Making a live-action film adaptation of a classic video game that proves to be faithful, is by no means an easy task. The filmmakers given that task have to not only bring the game to life on the big screen in a way that does the source material justice, but transcend the material with an appropriate story that can make it work as a standalone film. With the exception of a few decent video game movie adaptations (
Mortal Kombat, Silent Hill, and
Detective Pikachu with an argument being made for
Tomb Raider 2018), most that fall into this specific genre ultimately fail at successfully making the switch from video game to the big screen. In the case of
Sonic The Hedgehog, high expectations were always placed upon the filmmakers in terms of ultimately getting it right. The team behind the new film got their first taste of the films criticisms when fans both largely and loudly sounded the alarm at the design of Sonic in the first trailers. The backlash proved to be so intense that the studio was forced to do a complete redesigning of the character, adding millions to the budget. While the improved version of the characters design helped to smooth over audiences perception of the film through the trailers, the question still remained of whether the actual film itself was any good and does the film like how
Detective Pikachu effectively demonstrated last year
, continue to break the notion that video game movies can't be good. The answer much to both the curiosity and anxiousness of fans is yes,
Sonic The Hedgehog manages to bring its characters to life in a way that makes the audience care, as well as giving them backstory with the film as a whole being a faithful video game adaptation, that's full of both heart and charm.
Based on the popular SEGA video game franchise,
Sonic The Hedgehog's plot centers around a super speedy space creature named Sonic (Voiced by Ben Schwartz), arriving on Earth with him trying to stay out of sight. When an energy spike occurs, the government enlists a maniac scientist named Dr. Robotnik (Played brilliantly by Jim Carrey) to track down and uncover the hedgehogs secret powers for fiendish purposes. Given that the film had to fill in the blanks in regards to giving both Sonic and Dr. Robotnik proper backstories, which not only connected with the overall story but also proved to be believable with audiences, the filmmakers do a fairly decent job of creating a brand new cinematic universe around these iconic characters. Ben Schwartz brings a great deal of both humor and charm to the role of Sonic with Jim Carrey delivering what's easily his strongest and whackiest performances in years. As an overall fun experience that's family-themed
, Sonic The Hedgehog works the best when its main actors help elevate the script. The film doesn't quite give off the style of the SEGA
Sonic games nor have the original storyline as it draws from the newer versions of the games, but it incorporates enough elements to home in on audiences nostalgia such as Sonic's general attitude, the robots created by Dr. Robotnik that end up chasing Sonic, the overall visual appearance of Sonic's original place of origin, and the way he ultimately defeats Robotnik being lifted straight from the games. What the filmmakers do here and end up being successful at for the most part, is delivering enough homage to the past era of
Sonic, while reimagining the character and story for today's generation.
Sonic The Hedgehog is not a groundbreaking film nor does it come across as being amazing in terms of quality, but it knows what it wants to he and succeeds in delivering enough fun for audiences combined with a surprise amount of laughs and moments of pure heart, that's bound to charm the pants off fans of the character. Given how badly of a misfire
Hedgehog could've turned out to be, it's surprisingly decent and better than what most would expect.
The main element that makes the film work is the charming and energetic performances of its main cast. The casting of the actor to provide the voice of Sonic was always going to be a crucial creative decision, that ultimately determined whether the film would succeed or fail. Thankfully with the casting of Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic, he manages to not only rise to the occasion but give the character life in a way that makes Sonic completely likable and sympathetic. Schwartz provides both humor and charm with the role, finding the right balance between the two along with the redesigning of his character adding to the appeal of the live-action Sonic. Whereas Jaleel White did a great job providing the voice of Sonic from the 90's cartoon show, Ben Schwartz continues the work White left behind and brings Sonic into a new era for both audiences and fans. As for the role of Sonic's main antagonist Dr. Robotnik, Jim Carrey proves to be the perfect choice for the role as he not only makes for an effective villain, but manages to channel his classic 90's maniac persona with the character, assuring fans that he's lost virtually none of the edge that made him a star over the years. Carrey channels all the right personality traits for Robotnik's character, making him effectively come across as being crazed, eccentric, obsessive, sinister, and ultimately unlikable. Schwartz and Carrey prove to be the ultimately hero and foe in the story with the films key casting choices being brilliantly pieced together. In addition to their strong performances, James Marsden also manages to shine and create a strong male lead as Thomas Wachowski, a sheriff from Green Hills with ambitions of joining the SFPD, who later befriends and aids Sonic in his quest to stop Dr. Robotnik. Marsden creates a likable presence with his character along with sharing chemistry with Schwartz. He perfectly sells his character as being a friend and ally of Sonic with the audience admiring the stance he takes when confronting Robotnik. Other notable supporting roles are Tika Sumpter as Maddie Wachowski, Tom's wife who also becomes an ally of Sonic with helping him as well as her husband evade Robotnik, and Lee Majdoub as Robotnik's right hand man Stone. If the
Sonic film was ever going to have a chance of being a decent video game adaptation, the casting of the main characters had to not only be on point but make the audience invested in both them as well as the story. With
Sonic The Hedgehog, the cast feels just right with everyone adding something to the film with their performances along with appearing to have a blast with making the movie.
As for the films directing, the work conducted by Jeff Fowler can be considered as both effective and noteworthy with him creating both a realistic and effective atmosphere for the character of Sonic to appear in live-action form. His direction definitely gives the film a family-friendly atmosphere, that aims to be nostalgic while providing loads of fun for its audience. Although Fowler's directing doesn't reach the realms of being groundbreaking in any sense, he possesses enough creativity to make the story work while maintaining a steady hand with presenting the appropriate atmosphere for the characters, that falls between the lines of being both silly and mature. Fowler's decent directing is strengthened by the films strong technical elements such as it's cinematography, impressive set design when the film shows Sonic's original place of origin, and editing that keeps the story flowing at a reasonably quick and steady pace despite a few hiccups in the films middle section. The CGI is impressive with the redesign of Sonic being vastly superior to the original design, that lacked both creativity and passion behind the designing of the character in a live-action world. The films soundtrack by Tom Holkenborg proves to be effective with the score channeling the old school music from the video games combined with newer music, that appropriately fits the story while enhancing the films emotional core. As far as directing goes, Jeff Fowler succeeds in assembling all the key elements that ultimately make the film work on the big screen, while creating an atmosphere that's welcoming for both families as well as fans of the game. He provides enough Easter eggs and nostalgia to please those who are familiar with the legacy of Sonic, while helping to give the film a pulse.
The films screenplay by Patrick Casey and Josh Miller for the most part does a decent job of transferring the story of Sonic from video game to the big screen in a way that garner's the audiences interest as well as pleasing them overall. While none of the films main thematic elements are original and have been borrowed from other stories ( Examples are subplots that include an alien creature landing on Earth, befriending a human, the government pursuing the creature in hopes of both capturing and experimenting on him, and the human ultimately helping the alien escape) such as
E.T. and
Bumblebee, the writers do a strong job of taking those familiar elements and making them feel fresh while presenting a grand entrance to big screen for the iconic characters. The best thing that can be said about the characterization of Sonic in the film, is how much audience cares about his character. One can clearly see the effort that the writers put into making the story work with the film carrying both 90's nostalgic moments such as Sonic witnessing Marsden's character as well as his wife watching Jan De Bont's action classic
Speed with Sonic later quoting Dennis Hopper's character in a fashion that turns out to be hilarious. The screenplay also manages to incorporate slick moments of humor into the story with Sonic's character having the right balance of humor, while also managing to show emotion. The audience also grows to care about Mardsen's character Thomas surprisingly with his growing friendship with Sonic being the soul of the film. The ultimate message that the writers deliver to the audience, particularly young children is that friends can help each other get through even the worst of situations as evidenced by the relationship between Sonic and Thomas. The most important element that the film needed besides it's controversial redesigning of the main character, is the story needed heart to make it work.
Sonic The Hedgehog not only has heart, but it effectively and proudly beats throughout the film while managing to make its older fans feel young again.
Given that this film could've easily turned into a huge misfire (And almost did both financially and critically had the studio not did the appropriate thing and listen to the audiences complaints with the characters original design),
Sonic The Hedgehog ultimately turns out to be a faithful adaptation of the classic video game series that's really much more fun than it has any right to be. It's nostalgia driven and packed with both loads of laughs and creative action sequences, that stay true to the nature of the character with Jim Carrey completely owning it as Dr. Robotnik. Could the film have been better overall? Yes, the story works as a starter for a potential trilogy of films but it's nothing groundbreaking nor original. One hopes however that the sequel dives further into the universe of
Sonic with more familiar characters making their way into the live-action franchise, as well as more homages to the early days of
Sonic such as
Sonic 2 and 3 on
Genesis. If one happens to be curious to see the movie but are afraid if doing so out of fear that it'll disappoint or just flat out suck, they'll be pleasantly surprised as the movie turns out to be nothing more or less than harmless fun with its heart in the right place.
Sonic The Hedgehog stands as being one of the years most surprise hits thus far with the quality of the film being relatively decent. For a film that most people had written off before it's release before embracing it entirely (The film has been the number one movie in America for over two weeks and counting),
Sonic does quite an impressive job of zooming past expectations as well as showing that video game film adaptations, if handled right can actually work. Hopefully other studios as well as the makers of this film will feel more comfortable in taking direction from the fans in regards to what they want to see put on the screen with the reassurance that they'll support the final product in the end if handled with the right care and dedication.
Sonic The Hedgehog is a video game film feels sincere, entertaining, loads of fun, and manages to add a new dimension to the characters as well as the story.
Final Verdict: For fans of the classic video game series,
Sonic The Hedgehog proves to be worth the wait and redesigning of the character as the film turns out to be one of the strongest video game film adaptations to date.
No comments:
Post a Comment