Apr 30, 2019

The new Sonic the Hedgehog trailer doesn't get the reaction Paramount wanted

Paramount's hybrid live-action/cg animation movie Sonic the Hedgehog, based on Sega's 90s video game, has a new trailer where we finally get to see their humanoid version of the famed rodent in full, and the internet is not happy. On the official trailer post on Youtube, dislikes already outweigh likes (94K to 77K).

Scheduled to open on November 8, the $90 million film is directed by Oscar-nominated director Jeff Fowler (Gopher Broke), 40, who is making his feature directorial debut. It stars Jim Carrey as villain Doctor Ivo Robotnik and actor/comedian Ben Schwartz as the voice of the title character. People generally seem pleased to see Carrey take on the antagonistic role, but the new iteration of the blue hedgehog isn't sitting well with most fans.

A key complaint seems to be that the Sonic in the film is a far cry from the one people remember from the video game, the various 2d animated shows from the 1990s, or even the more recent cg animated series. In particular, fans can't stand the fact that this cg Sonic has a full set of human teeth, which adds to its new, more anthropomorphic look that was hinted when his long and toned legs were revealed on the poster several months ago.

Here are some Twitter takes on the new trailer, including many who compare the new Sonic unfavorably to the animated versions of Sonic from their youth:

Others on Twitter are citing the film's lack of internal logic, in which Sonic is too slow to dodge a tranquilizer dart but can outrun hundreds of missiles:

And yet others are questioning the use of Coolio's “Gangsta's Paradise” as the trailer music:

The animation and vfx for Sonic the Hedgehog are created by Blur Studio, Digital Domain, Industrial Light & Magic, and MPC.

The reaction to the Sonic trailer stands in stark contrast to the upcoming Detective Pikachu (opening May 10), which has elicited enthusiastic and positive reactions. Pikachu and the other Pokémons seen so far in the trailers closely resemble their familiar 2d counterparts from the anime and the versions people know from video games. With Detective Pikachu, Nintendo and Warner Bros. seem to have avoided the hyperrealism/humanoid cg trap that afflicts so many of these hybrid projects.