Review: Sonic the Hedgehog (Jeff Fowler, 2020)
Fig. 1 - Poster of the TV show Sonic X (2003-2006)
On 23rd June 1991, the first Sonic the Hedgehog game was released. For almost 29 years since this first appearance on the Sega Genesis, Sonic has been loved all around the world for being the fastest, coolest hedgehog the world has ever seen, and for being an enduring and iconic figure within the gaming industry. One thing that most fans of the games had dreamed of, including myself, was to see this beloved blue blur in the real world, a fantasy that was unthinkable when he was first introduced on the videogame platform in the early 1990s. The closest we had come to Sonic fitting in with the real world was in the popular kids cartoon Sonic X (2003-2006) (Fig. 1), which sent Sonic and many of his friends to Earth as a result of a massive burst of chaotic energy. So, when there were rumours that there was going to be a live-action, high budget film of the famous gaming mascot, fans around the world were both excited yet approached the news with trepidation. The worry stemmed from some of the poorly reviewed games, not only for this franchise but in the gaming industry as a whole; Sonic R (1997), Sonic the Hedgehog (2006), Sonic and the Black Knight (2009), and Sonic Boom: Rise of Lyric (2014) to name a few examples. Alongside this, video game adaptations have always been a mixed bag at the box office. For example, Super Mario Bros. (Rocky Morton & Annabel Jankel, 1993), a live-action adaptation of the famous Italian plumber created by Nintendo, generated “$20 million in revenues [at the box office], while it had an established budget of $42 million” (Brookey 2010: 4). Other examples of poorly rated video game adaptations are Street Fighter (Steven E. de Souza, 1994), Mortal Kombat: Annihilation (John R. Leonetti, 1997), Hitman (Xavier Gens, 2007), Max Payne (John Moore, 2008), and Assassin’s Creed (Justin Kurzel, 2016). What these films have in common are that they are all video game adaptations set within the real world, and how they were poorly adapted from their original source material. So, by looking at how mixed Sonic has been in the video game industry, and how badly received video game movies are in the film industry, the idea of a live-action Sonic movie was one that was not entirely certain to succeed.
When Paramount Pictures then released their first trailer for the new Sonic the Hedgehog (Jeff Fowler, 2020) (see below), the film received a huge amount of negative responses and criticisms concerning how they portrayed Sonic, including the character’s design. Due to the backlash Paramount received from fans, and even some of the key creators behind the original Sonic games, the film’s director Jeff Fowler announced on Twitter that the animators were working on a new design for Sonic, causing the release of the film to be delayed to 14th February 2020. When the new design was revealed (Fig. 2), along with a more Sonic-themed trailer, fans were extremely positive about the changes in design, which prompted hope that the final film would be something of a more faithful adaptation.
Fig. 2 - The original design of Sonic in Sonic the Hedgehog (left), and the character’s redesign in the second trailer (right).
Sonic the Hedgehog begins with Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) and Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) fighting in the city of San Francisco. Sonic comes from another planet, where we see a baby version running around one of the iconic settings from the games, Green Hill Zone, while Sonic narrates in voiceover how he was born with incredible speed. Due to his power, a tribe of echidnas (spiked animals) try to take down Sonic, yet he is saved by his guardian, Longclaw (voiced by Donna Jay Fulks). Longclaw throws a golden ring to open a portal to another planet, so Sonic is able to escape, while she stays behind to stop the tribe. Throughout this early part of the film, the entire setting and characters are completely animated. The level of detail added to these sequences aims to give audiences that realistic look, so that once we move into the live-action part of the film, the jump from a fully animated world of fantasy to live-action photography does not appear too noticeable. The film then jumps ahead 10 years Green Hills, Montana, where we see Sonic toying with a police officer, Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), by running past his speed detector to clock the fastest time possible. Sonic evidently feels lonely on Earth, still scared of people wanting to take his powers. When Sonic’s emotions become too unstable, they cause a massive blast of electric energy, wiping out most of the power across the Pacific Northwest. This caused the United States Department of Defence to hire Dr. Robotnik to pursue Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog - Trailer (2019).
Since the military are trying to discover the cause of the blast, Sonic tries to escape Earth, which fails when he again meets Tom. This friendship between Sonic and Tom structures the rest of the movie, positioning the animated Sonic in a more human-like way through his relationship with the human Tom. They both go on a journey to San Francisco to find Sonic’s missing rings after losing them when they are dropped in the ring portal, whilst Dr. Robotnik tries to stop their plans along the way. What makes Dr. Robotnik an interesting character – played with glee by Carrey – is how he is a person longing to have ultimate power to achieve their dreams, whether it is for good or bad intentions. Carrey plays the role perfectly, mixing his excessive acting skills honed in previous films during the 1990s, along with a portrayal of Dr. Robotnik that is true to how the chracter would perform in the video games, easily makes him the highlight of the film. Sonic and Tom’s journey, however, shows us two pivotal moments, both being of time stop sequences; instead of the scene being relayed in slow motion, only Sonic moves around at a normal speed whereas everything and everyone else is completely frozen, giving us the illusion that Sonic is moving at extremely high speeds. The first sequence depicts Sonic running around the bar to stop a fight and protect Tom. The other sequence shows Sonic destroying drones in the sky, where Dr. Robotnik uses Sonic’s quill to harness his speed. These animated sequences within a predominantly realistic setting are very impressive and interesting to watch unfold, whilst also maintaining a realistic visual style so that these two sequences do not feel out of place when aligned together. By the end of the film, Sonic’s sudden realisation of wanting to stop running away and fight head on to protect his friends concludes his arc of being alone. This allows the character to finally find a place where he truly belongs, making him appear more humanlike than he had previously throughout the film. This treatment of Sonic presents an interesting character arc with which the audience can engage. What makes this journey play out so well to the audience is how they are seeing an animated fantasy character interacting and engaging with a human being, and with the design being so highly detailed and realistic, we do not see or think Sonic is out of place with the setting or the people around him. Even the beginning of the film, where we are introduced to Green Hill Zone, the transition from animated to real worlds is handled naturally. Against this use of digital effects, Fowler’s film ultimately does a great job at playing with Sonic’s personal issues and resolving them, despite the character’s status as animated. Having Sonic appear first as a lonely child just looking for a place to belong invites audiences to see past the animation, and instead see this anthropomorphic creature as part of our world longing for these dreams to come true, making his presence believable.
Sonic the Hedgehog - Trailer (2020).
By the end of the film, Tom and his wife, Maddie Wachowski (Tika Sumpter), make a room for Sonic in their attic, adopting him as a son. Yet the end credits also reveal Dr. Robotnik still on the mushroom planet plotting his return to Earth, and another scene where Tails (Colleen O’Shaughnessey) emerges out of a ring portal to Green Hills in search of Sonic. These two end credit scenes give audiences hope that there will be more to come from the Sonic the Hedgehog series thanks to this additional introduction for audiences to the game’s more iconic characters and themes.
Fans of Sonic will certainly appreciate the way that this new film has adapted him from the video games, perhaps even portraying him in a better light than a lot of the games have done in recent years. By using impressive animation in ways that place the fantasy within a live-action setting, our anticipation of seeing Sonic in the real world has been more fulfilling here than what was achieved in Sonic X, or across other forms of media featuring Sonic have attempted to do. Sonic the Hedgehog is a love letter to Sonic and his fans, with multiple references to his video game history and other platforms where he has been featured over the last 29 years, from officially produced products by SEGA or fan-made creations from a loyal and dedicated fanbase. Despite troubled beginnings, the film has recently made history “with a three-day domestic opening of $57 million [in the US], a record for a video game adaptation” (McClintock 2020). This growing support for the Sonic movie shows that the love for this character is there, and the potential for a sequel is now a real possibility with the success that is now predicted from this first feature. Sonic the Hedgehog is a great step in the right direction, not only for video game adaptations but Sonic’s reputation as the beloved video game character he is.
**Article published: February 21, 2020**
References
Brookey, Robert Allan. 2010. Hollywood Gamers: Digital Convergence in the Film and Video Game Industries. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press.
McClintock, Pamela. 2020. “Box Office: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Booms With Record $70m Opening,” The Hollywood Reporter, available at: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/box-office-sonic-hedgehog-booms-record-68m-opening-1279595.
Biography
Andrew James Proud is currently a master’s student at the University of Sunderland, my course is called MA Film and Cultural Studies. He spent 3 years previously doing an undergraduate degree in Film and Media, where he learnt topics such as the history of cinema, animated films, horror films, and how to write scripts for TV shows and films. His current MA work is based on Video Game Adaptations and looking in detail as to why the film industry has a bad job of creating a video game film that is good or positively received by film critics and fans alike, as well as what would make a good video game film. He aims to look further into the video game industry, the relation between video games and Hollywood, and how CGI and digital techniques are being used to ‘revive’ dead actors for the big screen.