NO.
This design?
YES.
Ever since the first godforsaken trailer was release and audiences howled with fear from seeing the eponymous character's initial design, everyone was demanding that SEGA and Paramount scrap it and try again. Even Yuji Naka, the co-creator of Sonic, hated the look. I had thought that the fans going this far over a trailer for something that was likely going to fail was a foolhardy action; Shyamalan didn't listen when he whitewashed Last Airbender, why should the creative team behind the Sonic The fucking Hedgehog movie listen when the film was finished? But then something truly remarkable happened;
Jeff Fowler, the movie's director, announced not long after that the film would be pushed back until the character was completely redesigned as to, you know, actually look like Sonic and not a mutated furry OC who somehow got his own movie. I applaud Fowler and SEGA for actually taking the time to not only listen to the overwhelming criticism, but also go as far as to act on it instead of dismissing it like I've seen with so many other directors (again, looking at you Shyamalan). I really hope that the CGI artists and design team got paid over time for their hard work and dedication to make one of the most easily offended fanbases of all time happy
But even with the announcement of the redesign and the release date being pushed back, I was still sceptical as to how this film would actually turn out. From everything shown in the first trailer, I was pretty much convinced that everything, bar Jim Carrey's "interesting" performance as Robotnik, was going to suck. The acting, the editing, the music, the story, the dialogue, the effects; all of it was awful. I was all but ready to wash my hands clean and ignore the film altogether as just another bad video game movie as it crashes and bu--
...
...
... Well I'm ready to eat my words from a ceramic bowl, don't skimp on the seasoning please.
With exception to the dialogue, story and effects, virtually everything had a major upgrade. The music choice was much better at giving the trailer the rebellious edge I'd expect from Sonic, the acting from James Marsden was more believable, the editing was much more coherent, and most importantly, Sonic's design; it's pretty much perfect. Ignoring the stupid "bLuE aRmS" meme for a second, the design team put in a lot more effort to translate the character's traditional appearance from the games to the big screen. It doesn't ever look like he's really there talking with James Marsden, but at least I'm not in danger of having my eyeballs melt every time I look at him. I also enjoyed how they managed to work in a photo-realistic Green Hill Zone and made it look really good for a live action Sonic film.
They also seemed to capture more of Sonic's traditional character traits as well; energetic, cocky, rebellious, narcissistic, but ultimately with a heart of gold. This may sound like the most obvious thing to point out as those are the traits one would typically associate with Sonic, but the first trailer presented none of these core quirks to instead make him more of an insufferable nuisance who made stupid pop cultural references.
That said, there are still some major concerns. Despite a few good quips, the dialogue is either generic or does not sound natural, especially some of the stuff that Robotnik says.
"Of course I want a Latte; I love the way you make them!"
Funny delivery aside, who talks like that?!
Also, despite the better design, the CG in this film is objectively awful. This is best exemplified when showing Sonic go to that Rubber Band Ball exhibit thing and coming back with merchandise from the gift shop. You can clearly see where the CG on Sonic enters and this makes the merch in his arms stand out like a sore thumb. Same can be said for the various robots Robotnik has going after Sonic and Marsden's character, but they at least can get away with CG for those as they are meant to look high tech and stylised.
As a whole, I'm still uncertain with this movie. It still looks bad from a story telling standpoint and has terrible dialogue, but the action, performances and Sonic himself seem to hit the mark fairly well. This isn't like other video game movie trailers that either get my hopes up only to crush them when the films eventually come out (Assassin's Creed, anyone?) or so bizarrely bad that I have no choice but to admire it for how far off the mark they were (insert any video game movie of your choice here).
It certainly looks a HELL of a lot better in this trailer than the first one which was so bad that Paramount actually removed it from their YouTube page, but that isn't really saying much. That's like saying that Batman Forever is better than Batman & Robin; technically, it's true, but it doesn't really make a difference if both are bad. I want to be cautiously optimistic about this film giving the extra time that the creative staff has had in order to correct certain mistakes, and I really hope that they do get all the praise rewards that they deserve. But if the product itself falls flat, I'll feel really bad for them instead with how their efforts to save this film was in vain. Nonetheless, we have until February 14th to make up our minds and I have no doubt that, in spite of whatever criticism the film may receive, it could very well be a box office hit purely because of the redesign. Only time will tell.
Regardless, if you like what you've read, please a comment and share this on social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc). Please consider following me on Twitter; I'm @Media_Man18. Also please subscribe to my YouTube channel, Media Hood Reviews, for more content on a (hopefully) weekly basis.
Thanks for reading and, as always; this is Callum Lewis, the Media Hood, signing off!
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