Sonic the Hedgehog. Wait... is it Good Now?
Earlier this year, Paramount released a trailer for the new Sonic the Hedgehog movie. One word describes this: terrifying. The render of Sonic was closer to a deformed cat than to what Sonic should look like in the games. Boasting human-like teeth that a dentist would be proud of (clearly flossing) and unnervingly realistic eyes and hands, this Sonic pushed the internet to utter outrage. People all over different social media platforms constantly tagged Paramount telling them that it had to be changed. Unlike most big companies, they actually listened! Jeff Fowler, the director of the movie said soon after:
“The message is loud and clear... you aren’t happy with the design & you want changes. It’s going to happen.”
It was great to see this, but after that message we were left in the dark... until now! The new and improved trailer has been released and oh my goodness does it look great! I would argue that this is the best render of Sonic we have ever recieved, even in the games! The proportions are perfect now with more cartoon-like features as opposed to the strange, anthropomorphised look that was present previously. Further to this, the actual content of the trailer was entertaining. It looked fast paced with a focus on witty comedy and that over-confident Sonic charm we all love. With Ben Schwartz voice-acting Sonic and Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik, the film definitely has the star power behind it to create something special. I won’t spoil the plot here, but it doesn’t look like your generic movie that doesn’t bring anything new to the table.
Backing the trailer, a remix of Green Hill Zone was playing that gave me those feeling that only true nostalgia can bring you. It is clear that they know what the fans want and I am extremely excited to see what the finished project looks like.
Now that we all have what we want, some people assume that it was all a ploy. The new look of Sonic, and the movie as a whole, is almost too perfect. This makes many believe that Paramount had always been working on this version of the movie; they purposefully made a trailer that looked disgusting to get more people talking about the movie. Then they would get way more sales when they ‘benevolently’ went out of their way to recreate the movie. This sort of adds up.
If I could give my two cents I would not necessarily agree with this. After the recent success of a similar movie, Detective Pikachu, it is clear that there is no need to trick your audience. Create a good product and it will sell well. So to everyone still complaining about this, I would say just try to be happy with the movie now that it looks good and just enjoy it for what it is! I hope you are all as excited for this movie as me and I talk to you all next week.
