Sonic the Hedgehog, the Movie

[Devonix]

That fan trailer is pretty impressive for the work of a single person. Obviously needs more hours put in but the biggest issue now is the everything else about the trailer. Someone buy them a beverage.

It's nice but it has some issue with the changed proportions interacting with things. The scenes were he's not actually interacting with someone are nice, but any time they have someone in the same scene as him, it's all thrown off by things like the height.

[Zevox]

I do think the look is probably going to be the deciding factor in whether people see it to give it an honest chance, or just ignore it entirely though. Its easily the biggest hurdle they need to overcome right now.

To be fair, yeah, that's probably true for most general audiences. Not going to change my lack of interest though.

[Reddish Mage]

Personally, I’m amazed out how improved the trailer is just by making Sonic look like Sonic.


EDIT (COME ON FOLKS COMMENT): Apparently, not only has the director promised to make Sonic look more like Sonic, he's just moved the movie back so they could make Sonic look like Sonic.

[LaZodiac]

Personally, I’m amazed out how improved the trailer is just by making Sonic look like Sonic.


EDIT (COME ON FOLKS COMMENT): Apparently, not only has the director promised to make Sonic look more like Sonic, he's just moved the movie back so they could make Sonic look like Sonic.

I'd meant to post that was just busy with stuff. They're actually pushing the movie back! That's... interesting! Surprising, even!

[Keltest]

I reserve judgment until I see the new version theyre working with, but at the very least pushing back the movie shows some commitment to fixing things.

[Strigon]

EDIT (COME ON FOLKS COMMENT): Apparently, not only has the director promised to make Sonic look more like Sonic, he's just moved the movie back so they could make Sonic look like Sonic.

Huh. Well, good for them in that case.
... Dang it, now they've made me want to go watch it. You win, studio executives. You win.

As an aside, is anyone else kind of morbidly disappointed they won't ever get to see what the original nightmare fuel version would have been like in a full movie?

[Zevox]

As an aside, is anyone else kind of morbidly disappointed they won't ever get to see what the original nightmare fuel version would have been like in a full movie?

I do find myself thinking that it might be a shame they didn't go with it, but mostly because I still think the best the film can hope for is so-bad-it's-good status, and having Sonic look so absurdly bad would actually probably help with that.

[LaZodiac]

Here's a scary thought. What if it's good?

What if this is a sign that the director actually cares and wants this film to be good, and somehow everyone just failed their perception checks and didn't realize how bad Sonic's design was, and once it was revealed and shouted down he realized the truth and genuinely wants to get it done right. And not only wants to get it right, but actually gives his workers enough time TO get it done without crushing them into a paste.

Would they do this if they didn't actually put a lot of heart and soul into this? What if it's good!

[Peelee]

Here's a scary thought. What if it's good?

Mission accomplished?

[Rakaydos]

Here's a scary thought. What if it's good?

What if this is a sign that the director actually cares and wants this film to be good, and somehow everyone just failed their perception checks and didn't realize how bad Sonic's design was, and once it was revealed and shouted down he realized the truth and genuinely wants to get it done right. And not only wants to get it right, but actually gives his workers enough time TO get it done without crushing them into a paste.

Would they do this if they didn't actually put a lot of heart and soul into this? What if it's good!

Possible, but I doubt it. I think it's more likely the movie was intended as a cheap cash grab with all the hard work done by a different studio, and the trailer bombed so hard they were seriously worried that they wouldnt even make back their cheap budget.

If they're pushing it back, they expect the change to earn them more money than they spend delaying and reshooting (re-posting?) it. But if it was that easy to do it right, why didnt they do it the first time? As I said, they didnt care, it's a cheap cash grab.

[LaZodiac]

Possible, but I doubt it. I think it's more likely the movie was intended as a cheap cash grab with all the hard work done by a different studio, and the trailer bombed so hard they were seriously worried that they wouldnt even make back their cheap budget.

If they're pushing it back, they expect the change to earn them more money than they spend delaying and reshooting (re-posting?) it. But if it was that easy to do it right, why didnt they do it the first time? As I said, they didnt care, it's a cheap cash grab.

Pushing it back to remake all the animation is not cheap in the slightest and will almost certainly not recoup the costs spent unless the movie does out of nowhere gang-busters at the box office. There's no reason to expect this movie will ever get back it's budget, especially now, so the fact that they ARE doing this feels... like a sign of a labor of love?

What can I say, I don't like being cynical.

[Anonymouswizard]

EDIT (COME ON FOLKS COMMENT): Apparently, not only has the director promised to make Sonic look more like Sonic, he's just moved the movie back so they could make Sonic look like Sonic.

Well that's a good sign!

In all honestly, I think we can rule out Sonic having the proportions we'd expect and Eggman/Robotnik having the right costume for most of the movie, but considering the director cares enough about their animators to do this I suspect that, given half a decade we'll be looking back on the film and going 'well it was okay, had some good bits and some bad bits'.

I'm just a bit sad that this apparent 'origin story' isn't going to have something more like the original 'fat sonic'. I'd like a bit more podge on my cartoon heroes (speaking as a fat man who was a fat kid). But at least if they give us something that looks like modern sonic, but taller and with smaller hands and feet then I don't see the movie going down as worthless.

[Peelee]

considering the director cares enough about their animators to do this

Oh you sweet summer child...

[Anonymouswizard]

Oh you sweet summer child...

Sorry, 'cares enough about their animators not taking the fastes route from the roof to ground level until work is complete'. That specific enough for you?

[Zevox]

Here's a scary thought. What if it's good?

What if this is a sign that the director actually cares and wants this film to be good, and somehow everyone just failed their perception checks and didn't realize how bad Sonic's design was, and once it was revealed and shouted down he realized the truth and genuinely wants to get it done right. And not only wants to get it right, but actually gives his workers enough time TO get it done without crushing them into a paste.

Would they do this if they didn't actually put a lot of heart and soul into this? What if it's good!

No, "good" very much does not look like it's on the list of reasonably possible outcomes for this, no matter what they do with Sonic's design. He'll almost certainly look out of place against a live action film no matter what, but even if by some miracle they find a design that does work, it won't fix Robotnik, or Sonic being randomly in the real world, or the way they seem to be saddling him with a random human co-star Transformers-style, or the extremely out of place music choice. There's just nothing about this trailer which gives me any cause for optimism.

[Peelee]

Sorry, 'cares enough about their animators not taking the fastes route from the roof to ground level until work is complete'. That specific enough for you?

Ha! Yeah, I'll take that!

[LaZodiac]

No, "good" very much does not look like it's on the list of reasonably possible outcomes for this, no matter what they do with Sonic's design. He'll almost certainly look out of place against a live action film no matter what, but even if by some miracle they find a design that does work, it won't fix Robotnik, or Sonic being randomly in the real world, or the way they seem to be saddling him with a random human co-star Transformers-style, or the extremely out of place music choice. There's just nothing about this trailer which gives me any cause for optimism.

To be fair that's a trailer, trailers are always rough.

I'm honestly predicting that with the animation change, it'll be a better film than Super Mario Bros. Though keep in mind I say that having LIKED and ENJOYED that film, because of how stupid and madness inducing it is.

[Bohandas]

Pushing it back to remake all the animation is not cheap in the slightest

They should hire whoever did that edit of the trailer

[Devonix]

To be fair that's a trailer, trailers are always rough.

I'm honestly predicting that with the animation change, it'll be a better film than Super Mario Bros. Though keep in mind I say that having LIKED and ENJOYED that film, because of how stupid and madness inducing it is.

Unless they do actual reshoots it's still gonna be a mess. Even then it's going to be troubnle because the animation and character design after being changed might not fit with the rest of the film.

[Delicious Taffy]

The naive optimism in this thread is refreshing.

"But what if this new Sonic product is actually good?" It won't happen, and it's never happened, but it's actually kind of inspiring how much hope people have for their favorite blue disaster child.

[Anonymouswizard]

The naive optimism in this thread is refreshing.

"But what if this new Sonic product is actually good?" It won't happen, and it's never happened, but it's actually kind of inspiring how much hope people have for their favorite blue disaster child.

I liked the Sonic Mania cartoons, they were well done and relied on visual storytelling. They weren't amazing, but certainly decent and I don't regret having watched them twice.

Actually, the more time has gone on the more I believe that the big problem with Sonic is having him speak. The quality of a Sonic project seems to be roughly inversely proportional to the amount of voiced dialogue, with some outliers. On the other hand I can see why Sega doesn't want to only make Sonic media where they have to rely on nonverbal storytelling, it's hard.

I remember going out of my way to get the Classic Sonic cutscenes in Sonic Generations, because Sonic's reactions had to be conveyed entirely with his movements, and it worked. It was much more entertaining that Modern Sonic's dialogue, which is old enough that my crusty late-millenial brain considers it ancient.

[DataNinja]

The naive optimism in this thread is refreshing.

"But what if this new Sonic product is actually good?" It won't happen, and it's never happened, but it's actually kind of inspiring how much hope people have for their favorite blue disaster child.

I mean, there have been some good things come from Sonic. A lot of terrible things, admittedly, yes, but some good things, too. I keep coming back to the Boom cartoon - which should have been abysmal, based on the 'source' material... but, hey, it wasn't bad. So, y'know, good can come from what looks like bad.

...though, uh, this one doesn't quite seem to be going in that direction. It's got a lot weighted against it.

(Although, even if it is bad, I already know a lot of people who're planning to go see it just to see how bad it is... which, uh, seems to be a bad plan to me, since if bad things make money, well...)

[Lord Raziere]

(Although, even if it is bad, I already know a lot of people who're planning to go see it just to see how bad it is... which, uh, seems to be a bad plan to me, since if bad things make money, well...)

Indeed, don't pay for bad things, want to go see bad things, thats what the internet is for. you get bad things and MST opportunities for free! money is for quality.

[BeerMug Paladin]

I never really saw what the big deal was with the design. I suspect the trailer just got released on a day when the Internet ran out of things to complain about. But then, I was never likely to watch the movie when it comes out, nor am I likely to ever watch it later on. Besides, it's only the voice that matters. Jaleel White is the one true voice of Sonic!

And now for the real reason I contributed to the thread...

having LIKED and ENJOYED that film

Oh, that's a rarity. Hello fellow liker of underappreciated and silly art!

[Peelee]

Oh, that's a rarity. Hello fellow liker of underappreciated and silly art!

I'm joining this club! I don't care if they hated making it, Bob Hoskins and John Luguizzamo made damned a fun Mario and Luigi. Even among people that don't like it, they sure can't blame the casting.

[Devonix]

I never really saw what the big deal was with the design. I suspect the trailer just got released on a day when the Internet ran out of things to complain about. But then, I was never likely to watch the movie when it comes out, nor am I likely to ever watch it later on. Besides, it's only the voice that matters. Jaleel White is the one true voice of Sonic!

And now for the real reason I contributed to the thread...

Oh, that's a rarity. Hello fellow liker of underappreciated and silly art!

It started for me with the stretching scene, it looks like someone wearing a sonic holloween costume. It's just realistic enough that it makes you question the character's anatomy. Where it's bits and bobs should be. A fully cartoon looking character can get away with things, but the closer you try to make it human, you start needing things like clothes on it. Sonic just looks like a naked hairy little man.

[Peelee]

Jaleel White is the one true voice of Sonic!

Did he do that?

[Zevox]

The naive optimism in this thread is refreshing.

"But what if this new Sonic product is actually good?" It won't happen, and it's never happened, but it's actually kind of inspiring how much hope people have for their favorite blue disaster child.

"It's never happened" is an exaggeration. You can pick out a few good Sonic games and shows without too much trouble. It's just a depressingly small percentage of the overall franchise for such a big name among the video game industry.

[Rakaydos]

"It's never happened" is an exaggeration. You can pick out a few good Sonic games and shows without too much trouble. It's just a depressingly small percentage of the overall franchise for such a big name among the video game industry.

Honestly, I think Sonic 06 could be remade starring Shadow and have it turn out decent. Just make Elise a relative of Maria and it's all justified.

[Lacuna Caster]

In retrospect, they're in somewhat the same situation as Godzilla (1998). There are dumber and technically worse Godzilla movies than what Emmerich/Devlin gave us, but when they reinterpret the feature kaiju into merely being an oversized lizard which very loosely fits a similar role as its namesake it becomes clear how ignoring iconography - outside of sparse shallow references - can create a whole different experience.

My recollection is fuzzy at this point, but my recollection is that most complaints were focused on the protagonists being unsympathetic doofuses and that Godzilla's behaviour was unrecognisably divergent from the source material (i.e, behaving like an actual animal with an instinct for self-preservation.) I don't see any compelling reason for why the visual design of the creature needs to be shackled to the constraints imposed by a guy in a rubber suit.