Sonic the Hedgehog (2020) movie

I'll bet if Detective Pikachu didn't set the precedent, they would stick to their hyper-realistic hedgehog, because cartooney elements on live action are a sin for the typical executive.

 

I know it's sponsored by the movie, but if that's accurate at all, man, this movie's gonna do great. Dunno if it'll be like, on the level of some of the Disney movies grossing billions, but it should turn a tidy profit for Paramount and Sega, and probably enough to guarantee a sequel.

The design truly makes a difference. "It doesn't matter what he'll look like" was such a silly take after the first trailer. It might still not do well, but that ugly thing they were calling Sonic was going to nuke this movie's chances at succeeding from orbit.

 

After watching the new trailer I wanted to go back and revisit the old trailer and do some comparisons to see just how much Sonic's design has changed as well as some of the visual effects. The design difference between the original and Sonic's new design is night and day. Sonic's new design looks so much better. He actually looks like Sonic again! I went into this new trailer expecting it to be bad only to find myself smiling as I watched it and finding Sonic to be absolutely adorable! It's pretty incredible how they managed to take him from looking horrendously horrifying and disgusting to looking energetic, expressive, and adorable! I just want to thank Tyson Hesse, all of the animators, and anyone else involved who managed to save this film and make Sonic look the way he should have looked from the start. I'm actually excited to see this movie now. Even though it's far removed from the source material it still looks like a cute and fun movie.

I went ahead and made a screenshot comparison of every scene from the old and new trailers. https://imgur.com/gallery/iL3zHWk Besides Sonic's design change there's quite a few visual effect differences as well as minor changes in some scenes. It looks like the scene where Sonic is running on that empty highway in the original trailer has been replaced with him running in Green Hill Zone instead which looks absolutely stunning by the way. I wish we could have seen more places from the games in the movie. Sonic also does the same pose he does in the desert chase scene which is funny because he does that same pose twice since he still does it in the desert scene.

Another difference is when Tom first discovers Sonic in the shed Sonic is now holding a ring in one hand and a red bag in the other whereas in the original trailer he was just standing with his arms down not holding onto anything. Going back to the original trailer made me really realize just how vacant, stiff, and expressionless the original Sonic design was. He barely emotes any expressions, not even furrowing his eyebrows in confusion or frustration. The new Sonic is bouncing off of the walls with energy and expressions and I absolutely love it! I also noticed that the crates / boxes in the background are lower in the new trailer.

Another thing I noticed is that in the scene where Sonic attacks the mech that's chasing Tom's car there's less electricity emanating around him. His blue streak is much more vibrant and detailed in various scenes though. Other changes I noticed is that Eggman's jet now has red lights instead of blue and some of the computer screens display different visuals. Some of the lighting effects in certain rooms with Eggman is different as well. The mech that chases the car now has a few extra details such as small red lights glowing on the sides and the bottom front and the large glowing red light is now slightly different and a darker red. The rocket that the mech shoots out is also completely different.

One of the most interesting and also strangest differences between the two trailers is the scene where Dr. Eggman puts one of Sonic's quills in his mouth. Originally, in the first trailer, Agent Stone is leaning against the wall watching him do the act in disgust but in the new trailer Agent Stone is completely absent altogether. I wonder why they removed him from the scene? I figured that his disgusted reaction would have added to the humor of the weird behavior that Eggman is exhibiting. Unless that's an older shot of the scene? With Sonic's new design I can't help but wonder how much of the movie's original storyline was altered and changed as well.

I kind of hope that someday we can find a work print version of the film with the old Sonic design just so we can see just how much the movie's story had changed and also to see just how terrible Sonic's original design was. I can't help but be curious lol. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the improvements to the film that I'm seeing so far. The film actually looks enjoyable now. Before I was trying to figure out how I was going to be able to sit through an hour and a half of this train wreck. Now it actually looks like a good time. My only nitpick with Sonic's design now is the blue arms. If his arms were peach I think he would look perfect. I'm starting to really like him having two separate eyes now too! XD

 

In the first video Drummond says nice things about Schwartz and Carrey, has doubts about the old design.

In the second video you can see a comparison between Robotnik introducing himself to random army guy and the same scene but reenacted by CGI Robotnik and OMGLOLROFLMAO some TF2 characters.

Saved you a click.

 

Yeah I like Jim Carrey too for roles portrayals such as Stanley Ipkiss/The Mask,his early comedy stand-ups,Billy Marshall,Bruce Nolan,Me,Myself & Irene,Lair Liar,Dumb and Dumber(it was more funny than sequel),Grinch,Ace Ventura,Truman Show,Telemaniac...etc.

 

Being "disrespectful" to the source material/author/fans doesn't mean much to the film industry. Haha.
People love Mary Poppins, was a critical success yet it was hated by the author.

Adaptations aren't always respectful to the license they are using. Some films don't even have the same tone as the material its based on and yet they can be hugely successful or resonate with a difference audience. At least he was still the wise cracking "your too slow" character, even if it was packaged weirdly.

Jim Carrey is fascinating though, he had strong opinions about playing the same character twice for example, so while he is known for his outlandish characters, he has opinions as an actor in the industry. I think his point is valid. People that worked on it. Whether or not the fans liked the outcome, the studio was still trying to make a successful product (whether that success is money or high art). Not to say studios like any company doesn't have issues that lead to bad decisions but I can't imagine everyone on the art team were trying to make something ugly.

 

Someone made some screenshot edits of Sonic with peach arms. I personally think it looks a lot better.

 

The blue arms aren't a dealbreaker for me, but I still couldn't resist:

 

Honestly, the arms go either way for me at this point. I loved Tyson's original drawing of this design way back and that had the blue arms. The edit looks great but I think the movie version looks pretty great as-is.

 

I prefer the peach arms, but I wonder if it's out of habit at this point.
Still, we're back to our regular discussion of "should Sonic's arms be blue". I think this shows how much they've improved the design, 'cause the blue arms were the least of our concern with what we got originally.

 

Finally had time to watch. Definitely better than before. I'll definitely watch, but I'm still not sure if it's theater-worthy.

 

I'm guessing some will want to go see it as a "thank you" for listening to fans and fixing the problem. To each his/her own in that regard.

Me personally, I was gonna buy tickets regardless. For one, I promised my baby sister I'd go see it with her for our birthday (we're two days apart), and the other, well... let's just say it would've been interesting to see what kind of Hell they would've brought up if they've continued to go with the original design.

It's like looking at a real bad wreck on the highway. It's terrible, but it's difficult not to rubberneck outta curiosity. At least for me.

 

Boomer humor.

I keed, I keed.

 

I don’t know how anyone can be a member of Sonic Retro, and not go see the movie in theatres? A movie ticket is like $10, it’s basically free from an adults perspective. Morbid curiousity alone should be enough reason. I don’t expect the movie to be much good myself, but am I really going to pass up what is likely to be the only Sonic Movie that ever makes it into theatres? I can understand this isn’t the movie we wanted, but neither have been 90% of the games, and yet here we are... like, as if my time is sooo valuable I can’t spare the 48 minutes...

 

Why would you buy something that you are not expecting to be good?

 

Fanboyism.

 

You keep forgetting the time cost: this is at minimum 90 minutes, as full-length films are considered that length or more. Add in of course, getting to the theatre/getting back from the theatre and the time cost can go way up.

And for the record, I actually haven't bought another 3D title since Heroes, because Heroes made me that mad.