I didn't expect much, but was surprised by some things. First the cameos. I was quite enthused by the many cameos littered throughout the film. Robotnik was excellent, and did his part well. The CG for the most part worked with the movie budget. The last surprise was Green Hill Zone at the end. That made me think...Well why didn't they just do that for the whole movie?! That would have been awesome. Now the issues. There are many. Sonic's CGI looks fine, till you look at his face! His mouth just ruined whatever the model had going for it. It looks...plastic. The CGI felt pasted on in alot of scenes where the real world and CGI meet. The scenes in Robotnik's ship were the best because the humans didn't clash with the CGI-d environments. The CGI clashes in the real world, which is why many major movie studios use green screens for the environment. It looks out of place otherwise. The movie was faaaar too short to do this plot justice. They would need an hour to an hour and a half to properly explain most things for the majority of people. Only Sonic fans would get the majority of the references and what was going on. That was half the problem with this short. NOTHING was explained. Your expected to just roll with what they do, and this leads to having no care for the characters or the story in general, even though its based off something that already exists! Why did Robotnik want those jewels? When did anthropomorphic animals become tabbo in this universe and why? What is Robotnik's true motives? Those are questions ANY movie goer would ask...and none of them were answered. I felt nothing for Sonic or the humans, even when they were at gunpoint! I had no reason to care, because I don't know what their overarching goals are. I understand this is a sort of setup for the games, but there was nothing to grab onto! This feels more like the opening to a feature length film than anything else. By itself, its just ok at best.
Robotnik was probably the best thing about this film, for the wrong reasons. Spoiler That and all the pretty scenery footage gg eddie a+ Anyone agree?
You raise an important point RGamer. Without being a hardcore Sonic fan you're just not going to understand this film. At all. Seconded on the final part of the film being the style of the entire film too. A CGI film like that could have been wonderful. It was strange how the live action/CGI was weaker than that part.
Too much serious business going on. When will people realise that the perfect Sonic film would be live-action-meets-cel-animation a la Who Framed Roger Rabbit? and based on the old concept art with Madonna and all that? I did like hearing Jaleel White though.
Right, so... ...the movie was meh. Better then eh but not quite good. Think a 6 out of 10. The acting was decent, but the plot was no good. While they may have caught SatAM Sonic's spirit, it got away and they're currently using the residue for this, which is better then completely ruining the character. Absolutely no explanation was given for certain this and that. If I wandered in with no clue about Sonic, I'd be lost in the first few seconds. No explanation for why the planet's called Mobius over Earth, which I still say should just be relegated to the "Mobian" term for the planet where as Humans use Earth if we're going with the presence of Humes, no example of what a South Islander IS, we only got Sonic for that so if I wandered in I'd be confused as to the claims of extinction since those Humans apparently live on South Island, thus I'd think of THEM as the South Islanders. And the Chaos Emerald, there is absolutely no reason for them to be present. I'd smirk if Robotnik was given the Purple Emerald and pass it off as the movie being a sort of prequel, since that was the Emerald added after Sonic 1. But then he comments about how he now has three, which just renders such suspension of logic moot and has me wondering their purpose in this thing. The CGI...eh, I've seen worse. ALOT worse. The Sonic design is BAD now that I've gotten a better look at it. It's the quills. I'd have no problem with them if they remained consistent, but you can see where the modeller just gave up and compressed a bunch together like his game design on the tips. That just ruined it for me. The Gammas were fine, the Buzzbombers need their wings sped up but otherwise the badniks were ok...though why they amputated Motobug's arms, I'll never get. At least this time we didn't get a city of people ignoring the giant robot tearing through the town. Green Hill looked decent, nothing to glaring other then the mountain range behind it but I fathom that was Marble Zone's influence. But the cameo at the end, dear Light Gaia what did they DO to you?! Now for a special message from the mythology gag psycho. This movie really glossed over the Sonic series. I really, really, REALLY wish they had dug into the series properly. They made South Island appear to be an island similar to New Zealand, which doesn't work since: Robotnik's use of Sonic Adventure stuff was ok, but they could've easily went with Sky Base Zone from SMS Sonic 1 or Wing Fortress Zone from Sonic 2 MD if you're not digging that deep. Regardless, this is a 6/10. Not good, but not bad or neutral, just meh. Something I got a few kicks out of for the cheesy factor, and that little shot at Sonic 06, but ultimately not one I'd recommend. I'll probably give it another watch if I've got nothing better to do, but that's about it.
Sonic's model...It really didn't fit. His animations were also quite ugly and as someone else said rather slow. And the first time he opened his mouth after destroying the robots looked somewhat stale and freaky, that awkward middle-mouth! :v: Robotnik was good though as were some other bits. Did seem to be mostly build-up though. All in all...was okay I guess, mainly due to some individual parts being alright but as a whole I think it could have been better, even considering what it is.
Regardless of how good or bad it is, at least someone out there put the effort into making something.
Ow, the acting. Everyone except Robotnik seems to have done their scene in a single take. Understandable practice for some of the cameos, but for the most part those were silent. Sonic's movement seems about 3/4 as fast as it should be, so for a guy who is called "Blue Blur" for most of the film he doesn't seem all that fast, nor do the slowly firing guns seem very threatening. It's a "just for fun" free film that is intentionally rough around the edges plays loose with the story and I did enjoy it for that, but it's a shame most of my problems with it seem like things that would've taken very little time to correct. (Also, it probably would've been easier to just have Sonic In the City ala Sonic Adventure or film along a dirt road to avoid all those plants that conspicuously don't get trampled when Sonic runs by).
Tell that to me and Richard. I was already embarrassed when our final animation traced right over my storyboards. Now clearly, something half resembling effort took place here by people that clearly don't know what they're doing. YES, our film was bad, that's why we canned that shit. Eddie should do the same or get people who DO know what they're doing. That last shot was the only thing that resembled something somewhat passable. It didn't fit with anything else, but hell it looked better than anything else since.... well, it was all CGi. BUT OH FUCK, Knuckles! I sure hope that wasn't SEGAMew's fault for him having fingers. Plot is lacking and doesn't really set itself up well for future endeavours. Just work on something original for once, Eddie. Leave your fan projects alone until you get people who want to make these movies and make them into something to be proud of. Please. Learn from our failure, and now your failure.
Robotnik was pretty neat! ... Which is likely the only compliment I can give. The horrible motion tracking and keying/masking really bothered me. At 2:40, with the Egg Carrier flying over, for instance... It would take less than 5 minutes to refine those edges.
I'll be viewing it eventually since I'm walking into this with expectations so low, you can say that it's of granite at its absolute lowest elevation. Good news is, though, the napalm-hungry sharks didn't have to come flying out as quick as I expected. Good job, everyone! I'm glad to see people not going as apeshit over this as some did over Kuta's... work. Less assuming next time before thinking that meant spamming a facebook page, you-know-who-you-are.
All I can say is that it's given me newfound appreciation for quite how good Sonic 06 was. I did like the E-Series models, though.
So, anyone watching Sonic R TV's livestream? http://www.livestream.com/sonicrtv Eddie has been talking and answering various questions about the movie.
I'm gonna just admit, I actually said this right before watching it right now. That was a HUGE mistake. This shit is terrible and I'm gonna completely agree with you when it comes to what happened with you guys. I don't know how Eddie even considered anything about his so-called film as complete. There's no prologue, no plot, no legitimate way for the viewer to understand what the fuck is going on. All I got out of it was I AM KINTOBAAAAR NO MOAR! HENCE FORTH I SHALL BE KNOWN AS DARTH ROBAAATNIK! And what was the whole deal with the Doctor anyway? He was struggling to sound like the bronchitis Batman we've all come to love. Ohhhhh, and Sonic -- sigh -- I won't even bother. It's like he took a piss on the fandom without the decency of calling it rain.. or a shit without the decency of calling it fertilizer. What the hell am I talking about?
So the movie was alright, not too bad for a fan made film. However looking at Sonic's model it seems they formed Sonic 4's model with Unleashed's model, which doesn't mix well IMO. The fur didn't look too bad while Sonic moved though. But DJ Hazard did an amazing job as Robotnik, and was one of the few good actors in the film. The music was pretty epic too! Though why does Knuckles have fingers? Who ever made his model totally fucked that up... >.>
Dr. Robotnik looks like Sgt. Slaughter. Could not unhear Right Said Fred's WONDERMAN when Ken Tobeur was questioning that random red shirt. Hey, I'm Gamma! I'm not so Gamma! And inappropriate use of the Segata Sanshiro theme and Reach for the Stars. That's all I got out of this. Better effort than Kuta's but... they really should work on better amateur films than something that could barely pass as a D-List SyFy film.
