Sonic the Hedgehog: Movie

[Asura]

They simply wouldn't have gone this far with it had they thought in any way that the design was as seriously off as it is. It makes zero sense to make a bad trailer on purpose. None. Was Gangsta's Paradise there to throw us off too? They would have gone the whole hog (ahem) and changed the ring sounds to boingy spring noises if they were doing that.

Fair, though it was a very weird choice of music. What relevance does it have to anything?

We'll see, in any case. For the sake of fun I'll plant my flag on this one; if the toys emerge with a newer design in a couple of weeks, I'll consider myself vindicated :P

[Dogg Thang]

Fair, though it was a very weird choice of music.

It was BIZARRE! I desperately searched for some relevance but I'm totally stumped.

[wakka]

Yeah so strange. I could not figure out why they’d chosen it either. Really weird.

[Asura]

It was BIZARRE! I desperately searched for some relevance but I'm totally stumped.

Yeah. I get what they were trying to do; like after Age of Ultron used a version of "got no strings" for its music, trailers have done that a lot. Like how Ready Player One used Pure Imagination and Hobbs & Shaw uses Why Can't We Be Friends. Like they've gone with something tonally dissonant which is modified and cut to work with the trailer... But in those cases, the actual content of the song had a fundamental relationship to the material.

The use of Gangsta's Paradise smacks of someone wanting to do that but not quite understanding why it worked.

@Blobcat ventured that maybe the studio had licensed it as a kind of "block license", and they used it. Like maybe they had a catalogue of stuff they already had available and they went with it because it's a good song, and it's 90s which makes it relevant in the ongoing 90s nostalgia wave?

[Dogg Thang]

@Blobcat ventured that maybe the studio had licensed it as a kind of "block license", and they used it. Like maybe they had a catalogue of stuff they already had available and they went with it because it's a good song, and it's 90s which makes it relevant in the ongoing 90s nostalgia wave?

That actually sounds pretty likely. The whole thing really smacks of a misfire. Some people have reacted much more positively to Carrey than I ever would but even then... that line in the trailer where he's doing what might be a computer or robot impression, that can't have landed for anyone, right? New director, writers who have never done anything like this before. As you say, it feels like they have an idea of what they want to do but no real understanding of it.

[MartyG]

It was BIZARRE! I desperately searched for some relevance but I'm totally stumped.

Sonic collects gold rings - gangsters have gold chains -> gold can be sold for cash -> enough cash can buy you an island -> islands can be a paradise.

Hence Gangsta's Paradise.

[Blobcat]

Saw this on FB this morning

[importaku]

LOL we are reaching critical mass

[Asura]

that line in the trailer where he's doing what might be a computer or robot impression, that can't have landed for anyone, right?

The Ace Ventura-esque bit? Yeah, bad.

The interesting thing for me is that in terms of the dialogue and content, absolutely not. However, Carrey's comic timing still manages to make something funny out of the exchange. It raised a smirk.

[Cassius_Smoke]

I haven't been keeping up with this but apparently the director has said the VFX team are going to redesign Sonic based on the backlash.

https://variety.com/2019/gaming/news/sonic-the-hedgehog-movie-change-1203204053/

[Asura]

[Dogg Thang]

I truly hope nobody running with that ridiculous conspiracy theory is in marketing. People need to keep Occam’s razor in mind here.

[Neon Ignition]

I have to believe that any design changes will be minimal given the film is only about 6 months from release now and there'll be all sorts of marketing and merchandise deals in place which will make heavy changes a nightmare. Plus, like others have said, changing Sonic doesn't fix what clearly comes across as a poor concept.

[Leon Retro]

I had to post this.

If Sonic the Hedgehog had been an Amiga game.



Sonic's original designers are happy that changes are being made to the design. Hopefully, they'll take inspiration from some of the excellent designs people have posted on the net.



I really like this redesign, but some people might prefer something closer to how Sonic has looked since the Dreamcast era. I would also make the hands bigger with gloves.

[Asura]

I have to believe that any design changes will be minimal given the film is only about 6 months from release now and there'll be all sorts of marketing and merchandise deals in place which will make heavy changes a nightmare. Plus, like others have said, changing Sonic doesn't fix what clearly comes across as a poor concept.