Last week, half of The Current’s office went to go see “Sonic: The Hedgehog.” Anyone who has looked at social media in the past year knows that this movie was highly anticipated to be interesting, to say the least. Truth be told, this movie has had to jump through rings just to be released. The trailer was released online to the masses on April 30 and oh boy, it was a doozy. People took to all platforms of social media to express their disgust and discomfort at Sonic’s character design, particularly bashing on his lanky stature and eerily human hands and teeth. Hundreds of thousands of people spent days both laughing and crying about the movie adaptation of this popular and beloved video game character. Within the first few days, staff members who were working on the movie spoke out and announced they would be reworking the design to make a Sonic people would be proud of. After all this time, the movie has finally been released. Here is what I thought and be warned; there are spoilers.
The Good
Whether or not you liked the end result, you have to give credit to the moviemakers — specifically the animators who put in years of work on the original Sonic design only to be told they were to redo it almost completely in a matter of months. While the original release date was planned for November, after the outcry from fans against Sonic’s design, the release date was pushed to Feb. 14. The creative team working on this movie had to work overtime to please the masses warrants praise.
As far as the actual movie goes, it seemed like it was a mostly successful children’s movie. While there were a few adults in the theater when we went to see it, it was mostly parents with groups of small children. The movie had a plethora of Internet memes and jokes, and while some were pretty cringe-inducing, all of them made you laugh — whether it was out of disgust or not is beside the point.
The Bad
There seemed to be a lot that went unanswered about Sonic in the movie. Everyone in the town seemed weirdly okay with a magical blue hedgehog from space. Sonic’s true power was never even really discussed or analyzed. In the opening scene, baby Sonic (yes, I am including baby Sonic in the bad) is being chased by a group of mask-clad animals, but they’re never shown again. In fact, the whole movie seemed to really dance around the fact of Sonic’s existence. It seemed like a movie with Sonic in it, but not a movie about Sonic.
Another big problem with the film was that Sonic was weirdly… violent. It was truly hard for me to understand what age Sonic was supposed to appeal to because, on one hand, you’ve got a child-like voice and personality, but on the other, there are several occasions where Sonic just goes absolutely crazy. Sonic starts a bar fight, and not only does he start it, but he has it on his bucket list.
The Ugly
The worst and strangest thing about the film was the awkward product placement. This isn’t uncommon for films to do — and many wouldn’t blame Sonic for needing extra funding since the animation had to be reworked — but there were too many instances where companies and products were advertised, including Olive Garden, Zillow, Optical Illusions, Toyota and Invisalign. While product placement is fine in most cases, it was too obvious and blunt. The fact that this movie is marketed towards children also makes it a little more disturbing and perhaps inappropriate.
It’s hard to please everyone who was looking forward to this movie. On one hand, you’ve got original Sonic fans who are adults and might be judging this movie more harshly. On the other hand, you’ve got children, maybe even some children seeing this character for the first time, who might love the movie. If nothing else, this movie provides a great opportunity to go out with your friends and laugh.
