The first trailer for the forthcoming Sonic the Hedgehog movie went down like a fart in a lift, it's fair to say. Very few people had anything positive to say about the clip, which gave us our first glimpse of Sonic and Robotnik in their big-screen forms.
While Jim Carrey appears to be relishing the role (and could well end up carrying the whole project), the CGI Sonic – complete with freakishly human proportions – was met with such vitriol that fans almost immediately set about 'fixing' the character's look. In short, it's not the best start to the movie's fortunes.
It's perhaps unsurprising then that Yuji Naka – co-creator of Sonic and the person who is perhaps most responsible for turning him into a worldwide success thanks to his role as lead programmer on the original game – has felt compelled to comment. Rather than voice his concern about the new look of his most famous creation, Naka actually apologies in a roundabout fashion.
All Source Gaming's Nick Mosier has the translation:
Seeing the unfavorable reaction to Hollywood Sonic reminded me of this, but it looks like the CG is being made by Marza. Marza used to be Sega Visual Entertainment which I made, so I feel like I have some responsibility for it.
Naka also reveals that he wanted to appear in the movie, but the people in charge simply forgot to get back to him:
Speaking of that, I said I wanted to appear as an extra in a movie. It looks like they forgot. It was pretty long ago so I had actually forgotten too, but I would have liked to appear in a movie.
Naka also tweeted that he is still looking forward to the movie, despite his misgivings over the character design:
After watching it a few times, I've started to get used to how Sonic looks. When stopped, it seems pretty out of place, but Sonic isn't supposed to be motionless and it's better when he's moving. Eggman left a good impression. I'm looking forward to it.
You might be the only one, Yuji-san.
Comments 78
"As I run down the highway at the speed of light
I take a look at my thighs and realize they’re huge and tight
‘Cause I'm so sassy and furry and long
That even Yuji Naka thinks his son looks wrong"
Thank you, Dan Maher.
Regret comes later.
It was too late. 🙄
I said it once and I'll say it again: Theyre deceiving us.
Sonic probably still has his original design and it will appear somewhere in the middle of the film. Just watch the final seconds of the trailer when Carreytnik appears bald and in probably in Sonic's world. Maybe they change their appearance to fit the world they're in a kingdom heart-esque fashion.
I'm not being just optimistic here guys. It's unbelievable that Jim Carrey would join a project like this if it was just what they're delivering in this trailer. Besides, the CGI is being done in japan by a sega subsidiare, I really doubt they don't have some level of control over the production.
Ask me again in november, people might be surprised.
They have butchered my boy.
It's not the creators fault what Hollywood corrupts
Maybe Sega has a mad plan - if they publicly ruin Sonic then they can kill off the franchise for good and concentrate on reviving IPs that people actually want to see?
@tonyhoro they talked Chow Yun Fat into Dragonball Evolution...
CG Sonic is gonna give kids nightmares for life!
@tonyhoro you have way too high expectations for this disaster. When a movie is on trailer phase like this, most of content is already shot and ready. They would have pulled it in the trailer to save the PR debacle.
I'm with Naka on the design - while conspicuously different from the familiar fare (and indeed, oddly so when even Smurfs were inserted into the live action setting as is), the whole fanbrained buzz actually made me that much more curious to see the trailer and the character looks a lot more convincing once he's seen animated, voiced and emotional. Although if anything actually leads me to buy a ticket (besides the whole drama the likes of which once helped convince me to see Assassin's Creed - and I have yet to regret I did), it will be Jim Carrey's take on Robotnik indeed. Mind you, it's still not a promise - I'm not keen enough on Sonic yet to follow cinematic adaptations in general, even Mario one evokes my curiosity mostly through Illumination's involvement (Sing! was a blast in my book), but you can bet I'm not hesitant for any of the reasons the Internet has discussed for the past few days. Only to get it flipped in their faces now that a Sega subdivision itself is responsible for the design at hand.😜
It won't be Super Mario Bros - for that you would need a production like that of Super Mario Bros, one that sounds like it could inspire a good cinematic drama in itself, - and the rest is for time to tell. Fans and their opinions can go screw themselves (especially since we're talking the Sonic fandom here, one arguably in the same tier of obscenity as MLP, SU and SW ones), Sega and Paramount remain entitled to their choices and the audience resonance/box office risks I'm pretty sure they know they're taking with those choices. Although personally, I do wish they had found a spot for Sonic creator given his willingness - from Go Nagai in the Cutie Honey LA to Stan Lee in the many Marvel movies, it seems like a pretty common practice anyway.
He's not to blame, he had nothing to do with the creative process and look of Sonic for the movie.
@tonyhoro I actually share this same theory as soon as I saw "true Eggman" amidst otherworldly mushrooms that could only exist in Sonic's world at the end of the trailer-- Like the point of Sonic (and Eggman) looking like they do is a result of them being in the real world, so to speak.
Besides the backlash for Sonic's look, I just want to see the movie for myself. I'm sure we'll get another trailer some time later this year.
@tonyhoro Jim Carry is no different than anyone in Hollywood. They would dance in a pile of feces if someone wrote them a check for millions of dollars.
@Medic_alert I mean, considering Twitter took 5 minutes to turn a huge L into a Win with a capital W, I sincerely doubt they were in a no win situation.
They screwed up and tried to do the same tried and true thing almost all Hollywood adaptations of video games do: Alienate the fanbase, attempt to woo mainstream media, and fail at both things.
Honestly, I just want to see more Jim Carrey. It might end up being a watchable movie with an amusing bad guy vs a blue alien. But either way, that character doesn't seem like Sonic. I hope I'm pleasantly surprised, though.
@tonyhoro I wish I had your optimism but I think they'd have at least shown part of Sonic's classic style in the trailer if that was the case. Didn't the style guide also leak a while back? We are definitely stuck with this ugly design.
I really hope this movies is good enough to warrant a sequal. I wanna see Knuckles!
Anyway, I really do feel for him. It would have made sense if he was SOMEWHERE in the movie.
I don't think the movie will be any better than its trailer. Don't think Sonic will change his looks mid through either. I'm not that hopeful. This is just a typical hollywood production. They're not into new and defiant ideas. They just work with proven formulas. The fact that Jim Carrey plays in it is also meaningless. Actors sell their soul to poor movies all the time. (Willem Dafou in Death Note for example) It doesn't have to be harmful to their carreer as long as they play their assigned role right and blame everything else on the directors...
Fact is this movie doesn't have to be that good to make money with all the controversy on the internet and its close release to Detective Pikachu. A lot of people will see this out of curiousity. Also kids aren't that critical or nostalgic.
Sad but probably true
It sounds like he’s in the denial phase or is at least trying not to piss Sega off. “When stopped, it seems pretty out of place, but Sonic isn't supposed to be motionless and it's better when he's moving” that’s silly Sonic was originally based off cartoon classics like Felix the Cat, all the motionless art during the original era still holds up it was the move to 3D when the character started to look awkward especially as they pushed towards realism with longer proportions which looked even worse on a 2D plane as demonstrated in Sonic 4. Naka was still in charge for a good chunk of Sonic 06 which pushed the hideous realistic Sonic that the movie seems inspired by.
@Medic_alert Normally I would agree with you - and it would be fairly relevant if the design wasn’t so jarringly and obviously different to what would be expected from the franchise.... in this case, the voice that we are hearing is not just simply a vocal few, but reflective of the majority of those who have grown up with the character.
@Rob3008 If it is the case of Sonic possibly having a different look in his own world, they could be trying to save some surprises for seeing the actual movie. Like you, I doubt it. But it certainly an interesting theory.
As I said before, I'm fine with Sonic's look. As different as it is, I don't really have a problem with itm I just think the CGI itself is poorly done. It looks low rate. But I also acknowledge the movie isn't out til November. So maybe there's plans to keep refining it until then.
@Medic_alert While it happens every time, it's pretty clear that changing those very few things to match his actual look more was only a positive change. One that should've been the actual direction for his looks in the movie as well.
I think he believes a little too much in the butterfly effect. It's like blaming someone's mistakes on his distant ancestor... I personally blame Genghis Khan for this film since a huge portion of the world is supposedly related to him.
I'm a huge Sonic fan and I have to say, I really don't think he looks as bad as people are making him out to be.
If you know it's turning out to be a stinker, why not go the route "so bad it's good"?
Get Neill Breen and Tommy Wiseau on board.
I think the backlash is a bit over the top.
Will it suck? Probably, but I bet it will be unintentionally hilarious at the same time!
"You're not allowed to disagree with my opinions!!!"
The guy is so honest that he acts as if he we to blame at all when he's got absolutely no responsibility about it. It's like someone maimed his child and he tried to justify it.
I can somewhat agree that the motion looks better. For me, the literal only good things in the trailer are the spin dash and the resultant secondary vehicle coming out of the first. That part is the only part that actually feels like Sonic.
Also, they definitely should have had Naka in the movie. That should have been one of the first things they thought of. Cameos are quite popular with fans, after all.
@Kisame83 Well, but he's not nearly as big as Jim Carrey in Hollywood. Besides, it's been years since he made a good comedy film, why would he make a comeback in a trashy movie? He believed in the project to begin with, they're at least hiding something.
@WomboCombo not really - I'm a fan just like you, and our specialty as fans is normally to curate them as so-called "fine critique" instead.
And I'm still wondering: Why didn't they stick with the leaked design on the Chris Pratt poster? That one actually looked cute.
@Medic_alert Umm... No it's clear to anyone who knows of Sonic.
It's not about doing the work to find out. It's pretty darned obvious.
@Rob3008 I know I'm probably stretching a little bit but.. this looks so fishy... at least there are some surprises they are hiding.
@Kamalen You're probably right, but what if this is their strategy?
You know, honestly, I've seen mostly negative comments come from 'news' articles themselves. Even in comments sections like these, from game-based sites, people are mostly stoked despite (or IN spite) of Sonic's admittedly terrible design. It seems like one of those things where the media are trying to take it down, and capitalize on the negative reactions where the truth is we all still want to see it anyway.
@Medic_alert It is a fact that this character design looks nothing like the original... that’s not opinion, it’s as close to fact as you can get. Without being scientific and polling the entire world, I can take a reasonable look at all ‘available’ data... In this case, any one of 30 people that I know who have commented directly to me about this, while also from a variety of both articles, casual forums and different video comments and negative votes - *** BUT most of all - Using common sense that when something that looks vastly different from the source material, fans who have liked the source material are far less likely to enjoy a drastic change that moves away from the genres style. ***
If you honestly think overwhelming vocal approval of Detective Pikachu in comparison to this, is a coincidence then we have nothing more to talk about.
Think what you will but the design is disliked by enough people to assume that it’s most.
@Medic_alert Actually no, I'm not wrong. I can definitely do this without launching a huge campaign to analyze whether fans truly believe what tens of thousands of them express they believe.
It's not a case of "omg I saw 5 people on Twitter voice this same opinion, it must be true". It's literally everywhere one goes. That, and it makes sense since opposed to something like Pikachu, this dude looks nothing like who he's supposed to look like. He's wrong in general anatomy and the lack of "mono-eye" removes a vital part of his identity.
Also, we could do without the attitude there.
@tonyhoro Big actors frequently appear in terrible films. They're not going to "troll" the audience with an unrepresentative trailer. That doesn't make financial or PR sense.
It's just out-of-touch Hollywood.
@tonyhoro you know, you might be on to something there! Is a possibility and if it is so then the movie might be better the what we saw, but is highly improbable that that is the case unfortunately...
@WomboCombo don't we all.
@Medic_alert I'm afraid that you are incorrect. But be my guest, go do "the work" and come back to me if it doesn't turn out the way I said. It will.
Mediocre character design could be overlooked if the film didn't appear to be written for a 6 year-old and teenagers who act 6
@Medic_alert In many cases your argument might make sense... but in this case there are enough sources, comments, negative reactions to form a reasonable educated assumption that most people don’t like it. The echo chamber idea is often valid.. but there’s too many individual sources that correlate the feeling to not be AT LEAST partially valid.
If you think it’s nothing more than a vocal few, feel free... but I’d bet you were wrong.
The 5th Sonic the Hedgehog movie article in a week about how much people don't like it.
It's like Labo all over again. We get it!
@Medic_alert Yeah good luck with that argument. Prove me wrong if you can. If not, sayonara.
@Medic_alert Guess we'll agree that I'm right then.
@Medic_alert when you saying that they may tried the original design and potentially not worked you are especulating way more than when people say that the backlash is almost consensual
I’ll just wait until the movie comes out then I’ll make a decision if it is bad or not after I’ve seen it.
rolling around at the speed of sound
there's a roadblock around
OH HECK I JUST TRIPPED OVER
Eh, to be fair people moan about everything these days.
I enjoyed Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog with its silly humour, that had a great Robotnik. Carrey looks fun here and i haven't seen him like that for quite a while, probably since those personal issues.. So I'm still gonna watch it, and not pay attention to any sites like IMDB.
You know for a site that gave ARMS a 9 out of 10, you sure are giving this movie a bunch of crap. It's marketed towards kids. Of course it wasn't going to be great. The movie looks perfectly average. Doubt the Mario movie will come out any better honestly.
It gets worse! The CG can't even blamed on some Hollywood outsider phoning it in and taking over without oversight from Sega....the CG is Naka's own Sega division spun off independently! It's actually the former Sega staff that made this travesty!
Or maybe it all makes sense! Revenge against their former company, destroy their mascot!
@Ryu_Niiyama In other words, you're going to select "examine the dumpster." Don't say I didn't warn you.
@MaxPlastic As someone who saw the Super Mario Bros. movie. In theaters. Twice. No. No, fans are not stoked for this movie.
@Medic_alert ok so it is just a semantic issue...
Sega sells rights and steps away with the money.
Nintendo sells rights and micro manges the whole production.
Sonic vs detective pikachu
@Lord It's like someone made a movie about the Saturn.
I hope the next California fire will hite Hollywood.
@xanderten50 By that logic SEGA purposely made the 32x,Mega CD and Saturn bad systems so they could make games for Nintendo and Playstation, plz besides when SEGA makes games for the other ips they either don't sell that well yakuza or are as bad as Sonic games golden axe beast rider, alien syndrome wii, most the SEGA AGES PS2 remakes
SEGA is just really good at making bad choices and rare times actually makes good ones
I sincerely hate Sonic`s design, his long thin legs, his snickers, but the movie seems to be one massive cliche, which Hollywood seems to adore, so I`m guessing they`ll make money and continue with his ridiculous design saying fans are just trolls and they were right all along lol.
@NEStalgia shrugs. I don’t have the nerd outrage everyone else seems to have. I’ll pass judgment after I see it.
@Ryu_Niiyama Though I like the old Sonic games and have nostalgia for it and the old cartoon, I'm not one of the "Sonic fandom" either. Even in passing, it's just a "WTF" product. Imagine watching the Macy's parade and that is the Sonic balloon that comes down the street.....other than running in terror the reaction would just have to be "What is that thing and who is trying to pass it off as Sonic the Hedgehog?!"
Sanic was supposed to be a meme, and Sega turned it into reality! I don't think you need to be a nerd fan to see it. You just need to have seen corporate trademarked designs at least once in your existence to get what's so wrong about it
I mean I was turned off from the moment I heard "Jim Carrey" but I at least thought Sonic would look like Sonic.
BTW, did you see the new Disney's Mickey movie? It's 100% legit!
@xanderten50 Unlikely. They've been radio silent about the whole thing.
@Sgt-Jack-V Oh it definitely looked better.
I like it! It’s a kids movie. But I liked pixel and doom also. Maybe I’m not a good judge.
@MattFox Hollywood has no idea how dangerous the Sonic fan community can become.
Everyone tell your local movie theater to not support this film.
@SBandy It's Jean Ralphio the Hedgehog (DO NOT STEAL) vs. Carey on acid. If it isn't so bad it's good, I'm asking for a refund.
@NEStalgia Destroy their mascot? You mean even further than Sega themselves already did?
The Sonic franchise is overrated, and Jim Carrey is a liberally brainwashed Hollywood shill. So...I'm probably not their target demographic. Although, given the movie's abhorrent visual style, I wonder who is?
what did anyone expect.
Naka's such a humble dude, and I'm reminded of the absurdity of this movie NOT taking place in Japan.
@Lord
Creepy Sonic & Detective Pikachu and the Actual 2020 Tokyo Olympic Games
I'd watch the juice outta that, and even play the video game tie-in!
@NEStalgia
I saw it twice too... On the same weekend. Finally, someone who understands... ; )
@WhiteTrashGuy Internet nerd-high-five! Swing...aaaannnnddd....miss in slow motion......
The classic Sonic returns.
@NEStalgia
Maaaan! I dropped my Slurpee!!!
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...