I was actually thinking earlier about watching this flick
What are you watching?
- Thread starter KevinStriker
- Start date
rondachewarrior
I'm not predjudiced, I hate everybody equally.
Was expecting it to be low budget, cheap effects, half-assed acting and storyline but I really think they should've used these guys to finish off GoT lol.
YOU WON'T BE LET DOWN!
Finally started Sabrina Season 3. ENJOYING the HELL out of it. Pun intended. I am glad that they never let up on the gas. So much happens to quickly and it really never stops the stories. The creativity is still flowing and I appreciate that.
1998, I’m 4 years old, and without a doubt my favorite video game is Sonic the Hedgehog 3. Anytime I’m at my Granny’s house she plays it with me, and it is quite honestly the first video game I have memory playing. In 1999, the Sega Dreamcast comes to America, and my aunt and Granny buy one, with Sonic Adventure…The game that would become, and still is to this day, my favorite video game of all time. I’ve played all the games (Unfortunately for me in some cases), seen the TV shows, the OVA, and even collected the McDonald’s “Game & Watch” style toys that came with Happy Meals after Sonic Heroes was released. So here we are in 2020, and after all these years as an Icon, not just in gaming, but in pop-culture in general, the Blue Blur finally has his own film. And after seeing it opening day I can honestly say it was…Awesome. Without spoilers, I’m going to convince you to go see this movie…
This is a kids movie and a movie for people in their 20’s and 30’s who grew up with this character and these games. The amount of references in this film, without feeling forced or ham-fisted, is uncanny. I was trying to count them when the film started, but got so engrossed in the movie, that I quickly forgot to keep up with that. Considering video game movies have a habit of being the visual equivalent of a liquid nitrogen enema, I’d say me forgetting to count the references is actually a positive. Sonic looks great. As a character, he looks exactly as he should. But…unless you’re Harvey Weinstein, looks aren’t everything. So, how’s his character? It’s great. It’s different, but great. And different in a good way. Sonic games, always have Sonic as positive, happy, and “cool.” In this, while he does have a lot of those attributes, without character development, you hardly have a character. And they do that…They give Sonic an arc. In fact, the whole film follows this arc exactly how it should be followed. Yeah, he’s partnered with a human, but throughout the whole film it always feels like a Sonic movie. There’s some legitimate emotional moments in this film, and because of the chemistry between the cast, it really works. Ben Schwartz, playing Sonic, nails the dialogue delivery, along with the mocap facial expressions, that allow James Marsden’s character to react in a completely believable and realistic way. This really is a buddy cop film…just…with a cop and a hyperactive blue, fast talking, indestructible, alien furry with the ability to break the sound barrier, instead of two cops.
The movie does have some issues, sure, but they’re “issues” that more or less get a pass when you remember, this IS a kids movie. It’s very formulaic. The jokes are very obvious, low hanging fruit jokes that you do see coming, and it isn’t entirely “Original” in terms of the story. It’s just a road trip movie. But I don’t necessarily see a lot of that as a problem? Just because it’s not a brand new, over the top experience, doesn’t make it bad. In fact, there’s a sort of comfort in the “Family Friendly Adventure for All Ages” that doesn’t need to do anything new or groundbreaking, as long as they honor the character they’re portraying. Which they do perfectly. So as long as you’re prepared to see the punchlines and story beats coming, you’re gonna enjoy yourself. I was worried this was gonna be one of those cases where they trailers showed you all the best parts, and sometimes that was true. But they did a very good job of holding back and not giving too much away. A lot of the dialogue from the trailers, actually appears in different sections of the film, as if they were intentionally trying to throw us off to make the jokes funnier by having us expect one line from the trailer, then give us a completely different one. I mean…It didn’t WORK, but it was definitely a nice effort.
Last but not least…Jim Carrey. People can say whatever they want about Sonic’s design, and video game movies, and denying the holocaust, and making it a live action/CGI hybrid, but THIS was my biggest worry. Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. And let me tell you, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Eggman has always been a bit…Over the top and eccentric. And boy does Jim Carrey give us exactly what we want. Hell, I’d say he actually makes the character of Eggman a bit deeper than the games ever did. Sure, he’s not fat. And that’s annoying. But that’s really my only complaint. Between this film and Detective Pikachu, Hollywood may have ACTUALLY cracked the code on Video Game adaptations…I must say I’m very impressed over all. 8.5/10
This is a kids movie and a movie for people in their 20’s and 30’s who grew up with this character and these games. The amount of references in this film, without feeling forced or ham-fisted, is uncanny. I was trying to count them when the film started, but got so engrossed in the movie, that I quickly forgot to keep up with that. Considering video game movies have a habit of being the visual equivalent of a liquid nitrogen enema, I’d say me forgetting to count the references is actually a positive. Sonic looks great. As a character, he looks exactly as he should. But…unless you’re Harvey Weinstein, looks aren’t everything. So, how’s his character? It’s great. It’s different, but great. And different in a good way. Sonic games, always have Sonic as positive, happy, and “cool.” In this, while he does have a lot of those attributes, without character development, you hardly have a character. And they do that…They give Sonic an arc. In fact, the whole film follows this arc exactly how it should be followed. Yeah, he’s partnered with a human, but throughout the whole film it always feels like a Sonic movie. There’s some legitimate emotional moments in this film, and because of the chemistry between the cast, it really works. Ben Schwartz, playing Sonic, nails the dialogue delivery, along with the mocap facial expressions, that allow James Marsden’s character to react in a completely believable and realistic way. This really is a buddy cop film…just…with a cop and a hyperactive blue, fast talking, indestructible, alien furry with the ability to break the sound barrier, instead of two cops.
The movie does have some issues, sure, but they’re “issues” that more or less get a pass when you remember, this IS a kids movie. It’s very formulaic. The jokes are very obvious, low hanging fruit jokes that you do see coming, and it isn’t entirely “Original” in terms of the story. It’s just a road trip movie. But I don’t necessarily see a lot of that as a problem? Just because it’s not a brand new, over the top experience, doesn’t make it bad. In fact, there’s a sort of comfort in the “Family Friendly Adventure for All Ages” that doesn’t need to do anything new or groundbreaking, as long as they honor the character they’re portraying. Which they do perfectly. So as long as you’re prepared to see the punchlines and story beats coming, you’re gonna enjoy yourself. I was worried this was gonna be one of those cases where they trailers showed you all the best parts, and sometimes that was true. But they did a very good job of holding back and not giving too much away. A lot of the dialogue from the trailers, actually appears in different sections of the film, as if they were intentionally trying to throw us off to make the jokes funnier by having us expect one line from the trailer, then give us a completely different one. I mean…It didn’t WORK, but it was definitely a nice effort.
Last but not least…Jim Carrey. People can say whatever they want about Sonic’s design, and video game movies, and denying the holocaust, and making it a live action/CGI hybrid, but THIS was my biggest worry. Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik. And let me tell you, I couldn’t have been more wrong. Eggman has always been a bit…Over the top and eccentric. And boy does Jim Carrey give us exactly what we want. Hell, I’d say he actually makes the character of Eggman a bit deeper than the games ever did. Sure, he’s not fat. And that’s annoying. But that’s really my only complaint. Between this film and Detective Pikachu, Hollywood may have ACTUALLY cracked the code on Video Game adaptations…I must say I’m very impressed over all. 8.5/10
Last edited:
I just posted in the What Are You Thinking thread about how I was so amazed at the marvel that is Hannibal the TV series. I just finished Season 2 and it was amazing. I'll spare everyone a repeat of my post, you'll find it in that thread. Suffice it to say the show is amazing, Mads is amazing as Hannibal and I can't wait to start season 3.
Hannibal Season 1 - 9/10
Hannibal Season 2 - 10/10
Hannibal Season 3 - TBD
Hannibal Season 1 - 9/10
Hannibal Season 2 - 10/10
Hannibal Season 3 - TBD
Yup, I heard it's actually a good film, which is unheard of for a videogame movie. After everyone painted it as a surefire trainwreck after that first trailer, and not just because of Sonic's wretched first design. I take it your girl had a good time and didn't leave you?
Anyway, I just got done watching GoldenEye on Netflix, truly solid film. It's a shame that this was the only good Brosnan Bond flick and that the best Bond movie succeeded the worst, which also happened to be his last. Also ironic that it spawned one of the most iconic games of all time.
I am actually kind of excited to see Sonic based on the high levels of praise so far. Obviously, some critics aren't going to enjoy it. But I think the fan support is the real news line here. You KNOW studios will see this as a signal to adopt more video game movies and hopefully, they will give them the budget and passion to create solid projects. I would be happy seeing a Nintendo extended Universe come out of this - assuming they do justice to Mario, Zelda, More Pokemon Live Action, and I don't know... Donkey Kong?
Movies are very mainstream, so by nature, the majority of the audience is going to be very casual about Sonic. So I don't take the positive feedback very seriously. Even the Resident Evil films, Ninja Turtles reboot, Transformers, and Power Rangers recieved positive feedback from the general audience.
D
Deleted member 21244
Guest
I don't remember any of those films having general positive review XD they were mostly bad or really bad reviewed, probably only the first re movie and the first transformer movie did have some positive review
On the other hand sonic have general positive review, some are bad some other are neutral like every other movies in existence, but the majority are positive ... Also By positive i mean that it reached the sufficiency, it's not critically acclaimed its just "positive"... By the review i read its a movie you can enjoy watching, and that's it, probably like detective Pikachu
D
Deleted member 21244
Guest
Oh i think he was talking about critic review... well fan were not praising the resident evil movie neither, the fan review were worse than than the critical review
Transformer too
Maybe sonic it's really a decent movie, guess I'll find out when i see it
D
Deleted member 21244
Guest
They did make 6 movie because they were profitable movie, but the movie were reviewed bad both by critics and fan... Making good money out of a movie didn't make the movie good as well
I honestly don't know how you're missing the point here. I'm not saying they're good movies. People still went to see them and made them profitable, therefore people enjoyed them. It's the same with Sonic. This positive fan feedback we're hearing from Sonic is coming from a casual audience because film as a medium is far more mainstream than video games.
The 5th Transformers movie had a huge dropoff from the previous 2 films before it, making $605m worldwide and lost over $100m (yes it did, believe it or not) when DotM and AoE both cracked over a billion dollars and was reviled by both fans and critics. Go to any movie review aggregate site and its audience scores are abysmal, and yes, a 5.2 IS abysmal for IMDb seeing how the average film scores somewhere in the 6s on there (even Man of Steel and Iron Man 2 and 3 scored in the low 7s and X-Men: Origins Wolverine scored a 6.5). Bumblebee also suffered because of the bad stigma from the previous films despite it being the only Rated Fresh Transformers movie on RT similar to how Batman Begins underperformed because of Batman and Robin.
Kids love(d) those movies, everyone else sees them for the trash heaps they are, though I did kinda enjoy the first one.
I was talking about Resident Evil, but holy f*ck, Transformers already hit 6? I remember seeing the first and thinking it was pretty good, though to be fair, I'm a complete casual when it comes to Transformers. Saw the 2nd years later and couldn't be bothered with the rest.
Anyway, sites like those hardly indicate anything. They only represent a vocal minority and those box office numbers are still impressive compared to your average film, meaning people are still going in droves to see them. The nerds and outrage mob will definitely lambaste the films, but they're still popular with the casual audience. Just like the MCU, Star Wars, and even the Resident Evil films, which some people still don't know were supposed to be based on video games.
D
Deleted member 21244
Guest
Those box office numbers are not impressive for a movie of this caliber, the site is right, paramount lost 100 milion dollar because of the flop of the 5th transformers, that movie costed almost 300 miliom dollar not counting all the cost for marketing , a movie like this is expected to make at least one billion dollars, 600 milion is not an impressive number, could have been impressive if the movie costed 100 milion dollar
I don't remembere the mcu and star wars being based on video games
I did get you point, what i was trying to say is that the sonic positive review aren't just from casual viewers but also from critics, and remember that by positive a mean a movie that manage to get fhe job done, reaching the 6/10 reception... None of the resident evil movie have general reviews from critics and fan, only the first one had positive reviews
I don't remembere the mcu and star wars being based on video games
I did get you point, what i was trying to say is that the sonic positive review aren't just from casual viewers but also from critics, and remember that by positive a mean a movie that manage to get fhe job done, reaching the 6/10 reception... None of the resident evil movie have general reviews from critics and fan, only the first one had positive reviews
Last edited by a moderator:
It's impressive because it shows mass interest in a product despite an overblown budget, which is why they keep on making these films and even scaled back with Bumblebee, which was a success. They just got greedy and it bit them in the ass.
Critics don't mean anything here. They're just as casual as your average viewer which is why they all love Marvel movies. So I don't get what you're trying to dispute here when once again, UniqTeas and I were talking about general fan feedback.
And I never said Star Wars and Marvel were based on video games. It was pretty obvious I was referring to Resident Evil.
Saw Sonic today.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it...it was just an alright kids film. Was expecting it to be funnier but one of my kids loved it so that was the point of going, really.
I'd still recommend people see it to make up their own minds - it's not marmite or anything like that, but I found it to be a nice film to watch on a rainy afternoon. Won't be buying it though, but would probably watch it on netflix if it came on.
Didn't love it, didn't hate it...it was just an alright kids film. Was expecting it to be funnier but one of my kids loved it so that was the point of going, really.
I'd still recommend people see it to make up their own minds - it's not marmite or anything like that, but I found it to be a nice film to watch on a rainy afternoon. Won't be buying it though, but would probably watch it on netflix if it came on.
So someone broke into my home and put a gun to my head and forced me to watch the Sonic movie last night... Just kidding, my nephew's birthday is in a few days and he wanted to watch the Sonic movie, so he kind of outvoted us. It's actually my fault too because I've been trying to get him into video games for about a year now and I started him with Sonic, which he's terrible at... but the kid is trying.
Anyway, the movie was exactly what I thought it would be, so not shocked at all. It's definitely a kid's movie and from that perspective, it works, but it's still not exactly a good movie and it's every bit as bad of a video game movie as previous video game based films have been if we're talking about how poorly it's adapting the material. Otherwise, it's just okay.
The film goes for cheap laughs which are 90% of the time not funny, unless you're a child, judging from the audience reaction in the theater. I mean seriously, not once did I ever think about Sonic farting when playing the video games for about 20+ years now until this film forced it on us. Now I have to imagine Sonic's little underaged blue butthole expanding and passing gas.
Sonic's personality is annoying too. He's supposed to be a force for positivity and heroism, with a laid back demeanor and a trash mouth. What we're given here is a cliche archetype of a fast character with ADHD who can't shut up because he's always thinking and changing focus because gotta go fast, wannabe Deadpool.
Not only is Jim Carrey as believable as Robotnik as Jesse Eisenberg was as Lex Luthor, he's just not funny. I say this as a huge Jim Carrey fan, but he feels like a parody of himself here. It's like they hired him to be up to his usual antics, except they failed to understand why his antics were funny all those years ago and just gave him a blank script and told him to sh*t out all he has on screen without solid build up or context. Just be mean, yell, and act above everyone else in a zany Jim Carrey fashion because that was funny once upon a time.
The worst part is, the movie actually starts off like a solid Sonic movie for like 3 minutes until we're introduced to the boring obligatory human characters. I was just completely bored whenever they would focus too much on Cyclops and his problems because I start to remember that this is supposed to be a movie about Sonic, but for some reason a different movie was edited into a Sonic film by accident.
I mean seriously, what is it with Hollywood and forcing humans into movies about cartoon characters? Are we supposed to relate to them and experience the cartoon nonsense through them, otherwise we couldn't handle cartoon characters for an hour and thirty minutes? Such disrespect for a property beloved by millions, just so they could try to appeal to a billion. Why is this misconception still so prevalent in a day and age where superhero bullsh*t reigns supreme above everything else?
And what gets me more, is the fact that they're setting themselves up for a sequel banking on even more nostalgia, which is typical of these kind of films, yet why couldn't they do that from the start? What's the point of dragging it out with such a departure of a film? Not that I have high hopes for the sequel anyway. Unless they have any real passion for this franchise (which they don't), then we're more than likely gonna end up with another TMNT: Out of the Shadows, where they thought inserting tons of 80s nostalgia was gonna save their film from their terrible and out of touch views and ideas.
Even then, if they were really so keen on making a live action Sonic film with human characters, they definitely got some material to pull from with the Adventure games... But no, let's stick the super fast Hedgehog into a car and make a sappy roadtrip film about friendship. Is this a Sonic movie or a tribute to Jim Carrey's career? At the very least, you'd expect some sort of plot revolving around Chaos Emeralds or some sh*t. Y'know, Sonic-like stuff.
Also, I found it very laughable that they actually stole the idea of using Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' for a montage from a YouTube video that replaced Gangsta's Paradise with it back when the original trailer released. Not to mention, we literally had a similar use of the song in a montage in Shazam a year ago, where the character also flossed, which was really cringey.
Corporate Hollywood clearly had a bare minimum understanding of what they were adapting here, just like our boy Pauly Anderson with the Resident Evil films. But hey, at least they fixed Sonic's design...
Anyway, the movie was exactly what I thought it would be, so not shocked at all. It's definitely a kid's movie and from that perspective, it works, but it's still not exactly a good movie and it's every bit as bad of a video game movie as previous video game based films have been if we're talking about how poorly it's adapting the material. Otherwise, it's just okay.
The film goes for cheap laughs which are 90% of the time not funny, unless you're a child, judging from the audience reaction in the theater. I mean seriously, not once did I ever think about Sonic farting when playing the video games for about 20+ years now until this film forced it on us. Now I have to imagine Sonic's little underaged blue butthole expanding and passing gas.
Sonic's personality is annoying too. He's supposed to be a force for positivity and heroism, with a laid back demeanor and a trash mouth. What we're given here is a cliche archetype of a fast character with ADHD who can't shut up because he's always thinking and changing focus because gotta go fast, wannabe Deadpool.
Not only is Jim Carrey as believable as Robotnik as Jesse Eisenberg was as Lex Luthor, he's just not funny. I say this as a huge Jim Carrey fan, but he feels like a parody of himself here. It's like they hired him to be up to his usual antics, except they failed to understand why his antics were funny all those years ago and just gave him a blank script and told him to sh*t out all he has on screen without solid build up or context. Just be mean, yell, and act above everyone else in a zany Jim Carrey fashion because that was funny once upon a time.
The worst part is, the movie actually starts off like a solid Sonic movie for like 3 minutes until we're introduced to the boring obligatory human characters. I was just completely bored whenever they would focus too much on Cyclops and his problems because I start to remember that this is supposed to be a movie about Sonic, but for some reason a different movie was edited into a Sonic film by accident.
I mean seriously, what is it with Hollywood and forcing humans into movies about cartoon characters? Are we supposed to relate to them and experience the cartoon nonsense through them, otherwise we couldn't handle cartoon characters for an hour and thirty minutes? Such disrespect for a property beloved by millions, just so they could try to appeal to a billion. Why is this misconception still so prevalent in a day and age where superhero bullsh*t reigns supreme above everything else?
And what gets me more, is the fact that they're setting themselves up for a sequel banking on even more nostalgia, which is typical of these kind of films, yet why couldn't they do that from the start? What's the point of dragging it out with such a departure of a film? Not that I have high hopes for the sequel anyway. Unless they have any real passion for this franchise (which they don't), then we're more than likely gonna end up with another TMNT: Out of the Shadows, where they thought inserting tons of 80s nostalgia was gonna save their film from their terrible and out of touch views and ideas.
Even then, if they were really so keen on making a live action Sonic film with human characters, they definitely got some material to pull from with the Adventure games... But no, let's stick the super fast Hedgehog into a car and make a sappy roadtrip film about friendship. Is this a Sonic movie or a tribute to Jim Carrey's career? At the very least, you'd expect some sort of plot revolving around Chaos Emeralds or some sh*t. Y'know, Sonic-like stuff.
Also, I found it very laughable that they actually stole the idea of using Queen's 'Don't Stop Me Now' for a montage from a YouTube video that replaced Gangsta's Paradise with it back when the original trailer released. Not to mention, we literally had a similar use of the song in a montage in Shazam a year ago, where the character also flossed, which was really cringey.
Corporate Hollywood clearly had a bare minimum understanding of what they were adapting here, just like our boy Pauly Anderson with the Resident Evil films. But hey, at least they fixed Sonic's design...