking but when some say Sonic should be more cocky I feel like they’re projecting that onto him more than before. I know he was marketed like that in the 90s. What I mean is I think people are taking all that and using it to say he should be a really obnoxious character or something. I know its is part of his appeal like I mentioned. (I used to have a Sonic shirt that said attitude). Just not to the level some imply. I always viewed it more as he could not be messed with. Even in the cartoons. I remember him being impatient, ready for action, wisecracking/messing with enemies and such (how he’s portrayed in the movie)...but not to the point of being full of himself.
The live action smurfs' movies are terrible unless you're 4 years old, or maybe 6. Hop shows how much better is Marsden's role in the Sonic movie compared to that one, and the plot is almost the only one you can really compare with Sonic's, if you have to pick one of these movies to compare it with. The comparison I wanted to make is that, in any case, this one has some real action and adventure in it, and some amusing moments for adults, and I'm not talking about Sonic fans. I was really amused when they hesitated to call Robotnik to handle the crisis, really all of them disappointed because there was no other choice, and when they gave a "reward" to Tom for getting rid of the doctor. Again, is a movie for kids; I didn't come out of theatre thinking "how great this movie is fo me", but how good it is for kids, and thankfully decent enough for adults that go along with those kids. Also, much better than probably any other videogame adaptation to date (barring detective Pikachu, I liked that one a lot), even if that's a low bar to compare with. Compared to every other existing movie, yes, it's rather average, though I still had more fun with this one than with many superhero movies.
If I want to be intensely ungenerous, I think it's that people don't like the idea of having a Sonic that can be sad or depressed or lonely, which might work for an hour-long campaign in Adventure but doesn't work for a movie you the viewer have no agency in. I can't really think of any other aspects of movie!Sonic that are different - in the movie if anything he's even more "traditionally" (think old looney tunes cartoons) mischievious than he is in even the classic games. Something that I'm not sure other people feel about it also is that...so, I'm an adult, almost 30, and honestly like...Sonic in this movie was a character I felt kind of maternal towards? which I never feel even for classic Sonic. and I think that also means that the changes they made made him more child-like, which also means kids will like him more too because they can relate more. So that's something to keep in mind also - when lots of us grew up with the series, it was with the relative blank-slate of classic games Sonic - which of course you can't do with a movie with dialogue, and the "current" iteration of modern Sonic is a little bit more grown up than the ages of the kids who would be just getting into him (I touched on this in a discussion about Sonic Adventure's characterization of Sonic, that Sonic in that game is a character kind of like a "cool older friend/brother" when you play the game as a nine-year-old, not necessarily someone your age). If you're old enough, you could also recall him playing stick-in-the-mud Cyclops in the original x-men films also, or "extremely bland but kind of likeable rival love interest" in Superman Returns. :p The latter showing a faint glimmer of the charisma I felt he had in spades in this movie, especially with Pretzel Lady. Is the movie like, great? not really. But it definitely had a lot of aspects going for it that I liked, like Sonic being a trickster god incarnate and Marsden somehow being really likeable for me.
Ya that’s something I’ve thought about lately. I think I mentioned it here before. In the old games the characters never talked. Except for the cartoons the players kind of had to fill that in. There is also the comics but have not been through mine in years. If I remember correctly he matched the cartoons but was more serious in later storylines. Just going off the classic games I think it’s easy to view him as “too cool” but still down to earth. He’s standing up to Robotnik and teaming up with others. Where is all the cockiness? Even in the modern era he really only talks back to enemies and helps everyone else. I know the “attitude” thing was part of it (SatAm: Sonic, he’s got an attitude - he’s the fastest thing alive) but when I see people say he needs to be more cocky I just picture him being smug. That would make him unlikeable imo. One of my favorite parts is when he saves the turtle and then saves it again when it slips out of his hand. Maybe they just thought using a turtle would be funny because it’s his total opposite but it’s a cute and fitting scene. I agree Adventure and on Sonic is like someone you look up to. In the movie you can tell he still has growing up to do. Which is not a bad portrayal. All descriptions give him an age of 15 or 16.
If you are old enough, you can remember him in "The Munsters Today", where he was the werewolf kid of the family. That's being old enough. EDIT: Whoops, that's another Marsden, but I'm that old nonetheless. XD
You know, the whole thing about this movie's reception kinda weirds me out. Movie synopsis is leaked, people groan, dismiss it as failure. Teaser poster and eventual first trailer are revealed with ugly blue muscle gremlin, film becomes complete and total laughing stock, peoples' low opinions are further cemented. Blue muscle gremlin is changed to actually look like something resembling a Sonic, COMPLETE AND TOTAL 180, FILM IS A MAJOR SUCCESS. And the thing is when the first trailer came out, the internet was dogging everything about it, not just the gremlin Paramount were claiming was Sonic. There were so many comments about how bad the jokes were, but the thing is apart from the gremlin and the batty song choice, the trailer turned out to be a faithful representation of the final product, those jokes plus the initial plot synopsis people were groaning at in the first place were kept intact, and now the internet friggin' LOVES this movie. Which leads me to wonder; what would this film's reception be like if the final Sonic design was the one we got when the film was revealed in the first place? Significantly less positive, i'd wager. As for my own thoughts real quick, I thought as a movie in of itself, it was decent and well-made. Jim Carrey as Robotnik was the highlight for me, and we have yet another example on our hands of Eggman being the best character. This take on Sonic was a bit too cutesy and emotionally vulnerable for my liking, but I can somewhat excuse it, seeing as how this is an origin story of sorts, and it does make sense that the filmmakers would want to make him more relateable, although exactly how they planned to pull that off with the gremlin is anyone's guess (It does amuse me how everyone reviewing the movie who's not hardcore into Sonic says that he's, "exactly how you'd expect him to be" lol). I'm just amazed that the title character in one of these types of films was ACTUALLY THE MAIN FRIGGIN' FOCUS instead of the main human lead. Isn't that like, illegal or something? I'm pretty sure that I would have hated this film if I saw it as a kid, though. Spoiler: I mean, it's been out for a while, but what the heck It really weirds me out how Tails has his VA from the games.
Honestly, that reminds me of how I felt watching 2014 Godzilla. I remember being pissed off at how much focus there was on the humans. Then I saw the reviews, especially compared to 1998 Godzilla, and thought "I thought the human focus was what everyone hated about the '98 one! This movie does the exact same thing, and now you all love it?! Was everyone really that pissed about the design the whole time?!" As for Sonic, yeah, I'm sure I would've liked it less with the original design, but for me personally, it wasn't being unfaithful that was the problem. The original design was just so far into the uncanny valley that I couldn't stand to look at it. I'm 100% sure it would've distracted me from what the movie actually had to offer. And I wouldn't worry about Tails' VA, I'm sure they'll have someone new do his voice in the sequel. But there's not much point in auditioning someone for one line in a stinger. Remember: Thanos appeared in the Avengers, but he wasn't Josh Brolin until GotG.
To clarify, I'm referring to a scenario where the Tyson Hesse redesign was what we got in the first place instead of the gremlin. On that note, so many closeup shots of Sonic's face...imagine seeing the gremlin face in those frames....*shudder*
Worth noting not everyone has been 100% enthusiastic about this film once it was out. Just saying. =P
To stick a toe off-topic, the difference between 2014 and 98 is that 2014 is good :p (but seriously, the human characters in 2014 are far less annoying than the 98 one, and Bryan Cranston is a huge upgrade on Matthew Broderick)
You guys know that the original Godzilla had characters, right? Gojira, not the Raymond Burr garbage. On topic, I definitely think enthusiasm for the movie in general would have been lower if not for the first design and the change. Though I would imagine people would enjoy it almost as much regardless, they would probably be going in with a more negative preconception because of the story, without all the hype the design change seemed to add. I know I was moaning at the story before the first design reveal.
One thing to keep in mind is a lot of people just wanted to get in on criticizing and making fun of the latest “thing” in movies/entertainment. I’m positive a bunch of people who were doing it barely cared about Sonic or were indifferent and only talked about it because it was going viral. Nothing was wrong with the first trailer except Sonic’s appearance in certain parts. Even Gangstas Paradise made sense to me. Sonic is discovered by Tom who’s a cop and they go on the run. It was tongue in cheek. Plus it’s a 90s song. People were just doing the whole “haha worst thing evar!” routine. Those who legitimately cared did not do this from what I could tell. Some were even willing to give it a chance. That Sonic might look ok in the actual movie. This was before they announced a redesign. Of course there were some (and still are) that just disliked it regardless for reasons.
I can only speak for myself, but I only went to watch the movie after various random people told me it was actually good, and I still went to the cinema thinking that couldn't be true. I was pleasantly surprised of being wrong. And yes, many jokes are really bad, but trailers are just a tiny bit of a whole movie, we can enjoy the rest of the movie. I get many other movies have all of their only good moments collected in their trailers, being the rest utter garbage, but it was almost the opposite case this time. Oh, and Tyson Hesse's design also brought in a lot of references for classic fans that improved the overall quality of the film even if they didn't affect the quality of the plot itself. You know, this may be a film for kids, but someone has to take them to the cinema, and it's good to have something kids and us can share together.
I personally didn't like the non-design aspects of the first trailer at the time. "Gotta go fast" anyone? Gangsta's Paradise just felt out of place, but regardless, that first trailer wasn't as representative of the film we got as the second trailer was. The way the tone was portrayed in the first trailer was stupid in the "cringe" manner. The second trailer actually got me interested in watching the movie because, aside from the redesign, the tone presented was much more silly in an endearing way.
But Gangstas Paradise and Gotta Go Fast were the only non-design things different in the first trailer. Actually doesn’t he say gotta go fast during the movie or am I remembering wrong? It was accurate to the movie though except for snippets that didn’t appear buts that’s true of both trailers. The second trailer showed more so that’s probably why it came off different. Plus his redo.
