
After a campaign to change the way the lead character looked and a short delay in its release, we're finally getting to see what the much-hyped Sonic the Hedgehog movie is like. Based on Sega's long-running series of video games which have spanned the past few decades (not to mention a wide range of gaming systems), the film stars James Marsden, Ben Schwartz and a rather frantic Jim Carrey, and is helmed by Jeff Fowler, a visual effects specialist who is making his directorial debut with this outing.
With a rumoured budget of around $95 million and the expectation of the Sonic fanbase behind it (don't annoy those guys, trust us), does Sonic break the curse of poor video game-based movies? Well, from the early reviews, it would seem the answer is a resounding 'no'.
Our friends over at Eurogamer brand the movie "a charmless cut-and-paste job" which fails to make the best use of the character:
It's not that the Sonic movie is bad, although it's certainly not good. It's that it was a terrible idea from the start. It's a formulaic cut-and-paste job from a Hollywood so starved of intellectual property that it will try making a movie about any recognisable character it can get its hands on - without asking who he is or why people liked him in the first place.
UK newspaper The Guardian awarded the film two out of five stars, stating that "like its fast-moving, attention-deficient hero, this just feels like a rush job," but adding:
...if this movie has an ace in the hole, it’s Jim Carrey, playing government-sponsored inventor Doctor Robotnik. Carrey gives his cartoon villain the full treatment: darting eyes, twirlable moustache, withering superiority complex, and movements so balletically exaggerated they verge on interpretive dance. He’s far more animated than Sonic. And far too good for this.
The Telegraph (subscription required) calls the movie "a drab, joyless crawl" and laments the fact that so much of what happens on-screen is totally divorced from the plot and settings seen in the original games:
What was your favourite level in the Sonic the Hedgehog video games? The one in which Sonic was hunted with machine guns and sniffer dogs in an alpine forest? Or perhaps the one in which Sonic visited a roadside dive bar, tried line dancing, played darts and brawled with Hell’s Angels? Even as an avowed fan of the cobalt-quilled erinaceid’s original 16-bit escapades, I have to say I’m struggling to recall these particular moments myself.
Long-running UK film magazine Empire also gave it two stars, stating that "on-form Jim Carrey can’t stop Sonic’s live-action debut from feeling like a missed opportunity":
It’s when Carrey isn’t on screen that Sonic The Hedgehog underwhelms. The bland central bromance between Sonic and Marsden’s overly trusting Sheriff is missing a few key beats, and the speed at which their relationship develops means that the more emotional moments in the movie’s latter half don’t hit as they perhaps should.
Fellow movie outlet Variety was equally unimpressed, saying:
Given the level of obsession with which Sonic’s fans regard him, the makers of “Sonic the Hedgehog” would have done well to turn the film into a slapstick theme park of video-game trickery, like the relentlessly imaginative “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” But no! Their truly epic bad decision, far worse than the original fussy humanoid design of Sonic, was to make the “Sonic” movie into one of those clunky live-action adventure comedies with a digitally animated generic weisenheimer plopped into the middle of it.
AV Club shared this feeling of disappointment:
...this creatively bankrupt project divorces its title character from both the speed and tropical eye-candy, loop-de-loop backdrops of the Sonic games, dropping him instead into drab roadhouses, suburban kitchens, and the passenger seat of a car chugging down a nondescript highway. Even the scant bursts of action are unremarkable; the best director Jeff Fowler can offer is a weak knockoff of the “Time In A Bottle” sequence from X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Only Carrey, half-committing to some recycled uptight-madman shtick, ever threatens to rocket Sonic The Hedgehog out of its pedestrian kid-flick junkyard.
Not everyone totally hated it, though! The Verge says that Sonic is "too cute not to love" and adds:
Ultimately, Sonic is a children’s movie that recognizes it may be kids’ first introduction to the hedgehog, so it makes minimal references to the video game world he comes from and spends more time alluding to things they might get. Unfortunately, the gags seem a few years too late, immediately dating themselves: there are multiple jokes about Olive Garden’s unlimited pasta. Sonic does the floss dance not once, but twice. They make jokes about Vin Diesel in The Fast and the Furious. (Actually, this one will probably stay relevant for as long as they keep making FF movies, which is forever.)
Games Radar was also more positive, and gave it three out of a possible five stars, saying:
Ending with a pair of mid-credits scenes that don’t so much tease a sequel as outright confirm intentions to make one, it’s a film that should have die-hard fans doing loop-the-loops. Whether Sonic has the box-office mileage to make it that far remains to be seen, but on the basis of this better-than-expected first instalment, further fast times wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing.
IGN delivers the most positive review of the lot, giving the film 7/10 and saying:
While this family-friendly action-comedy suffers from a simplistic story and leans too heavily on tired visual cliches, Sonic the Hedgehog is nevertheless boosted by solid performances from Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. Their ongoing cat-and-mouse game is entertaining, and passionate fans of the Sega franchise should appreciate all the nods to Sonic’s history. Make no mistake, this frantically-paced film is made first and foremost for Sonic fans. If you’ve been there for the little blue fella these past 29 years, from his humble beginnings on the Sega Genesis to his current iteration, then Sonic the Hedgehog is the love letter you’re probably looking for. If not… maybe save your gold rings.
So that's what the critics are saying, but will you still be going to see this movie regardless? Let us know with a comment.
Comments 142
The movie will be tomorrow.
I will watch the movie and i have no expectation if the movie decent enough or Blah.
Generally it is more interesting to put the human character into the crazy Sega world, rather than dump Sonic into ours. But it's the cheaper option so that's what you get.
I know it wasn't going to be a spectacular movie, but I wasn't expecting such an overwhelmingly negative response, either. Wow.
Forget what the critics say, I’m still going to watch this movie with my son.
His 8-year-old brain will only experience joy at Sonic being on the big screen. Kids aren’t handicapped with criticism like us oldies and the smile on his face will be enough for me to forgive its shortcomings.
Also, we gotta respect the studio for actually listening to the fans.
So bad that it becomes.... good again? (hopefully)
In all seriousness, though, I don't really take notes from movie critics. If we should believe them, then I should have had no fun whatsoever with most of the Marvel movies, and of course these people literally have ZERO understanding of anything game-related, and apparently, they also don't understand that not EVERYTHING has to be translated to the screen 1:1.
Oh, well... I will make up my own mind, once I've found the time to go see it.
I hope Miyamoto is far more attentive over Mario movie
I want to watch Sonic Movie just out of respect for the redesign and sensibility of hiring Tyson Hesse to try to make it work. Also Jim Carrey
I’m still gonna go and watch it this weekend. Not expecting it to be great, but I’ll reserve judgement for now.
Despite being that overwhelmingly negative, it’s still somehow ahead of most video game movies. I mean it looks awful but it could be fun.
Still excited. Because of Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey. 😆
I attended an advanced screening on the 10th, so...now that I'm allowed to talk about it...
If you are even slightly interested in Sonic, PLEASE -
GO SEE THIS MOVIE!
I'm not saying it because I really like Sonic. Heck, that only makes me way more critical of it. I'm telling you to go see it because IT'S GOOD!!
It's not Oscar material by any means, don't get me wrong. But everything that could've and probably should've gone wrong...somehow didn't! It's funny and is chockful of easter eggs and references! But most importantly, it has HEART!
I had a huge smile on my face pretty much the entire time, so
I am absolutely down for a sequel!
It's an easy 8/10 for me!
If the critics don't like it the film must be good haha.
To be fair it’s probably fine for a video game adaptation. That bar isn’t high, but it’s there anyway.
Movie critics are tasked with watching 50-100 movies per year and give their opinion. Of course it’s going to be mediocre compared to many of the films they watch, so that’s understandable.
It doesn’t look like something I need to go to a movie theatre to see, but I hope the families that check it out, enjoy it.
Excited for this. Definitely gonna see it. I just don’t think critics have any idea what entertainment is. Not saying this is award worthy, but a film doesn’t have to be to be entertaining. And after critics trashed Joker and praised Birds of Prey, you know something is wrong with movie reviews these days.
I just wanna watch it, no expectations.
The rotten tomato score is above 60%
Shocking. It is a complete and utter surprise this it's just kind of passable
Movie critics never likes these kind of movies or any popcorn movie, so it's pointless to read critic reviews.
User reviews is the only you can trust in these kind of movies.
This isn't shocking, Hollywood has a tendency of turning out generic films like Pixels, Although I wouldn't be shocked if this is just reviewers and critics talking out of their butts similar to what happened with Godzilla King of Monsters
And is anybody really surprised that the reviews are not good ?
guardian telegraph and eurogamer didnt like it. OBviously not woke enough has two white men in it thats a instant dislike from them.
@Ventilator
I'd debate that bayformers Batman Vs Superman, Suicide Squad, Justice League, all utter garbage.
Especially Bayformers 2.
And i am a Transformers fan to begin with.
@KitsuneNight Bayformers really was garbage
Saw it today and really feel it’s not deserving of the hate the reviewers are giving it. It’s a solid movie with a few laugh out loud moments. It comes across as intentionally being a bit more of a children’s movie in areas, given some of the themes, and IMO plays it a bit safe at times, but its better than other ‘cartoon-buddy’ movies of recent times.
I also appreciate the effort they made in revising the Sonic design. Between that and the performances, it feels like they genuinely tried to have some fun with this. I wouldnt call this ‘a cheap cash in’. It does feel like a sincere effort was made on this.
I really don't care about the critics : the trailer did its job and convinced me to go see it. So I will.
And yes, I know that it won't be Citizen Kane. But for what it takes, it can be really fun.
@Anguspuss
Hahahaha yeah that’ll be it mate. That famous leftie Woke rag The Telegraph. Hahaha.
Well, looky that. Didn't even think for a minute that the Sonic Cycle could even apply to movie, and yet here we are.
About me however, I'm just hyped for Carrey as Eggman. There's already one true movie version of Sonic around anyway.
@Rexenokid
Neither of those sites are credible at this point, and after the way Birds of Prey flopped [Second worst-grossing DCU film, last I checked], it seems like a lot of media outlets have it out for Sonic as a retaliation, due to a lot of positive press from the majority of movie-goers who've seen it.
I'm gonna see it regardless, but I wouldnt trust review outlet opinions of Sonic right now.
Especially the ones with a left-lean.
I never expected anything positive from this film. But at least it sounds like Jim Carey still knows how to act. So that's more than I expected.
If you want to watch it, it's your time and money. I'm not wasting mine.
The last good film out of Hollywood that I really enjoyed was Endgame. Very little even catches my attention from them. I'd rather watch bottom of the barrel "bad" seasonal anime than 98% of what Hollywood puts out these days.
I'm not turning down my hype. I'll be watching it this weekend and shall see for myself!
I very rarely watch movies, and I can get a $4 ticket, so why not.
Some of those negative reviews were way overboard. AVClub called it a 'kid-flick' as if that automatically means it's bad.
And why the hell should watching a Sonic film have to be anything like playing a Sonic game ffs?
I've not seen it, but it looks fun and entertaining enough to be worth a shot. A good Jim Carrey is normally enough on its own.
Sort of odd, considering that all fan and general audience reactions have been overwhelmingly positive.
Just a friendly reminder to not listen to critics on everything and to not let their opinions impact your own.
@Zeldawakening
Which is honestly still unfairly low.
If it gets above the fabricated Birds of Prey ratings, you can bet they'll delete some of Sonic's positive reviews to keep it down.
@WarioWoodsfan
The best one was 4 cause it didn't have odious "humor"and I didn't immediately wanted to strangle all human characters.
But that's not saying much
That's like saying this piece of trash is less bad then that heap of trash there.
Bumblebee is so far the best live action Transformers Movie
The best one is still the 86 animated movie.
@ToonStuff
Just to reiterate my point.
Bayformers 2 was loathed by critics and loved by the audience.
And it really is a bottom of the barrel garbage tier, painfully stupid unfunny movie.
Point being audiences like garbage for some reason.
I believe they call em popcorn flicks.
I has a 64% on RT compared to Detective Pikachu's 69%. That doesn't sound too bad?
@T7Hokage017
I'm not going to bother.
it wil float by on DVD later this year ( dvd's are pressed already anyway ) and pick it up then.
Have fun ( hopefully)
I never expected it to be amazing. I don’t even like sonic. I’m seeing this because I like Carey.
People were gonna piss and moan about it either way. I can't wait to see it
In the US, it’s sitting at 64% on Rotten Tomatoes — but will get a lot more reviews soon. I mean, that’s not too bad, especially for a video game movie.
Go watch it to support the fact that the studio listened to the fans and changed Sonic's looks.
Also keep in mind the movie is getting bombed by angry Birds of prey fans.(More reason to go watch it imo)
@Anguspuss Is that legit bout those sites lol
I stopped listening to movie critics ages ago. Taste is subjective, and I think they are forced to consume so many movies that they are the world's pickiest eaters. As for me, I grew up with Sonic so I have that nostalgia factor that a lot of those critics probably lack. This movie is nostalgia bait, not Oscar bait. I'm going into the movie expecting to be entertained and that's enough for me.
Well, I tend to disagree with movie reviews, so I'll probably watch it.
But I'm very sceptical about what The Verge said. The "Sonic The Hedgehog" tv series was quite good but hade very little to do with the games beside some of the characters
Well, it’s doing better than Pixels on Rotten Tomatoes, which boasts a score of 16%. From what I’ve seen of Pixels (about 60% of the movie), it’s bad enough to be slightly remarkable. Sonic seems to just be ‘unremarkably bad’ at present. If they’d kept the original design that could have been quite different.
I will wait until it hits streaming, and I predict that will be quite quick. The only movie I want to see is The Call of The Wild even though the dog looks too CGI'd. Apparently the model is based on an actual dog.
It has a 65 percent on metacritic now. So it's not BAD per say, just not good lol
Expecting any tabloid/audience review to make for a pretty reading is silly at best, to be fair. It's a domain that takes personal impressions, spices them with enough wordy condescension to make rap battles blush and paints the whole salad as an analytical study.
As for being a "bad idea from the start", let it be assessed by the ones who spend actual labour and money on these projects. I'd take an animated Sonic movie over a live action one any day myself, but I don't and shouldn't make the calls here (and I'm incurably biased towards the animation medium to begin with). At the end of the day, it's Sega's IP to decide what to do with, not any of the audiences' and most certainly not any of the mind ulcers called fans'.
As for me, I may have personal issues with the movie's visual side after last year's audience meddling disaster, but I'm still sticking to my pledge to go see the thing for the team support reasons. And at the very least, I expect to walk away entertained by Carrey's input. Not to mention that they even reportedly have Shannon Chan-Kent with a part somewhere.
Regardless of reception, it's a flagship IP from a video game veteran. Need I remind you what live action movie another veteran's flagship IP survived way back when? And so did the audiences, for that matter. Not sure about the fans, but fanship ideally isn't supposed to survive anything (too bad that it typically does).
Erm..where is this article and headline coming from? 69% on Rotten Tomatoes (which I know can fluctuate up or down once more reviews come in) is way, way, way better then ever anticipated, considering the initial reaction to the first trailer. For video-game films standard, I’d say it’s garnered a stellar response.
Even if it got rave reviews from everyone I wouldn't have gone near it to be honest. It always looked pretty terrible to me.
@MegaVel91 It's actually got a 69% on rotten tomatoes so over half of the critics liked it. I think Nintendolife is just jumping the gun at the moment. 38 Fresh reviews, 17 Rotten doesn't make for a terrible movie, a flawed one but a good one.
So basically, go see it for yourself and come to your own conclusions? 😂
But in all seriousness, I like Sonic. But I can wait for this to come to video. Be a different story if it were Mario.
I also want to add that I wish in these adaptations, they embrace the source material more. Its like they take the audience for dummies that they can't comprehend a plot device or elements from the source material, as if their brains will explode. That's not to say this movie should have been Sonic 1 image for image. But lean into the things that make an IP charming and distinctive
Got our tickets and will be going tomorrow. Expected it to review poorly/average but I'm sure we'll still have fun with it!
@KitsuneNight Captain Marvel, Avengers Endgame, Black Panther, Iron Fist etc. were utterly crap too.
Punisher and Daredevil TV Series were great.
@Arkay If that is the case, that's absurd. Why would Birds of Prey fans care about Sonic? One has nothing to do with the other.
Yeah I'm still gonna go see it at some point.
I still think I'll be watching this. $5 Tuesdays at my local theater are a plus. It sounds like two hours of mindless fun with Jim Carrey thrown in; I want to see how great of a Dr. Robotnik he makes.
doesn't matter, I will still go see it!
I saw one review mention why Sonic isnt using momentum as a spin to the "go fast formula". Everything doesnt have to be in a Hollywood movie adaption. These types of movies arent just meant for the fanbase, its geared towards a wider audience as well. If these adaptions went 100% on source material, yeah the fans would love it, but the people who arent apart of it wouldn't give one f**k and wont understand it. This goes for other adaptions as well.
#StillBetterThanBoom
@NEStalgia That is debatable. The BOOM Tv show was actually good and not meritless.
Currently checking the Rotten Tomatoes sight right now, and this movie has a 70% score. That’s not to bad for a video game movie. Even though if the film got negative reviews or not, I think the point of the Sonic movie is just to have a good time watching it. It’s a Sonic movie, it’s not gonna get an Oscar or anything. The point of it is to have a fun time watching it.
We're all gonna see it right!? I'm gonna see it.
Truth be told critics are paid to critique, and I find most of these reviews complete garbage. Have I seen the movie? Not yet, however, most of the complaints revolve around cliche hollywood decision, live action and animation tropes, how it's a kids movie and blah blah Jim Carrey. It is so obviously a kids movie. Truth be told, if your a sonic fan chances are your actually gonna enjoy this for what sonic was when you first met him. A video game for children.
@Ventilator
Wasn't a fan of Black Panther.
It was almost a literal retelling of The Lion King but with humans.
And then suddenly, near the end, the movie does a 180 and expects us to feel pity for the murderous scumbag, that is the antagonist.
Can't say I've seen Avengers 4 or Captain Marvel.
Bit burned out on them.
The review reaction to this movie:

critic reviews mean nothing, they want their hot take to make a buck off of it. Audience scores more accurately reflect how good a movie is or isn't. Also if you're expecting a great story, intelligent dialogue and creative characters with comprehensive back stories, just read a book. This is a Sonic movie
@KitsuneNight Yes. There is almost like one new Marvel movie every month. It's quickly made run on the mill PG rated movies now and the CGI quality suffers alot from it.
Iron Man 2008 had better CGI quality than most newer Marvel ones.
Captain Marvel might be the worst Marvel movie so far btw. and the story is stupid and filled with plot holes, and lacks back story.
And why is Hawkeye getting a TV series as he is a weak nobody in Avengers. He would even die instantly if Hulk farted in his face.
@ummyeahnintendo
Uh yeah , so ?
Saying a movie is allowed to be garbage because of its source material is a lame excuse
Just because it's a sonic movie doesn't mean it didn't have the potential to be good.
Instead its just a lazy CGI character plopped in the real world "comedy" vehicle.
The Transformers comics and the Sonic comics were actually damn good comics.
Written for kids with a kids license, but that didn't hold the writers and artists back from trying to deliver a good product.
Why should a movie with a much higher budget not be hold up to the same scrutiny and expected to NOT be garbage ?
Stuart Little is a 21 year old movie, and no doubt stil better then this, ad that's also "just a kids "movie.
@Ventilator
I am a huge Marvel fan ...well up to a point haven't read any new Marvel comics since that spider debacle
( brand new day and superior spiderman if wondering )
But they are churning them out way too fast.
25 movies, that took James Bond 55 years.
@Kienda the critics did the same thing with king of monsters and that movie was awesome as hell and granted video game movies tend to do not so well on the big screen but this one looks alot better then the super mario bros one.
@KitsuneNight It's a Sonic movie
@Kienda That's it. I'm making a point of going simply because I want to thank them for not ruining the design.
And also, 62% on Rotten Tomatoes is way better than many big blockbusters that people are still trying to argue were good.
If Square-enix can't pull off a video game movie of it's own franchise, how is anybody else suppose to.
I was going to see it with a friend this Valentine's Day, but unfortunately other things happened. I still want to see it. Maybe I'll rent it later; perhaps over the summer.
So its a faithful adaptation of the Sonic franchise then with divided opinions but mostly bad?
While not something I’d see, it’s 70% positive on rotten tomatoes. Not exactly the disaster this article implies.
How I see it. An enjoyable, harmless movie that isn't a masterpiece, but also not a dumpster fire. In my eyes, this movie is actually better than most of the political-driven stuff we had the last couple of years ago. At least Sonic here gives us a fun time, something most movies from Hollywood have forgotten how to do.
Gamexplain (Ash was the one that reviewed it, Andre said on Twitter that he thought it was okay as well) said it was alright...Carrey is obviously the star here, I may get the movie just because of him, we'll see.
@UmbreonsPapa The reason birds of prey fans care is because they're mad salty that their movie isn't doing well. Knowing a big movie like sonic is coming out is only going to add competition so they are trying to deflate the competition in return hoping to help Birds of Prey.
Not surprised. When the media picked up on the “outrage” over the original Sonic design, I thought, yes, it’s horrendous, but, what people need to be focused on is that the fact that movie looks awful! When the new design was revealed, I was like, great, but, again, why is it that nobody is focused on how bad this movie looks! Poor Sonic. Such an iconic character that deserves better. It’s like a dark cloud hangs over anybody who gets involved with this legendary IP, most of the time.
@KitsuneNight In 58 years to be precise, and now they use longer time to make a new one than ever.
Did anyone really expect anything different?
@ThanosReXXX well, of course I haven't seen the movie, but I'm sure you know people have a hunch for certain things, as you're way more experienced than me.
When you see a 2 minute game trailer, do you not form an opinion on the game and it's eventual quality?
The same goes for this movie, it was pretty blatant from the start that it wouldn't even care about having anything to do with the games and that it'd be generic as heck.
As you said it's good to take some liberties with the source material since each medium is different, but you have to capture the essence of it at its core.
This movie looks like it could star Pac-Man or Cookie Monster and nothing of note would be lost; but then again, I haven't seen it yet.
And of course this doesn't mean that you cannot enjoy it; critics don't do that. They assess the artistic qualities and depth of it all, but that doesn't equate to enjoyment.
For example lately I've been having a blast with Rage 2, which is one of the most generic and shallow games I've ever played, but I play it because the core mechanics are so incredibly good. If I want story or atmosphere or something with a little thought put into it, I can play Dishonored or Hitman.
It's absolutely alright to enjoy shallow entertainment, it just serves a different purpose and that's why it should be considered differently from "deeper" things: each have their own time and space.
I think that's what Scorsese meant when he said that "theme park" thingy.
@Fido007 HEY! I thought Dragon Quest: YOUR STORY was a great piece of somewhat faithful storytelling with a twist at the end! For all we know, Sonic might as well be good for two people: true Sonic fans, and people who recognize Ben Schwartz for his Blue Talents, including Dewey Duck! I'm gonna see it, anyway, because Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker had no AM Showtimes! If it were up to you, we'd have an adaptation of the Archie Comics that have a serious storytelling, Sonic caring more for Sally than Amy, and SwatBots going "Priority One Hedgehog Alert!"
Maybe you have high hopes for Super Mario Bros. by Illumination because it will have CHarles Martinet voicing Mario, complete with this iconic phrase: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3kmKrVvRfoY "It's-A-Me, Mario!"
I still don't understand why people need movie reviews. All you need is a simple premise to know whether you want to watch something or not. Just watch it if it interests you, you'd lose a couple of hours at most. All reviews do is spoil and/or predispose your enjoyment of it based on someone else's opinion.
Personally I can't wait to watch the Sonic movie.
@nab1 an interesting concept is certainly important, but the execution is way more important to me, and that's what I want to know from reviews.
I've watched many movies with a lot of potential squandered due to bad execution, but also the opposite.
Great execution can easily make up for a not-that-interesting concept, while I think the contrary is less likely to be true.
@clvr Yeah, that kinda sums it up. I understand critics have to review a LOT of movies, and as such, this one may stand out as overly simplistic, but it was never going to be a highly intellectual movie in the first place, so maybe they should have factored that in.
Luckily, some of the more positive reviewers actually did just that.
Damn... That's too bad. I am going to watch it and judge for myself since critics are a bit loopy sometimes but it wouldn't surprise me seeing as how Sega has destroyed Sonic's character over the past 2 decades with only a handful of playable games.
I've always been one to love a bad movie, and I would expect it to be the same for this. While i won't see it this weekend, I will take my kids.
@Heavyarms55 Your loss.
When Jim Carey is the highlight of the movie, then I know it ain’t my bag
Is it just me, or is this list of comments extremely cherry-picked to put the Sonic Movie in a mostly negative light for some reason? Seems like some yellow-journalism stuff to me.
@YoshiAngemon Yeah I just don't care about movie adaptations of video games, it's just a cow that studios haven't milked dry to the point of coming up with new ideas. Everything that could be done has been, and anything new that's interesting will get milked to death, it's tiring really. You see one of them you see all of them, at least in gaming you can do whatever you want.
In my country the reviews for the movie aren't bad. 3 or 4 stars out of 5
Honestly, Sonic has no character. Everyone is seeing this movie for Jim Carrey surely.
It has a fresh rating on Rotten tomatoes of 66% (detective pikachu for reference has a 69%) and all the youtubers I watch only have positive things to say about it. Maybe overseas they are a tougher crowd.
It’s currently sitting on 66% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes, with a lot of good reviews.
I am going to go see it out of respect for the studio for listening to the feedback. Will try and see it the weekend or midweek next week.
Youtube channels like Electric Playground & Laymen Gaming gave it glowing reviews. Honestly I dont really trust the major gaming websites anymore.
I think if you go in with managed expectations, it will be fine. I'm not expecting a glorious Wreck-It-Ralph style meditation on what video games mean. If there are few good laughs and some crazy high speed chases, I'll enjoy myself.
It absolutely DOES NOT look like the "Cats" level disaster everyone feared.
Skrew the movie reviewers and movie critics, they all idiots anyway, look at how inaccurately and stupidly they rated and reviewed Detective Pikachu?
I do not expect this movie to be a box office breaker but I'm sure it can't be that bad, you just cannot directly compare it with the video games or else you will be doomed to some degree of disappointment. I say we just go watch it an enjoy it, nothing more to it.
They need to revise their article. It’s irresponsible. Again, I’m not seeing the film. But reaction is pretty positive.
If the critics hate it it means its good
@Ainz exactly
"Even as an avowed fan of the cobalt-quilled erinaceid’s original 16-bit escapades, I have to say..."
Man, screw this. I just saw it, it's not a masterpiece, but it's a fun movie, I was never bored and if you're thinking of going to see it then do it. Don't think twice.
Just don't go thinking you're going to see some chaos emeralds or any kind of lore beyond warp rings and Ken Penders' beloved echidnas.
I figured this would be bad, guess I'll watch Birds of Prey then.
Critics are not what they used to be. We are In a world with every idea recycled, remade, and rebooted. If an idea used before WORKS, then it is a GOOD movie, book, or game. There are so many BAD films that get nominated for whatever award and it is sad.
By BAD, as in fall asleep during the film.
YouTube and Social Media reviewers are MORE reliable, as long as they have their facts straight.
Birds of Prey SJWs
Some critics are not wrong. They need to be careful criticizing ANYTHING Sonic. It is the BEST and WORST fandom. If Dragonball fans can destroy an Evolution sequel, it is nothing compared to the Sonic fandom. LOL
@Fido007 Maybe someone should make a movie about farts, it would be one giant fart joke.
@YoshiAngemon sure, why not.
IGN-orance is bliss?!?!?!
Wow! Best review I have seen so far and it's IGN. Very constructive in your review. This MAY restore faith in the Sonic Fanbase.
@Kienda If i were you i would take my kid to a movie that actually looks good instead
I just saw this movie and it was actually really good. I was impressed with how much I liked it. If you're a fan of Sonic, it definitely worth checking out.
I saw birds of prey directly before this and honestly I thought the sonic film respected my intelligence far more despite being for ACTUAL CHILDREN.
Oh look! Ign offers a completely different story from everyone else. Shocking.
Anyway, I was going to watch this with a friend BEFORE the redesign. It just looked so garbage that we had to see it. The redesign actually ruined thst a bit but by the sounds of things we'll still go.
You know which kind of 'journalists' I take least seriously? Move critics. I take their opinions on game-based movies with even more of a grain of salt. Not expecting the Sonic movie to be good but I'm going to do what I always do. See the film for myself then decide if it was good or not.
I think we all knew this wasn't going to win an oscar!
But who cares?! It's a movie about Sonic and it's just a bit of a laugh like the majority of Sonic games between Sonic Adventure and Sonic Mania!
What kind of cherry-picking nonsense is this?! The film has a 63% on Rotten Tomatoes! That means it's getting significantly more positive reviews than negative ones. A good majority of the critics actually like it! This looks to be right up there with "Detective Pikachu" as one of the best video game movie adaptations ever made!
Uhh Nintendo is going to all it takes for not getting such reviews for their Mario movie in the making.
Just as expected.
It's a real steamer.
Still better than Birds of Prey.
@Anti-Matter Yah, When it comes to Netflix or Vudu I'll watch it...after working 52 hours per week, this is just what I need. A movie where I can chill and don't have to think...and honestly, it doesn't look that bad.
There should have at least been a scene where he falls inside a pinball machine.
@spoondriver A film doesn’t need to be ‘Oscar winning’ to be halfway decent.
It’s the same flimsy excuse as ‘Well, it’s a kid’s film, so what do you expect?’
There are plenty of universally watchable films classed as ‘for kids’ that are bloody superb—
Mulan, My Neighbour Tottoro, Toy Story, Mary Poppins, ParaNorman, Paddington—Christ, even Goosebumps and Detective Pikachu were well made.
Likewise, just because it’s ‘not an Oscar winning movie’ doesn’t give a film a free pass from legitimate criticism, or for that matter, being crap.
This has been a very clever marketing operation. They started with an initial character design that purposely made people puke, then redesigned it at the obvious people's reaction, making them believe they "listened" (L O L).
So now people who watch it have the illusion that they had a weight in the making.
At the end, those who watch it will see exactly what they want to see, as always.
But it's really yet another silly movie about a videogame, which should be enough of a detail to judge it. I might decide to watch it if I ever get so bored that I don't know how to spend a couple of hours. But it won't happen at a cinema though.
My favourite observation is that he can dodge a bunch of rockets, but not a dart.
@ThanosReXXX eh I watched it last night for opening night and it was terrible. Only enjoyment I got was seeing it with my friends. There was one joke that made me laugh but the writing was generally an all around mess
Not enough bashing the audience over the head with an agenda I presume. Have to turn attention to Harley Quinn (even though it’s an R rated movie).
I generally have the opposite opinion on movies to the one by “reputable” critics.
@PickledKong64 And your point is?
I never said that EVERYBODY would like it, I just said that I'd rather make up my own mind, than listen to, or God forbid: be negatively influenced by movie critics, that's all.
So, in short, I refuse to go in with a negative attitude, because if you go in expect something to suck, then it will, because you'll be expecting too much of it, and you'll only be focusing on the things that you don't like about it.
Probably going to check this out or Birds of Prey sometime this weekend.
I enjoyed the movie, the soundtrack was great, Eggman and Sonic were amazing in this movie, there were some problems, like poor pacing during the third act, but in general, it was great, I recommend it to any Sonic fan, and I really hope we get a sequel.
Something weird is going on here..
The majority of written reviews are very negative, yet every video reviewer I've seen think it's average at worst.
Just came back from seeing it. If you leave your cynicsm at the door, you're gonna have a nice time.
That's not to say there arent some contrivances or egregious artistic choices made, but I walked out liking it far, FAR more than I anticipated.
IMO, this one goes up there with other live-action adaptations like Detective Pikachu, but still a ways off from Scott Pilgrim.
It should be noted that while industry critics seem to hate this movie (although I stopped taking most industry critics seriously years ago), audience scores are very high, and almost all Sonic fans say they love it.
I honestly really enjoyed it. The references and throwbacks to stuff in and out of the games were great and the ending was noice.
Also this guy in cinema triggered me sorta LOL.
At start of the sonic movie it has zoomed in sega logo showing different games and it had yakuza on a couple of the squares and some teen in my row said it's Japanese GTA
I tend to trust the opinion of independent movie critics more, and the few I’m subscribed to on Youtube are pretty pleased with how it turned out.
@Kinpatsu Joker was literally nominated for Best Picture lmao.
@NintendoFan990 Yep, despite the fact that it only has a 49% with top critics (Birds of Prey is at 67% with top critics 😂).
Just saw this today with my elementary school age son. Had a great time actually. I genuinely had some good laughs from Jon Carrey's performance. I'm assuming his ad-libbed portions were the actual funny bits but, the movie overall was not nearly as bad as I had expected. The characters had clear motivations and the plot made sense, more than I could have asked for in a movie like this.
@Kinpatsu lol I didn't see that, haha. Beside, get off Rotten Tomatoes. It's an awful site in which most people don't even understand the way it works. I usually use Letterboxd to see the average ratings amongst users and then see the film myself (unless, of course, the film has abysmal overall score e.g. Cats).
@HappyMaskedGuy watched Totoro at the weekend with the kids, love that film.
@spoondriver Yeah, it’s lovely. So beautifully realised.
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