James Marsden taking lead role in Sonic the Hedgehog movie

[Yami CJMErl]

https://youtu.be/szby7ZHLnkA

new trailer's out

[Wooduck51]

The white bridge of the snout is such a simple yet effective choice; what a nice surprise to start the day.

[Locit]

Shit that's... that might be the best trailer/ad re-cut since Kangaroo Jack.

Also: did they re-cast Sonic's voice actor?

[Yami CJMErl]

No, I'm...pretty sure it's still the same guy. Maybe they re-recorded his lines?

[Locit]

It all becomes clear.

[Yami CJMErl]

I don't know why this came as a surprise to me; pretty much everything good involving Sonic lately has had his involvement.

[Brazillian Cara]

I don't know why this came as a surprise to me; pretty much everything good involving Sonic lately has had his involvement.

Reading this side-by-side with your avatar really puts things into perspective. The guy has gone a long way ever since Nipples the Enchilada.

[Locit]

Apparently the movie is surprisingly decent but honestly the only thing I care about right now is how the fuck I can get my hands on a pair of these shoes.

[Yami CJMErl]

the only thing I care about right now is how the fuck I can get my hands on a pair of these shoes.

I can't believe THOSE are the ones they don't make for mass market retail. It's literally the only pair the fans actually want!

[Wooduck51]

Alright Ladies and Gentlehogs; me and the wife went to see Sonic today... And we both quite liked it!
First off, Citizen Kane this is not, and as a long time sonic fan, I would have loved a movie fully set on Sonic's home world.
BUT, With those things out of the way; I had much fun watching it. I think everyone did a great job, the actors seemed to be having fun, there was only 2ish fart jokes to speak of (and one at least was earned if still un-needed) Sonic looks great and is suitably wonic-y, Jim Carrey actually seems to take a few scenes to warm up to being eggman, but then takes to it wonderfully. The movie also gives no time to any cliched and tired misunderstanding plots, and keeps itself respectful of your time and clocks in at around 100 minutes. There are many nice little nods to various bits of Sonic history, and is all about the power of friendship.

The formula fed/breast fed joke is still in the movie and I still haven't parsed how that line came to be, but hey,
THE MOVIE WAS FUN AND WHOLESOME; like a fruit salad parfait: not not overly filling or deep, but I'd go for a second.

[Wombatwarlord777]

Yeah, I thought it was a pretty good flick. It also had a really strong opening weekend, and if there isn't a really steep drop-off next week, I will be really pleasantly surprised. My theater was pretty packed on Saturday night, mostly kids and their parents, although there were a few hardcore fans in there as well (pretty much everyone who stayed to watch the entirety of the credits).

As for the film itself, I really liked the establishment of Sonic in the real world, and the comedy and action really clicked in the last act. I'd say the very beginning on Sonic's home planet and the middle were slightly rushed (Sonic and James Marston bonded a little too quickly for it to be quite believable for me), but then you do have to remember the flick is primarily intended for young kids.

[Opa-Opa]

I saw it on saturday and this should have been the first place I came to babble about.

I really loved the movie. I understand all the cliches they are using, all its flaws and faults, but I really liked it. Jokes were good, with well written dialogue and genuinely funny. It was a very very pleasant surprise. It's a nice adaptation, and, as though as I would love to see a movie fully set on Sonic's world, I feel like this felt more like a "movie" than, say, a fully animated feature would feel. The thater was actually very empty, probably because it was a screening in english with subtitles and kids movies around here are usually dubbed in portuguese (for comparison, in my city there are daily 60 screenings in english with subs against 380 screenings in portuguese).

Now for SPOILERS:

The easter eggs are awesome, and there are so many that I'm sure I haven't seem them all. The last scene made me VERY excited for a sequel.

[Wooduck51]

Where did everybody go??

Anyhoo behold; a toy version of Nipples the Enchilada dressed as Sonic that you can buy.

Screenshot_20200221-155940.jpg

Sonic The Hedgehog Spin Dash Sonic REV and Launch! Super Sonic Speed! It's real

[j-man]

Hello, The GHZ. Just popping in to let everyone know what I thought of the Sonic the Hedgehog real life action movie. I'm sure you were all dying to know, right? Well, I liked it! So there we are. And while I'm here: that Sonic Mania was a bit of alright, wasn't it?

Also - slightly off topic - sorry for being such a cringeworthy little teenage shithead fifteen years ago! I'm in my thirties now, so reading through all my old posts again has been truly excrutiating!

[Wooduck51]

Hello, The GHZ. Just popping in to let everyone know what I thought of the Sonic the Hedgehog real life action movie. I'm sure you were all dying to know, right? Well, I liked it! So there we are. And while I'm here: that Sonic Mania was a bit of alright, wasn't it?

It's almost like the world can't handle two good sonic things at once, we have pandemics and murder hornets and life re-emerging at the GHZ!

Also - slightly off topic - sorry for being such a cringeworthy little teenage shithead fifteen years ago! I'm in my thirties now, so reading through all my old posts again has been truly excrutiating!

I am not sure if I am qualified to say this and maybe that was a rhetorical satement; but no sweat! and glad to hear from ya!
And also it is reassuring to know I am not the only one who thinks back on their posts of yesteryear and lays awake at night in a cold sweat of dread.....or is that just me?

[chriscaffee]

It was okay. Like others, I would have preferred it to take place in Sonic's world, but for what it was it wasn't bad. It could have been a lot worse.

[big_smile]

Wow great to see J-man back.

I also felt the movie was okay. I thought it was going to be a buddy movie with Sonic grafted on for star appeal (much like how Hollywood will drop in A-lists stars in films to boost their appeal). Granted, it did end up being a buddy movie with Sonic grafted on, but they did a good job of making the Sonic bits feel true to the character, so it wasn't so jarring.

Sonic Mania was awesome. Sonic Mania Plus not so much.

[Locit]

Also - slightly off topic - sorry for being such a cringeworthy little teenage shithead fifteen years ago! I'm in my thirties now, so reading through all my old posts again has been truly excrutiating!

I did this a while back. It was excruciating. Thank Christ we came of age before everything we did online was automatically tied to our actual goddamn names.

[Frieza2000]

Am I the only one still jaded enough to refuse to see this on principal? I mean, it even turned out to be a popular movie! We're supposed to be contrarian, guys. Damn sellouts.

(The sequels will probably focus more on the Sonic worlds, so they might interest me a bit more)

[Tsuyoshi-kun]

Considering that some people on here have played Sonic '06 and Sonic Boom, a harmless 90 minute movie is hardly anything to get worked up about versus.

[big_smile]

Am I the only one still jaded enough to refuse to see this on principal? I mean, it even turned out to be a popular movie! We're supposed to be contrarian, guys. Damn sellouts.

(The sequels will probably focus more on the Sonic worlds, so they might interest me a bit more)

I think you are missing out. It's a decent enough movie that does a good job of reworking Sonic's character for a film audience. It's nothing amazing, but it's good enough.

[Frieza2000]

(In case the sarcasm wasn't thick enough, I was poking fun at how pretentious we were in our heyday)

If I happened to catch it on TV or someone really wanted to watch it with me, I'd give it a chance. But it really just looks like a copy+pasted buddy cop film with a few scenes taken from a Jim Carey movie and Sonic memes sprinkled in. I'm sure it's fine, and I've absolutely watched worse, but it just doesn't motivate me enough to sit down with it. Too many other things to do.

[j-man]

I did this a while back. It was excruciating. Thank Christ we came of age before everything we did online was automatically tied to our actual goddamn names.

Fuck it, I knew I spelled it wrong -- now that's ekscrewshiating.

Joke's on me, I guess, 'cause I was a li'l bitch in real life too. I don't think anonymity is any excuse!

Wow great to see J-man back.

<snip>

Sonic Mania was awesome. Sonic Mania Plus not so much.

Aw, you cutie! Great to see you too, man. I still lurk on Retro, and it's always nice seeing your name pop up there too.

Not a fan of Encore? Maybe I'm just that starved of entertainment, or maybe I'm just a sucker for palette swaps (who am I kidding, it's definitely both) but I really liked it - in fact, I think I play it more than Mania Mode!

(In case the sarcasm wasn't thick enough, I was poking fun at how pretentious we were in our heyday)

If I happened to catch it on TV or someone really wanted to watch it with me, I'd give it a chance. But it really just looks like a copy+pasted buddy cop film with a few scenes taken from a Jim Carey movie and Sonic memes sprinkled in. I'm sure it's fine, and I've absolutely watched worse, but it just doesn't motivate me enough to sit down with it. Too many other things to do.

Broadly speaking, you're not wrong. The movie is formulaic, safe, and a little bland in parts, and I can understand if you feel the subject matter is too watered-down for your tastes, but to me it still feels like something that was made by people who gave a shit.

Apart from a five-ish minute section near the beginning, where they get all the human-side exposition out in one breathless burst, you spend the whole movie either watching Sonic or watching Robotnik chase him down. There's a decent focus on the character himself; a Sonic's given a lot more depth than he is usually afforded, and some fairly reasonable backstory additions to explain his carefree-loner-with-a-sense-of-justice persona. Watching his (and indeed, Robotnik's) transformation into the character we recognise was a fun journey for me.

I came out of the cinema pleasantly surprised and wanting more (after those end credit scenes - I mean, come on!). Overall, I regard it in a similar way as I do Sonic Adventure - rough around the edges, but charming as hell.

[big_smile]

Not a fan of Encore? Maybe I'm just that starved of entertainment, or maybe I'm just a sucker for palette swaps (who am I kidding, it's definitely both) but I really liked it - in fact, I think I play it more than Mania Mode!

Encore was a disappointment. They barely put any new routes. It's mostly just a palette swap and most of those come close to the line of being ugly looking.

Buddy mode is fun, but it's also annoying because I'll often come to a route where I want to use a specific character, but that character isn't the person who is my buddy. They should have worked in a system so you can switch between all 5 characters.

The new Special Stages are a nightmare, and it doesn't help that they weren't that interesting in regular Mania. And while the new pinball Bonus stage is a welcome way to get shields (which is something Sonic badly needed in the original Mania), the stage itself is dullsville.

Ray and Mighty were a nice gesture but again disappointing. Their moves aren't that different from S/T/K. And they barely have any unique paths through the levels. Plus, although the Mania Team have tried their hardest to make their animations look unique, there's no getting away from the fact that Ray and Mighty look too much like Sonic knock-offs.

I don’t hold Team Mania responsible for any of the problems with Mania plus. Sonic Team wanted the DLC to be priced extremely low, which limited the resources Team Mania had for the new content. And given the cost of the DLC, you certainly get way more than your money's worth.

But I wish Sonic Team had a little more confidence in Team Mania and given them a bigger budget so they could add new levels. The new stages were the highlight of Mania. The DLC content mostly misses the point.

[j-man]

Good points, well made.

I think for me, the palette swaps at least alleviated some of the gripes I had about returning zones, and made the Act 2 remixes feel a bit more original (even if superficially). I also rated the Special Stages - easily my favourite of the series so far - even if the Encore Mode difficulty was an absolute pig!

I'd love to see a full-length, all-original Sonic Discovery in the near future. I mean, we live in a timeline where a live-action Sonic movie grossed like $350M, approximately 20 years since the character was last relevant, so I like to think that anything's possible. Then again, remember how bizarrely optimistic I was about Sonic 4?