"Sonic in the cinema": the authors corrected the graphics and forgot about everything else

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

The critic Alexei Khromov talks about the completely pale subject of the picture. Even Jim Carrey doesn't save her.

News about the upcoming film adaptation of the games about the swift-footed Sonic began with scandals. Back in April 2019, Paramount studio published the first trailer for the upcoming film, and social networks literally exploded with indignation: the image of Sonic himself was not just unfortunate, but even creepy.

The company listened to the fans, the schedule was corrected, which is why the release was even postponed for several months. As a result, the hedgehog has become more cartoonish and charming. But the film did not get rid of the rest of the problems.

The plot is like a textbook

The young hedgehog Sonic, capable of developing tremendous speed, lives in a kind of parallel world (which the viewer will not be told about). Fleeing from the hunters, he moves to an American town, where he hides from everyone for years. One day, Sonic accidentally causes massive power outages. And then the government hires the evil but brilliant Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Jim Carrey) to catch the mysterious creature.

Only the brave police officer Tom Wachowski (James Marsden), tired of everyday life in a small town and dreaming of a real service, can help Sonic.

So, an unusual, but sweet creature, over which the villains want to experiment, is looking for friends and getting closer to a common man. Perhaps this story will remind the audience of something. For example, "Alien", "Lilo & Stitch", "Short Circuit". The list can be continued for a very long time, reaching with various assumptions to the "Fifth Element" or even "Logan".

But Sonic's problem is not at all clichéd. The examples above show that on the same basis, you can come up with stories for completely different audiences. The trouble is that in the new film they forgot to add at least something interesting to this skeleton.

In fact, there is no logic as such in the feed. It is simply a collection of actions that do not follow one another. Sonic is cute and funny - they show it from the very beginning. The hedgehog runs fast and jokes a lot (sometimes even successfully). But there is no longer any reason why viewers should like him.

For all the time, the hero does not commit a single good deed, but only saves himself. Once in danger, Sonic immediately goes to the One whom he considers his friend. Only he did not even know about the existence of a hedgehog.

And the policeman decides to help, apparently, because he wanted to do good. Although rather again because of Sonic's cuteness. After all, other reasons are difficult to find. Friendship develops in an incomprehensible way throughout the film. You can again remember "Alien" or "Lilo and Stitch", where the heroes were reflected in the aliens. But Tom and Sonic have nothing in common, the policeman simply begins to trust a new acquaintance.

And when in the finale the villain asks Tom why he is ready to sacrifice his life for Sonic, the viewer will not have an obvious answer. It's just that it's necessary for the plot and that's it.

Sometimes it seems that the film misses some scenes that are necessary not for plot twists, but specifically for the development of relations between the characters. Taking into account the long production of the picture and the short timing of an hour and a half for a blockbuster, it may turn out that the tape was really cut too much during editing.

Perfectly flat heroes

Of course, the excessive standard of heroes can be considered a problem in almost all film adaptations of such games. To a simple cartoon action, you need to add some semantic part and not make the action too sluggish.

But in the recent "Detective Pikachu" they somehow got out of it. They took Ryan Reynolds to the voice acting, creating a contrast between the appearance of the protagonist and his speech, and at the same time his behavior. Spun the story itself as a good detective. As a result, the picture was based on the central character.

And in "Sonic in the Movie" the quick-footed hedgehog is not very interesting. There is literally nothing to say about him. Although the story has room for character disclosure. For example, his loneliness and desire to be closer to people. Or even a fascination with comics about the Flash's fastest superhero. But all this is shown in passing, quickly returning to the standard plot.

The situation is even worse with the rest of the goodies. Tom can be said to be a "good guy", and that would be a complete description. His wife Maddie just loves to help people and animals. And, apparently, this is enough motivation to get involved in a deadly scam. And her sister Rachel hates Tom. The reasons are not explained, she is just constantly rude to him, and this should be a comical element.

Having to figure out the motivations of the characters on your own hurts the story a lot.

It turns out that in the whole film there is not a single hero to whom one can become attached and understand him. But there is a great villain.

Evil Jim Carrey is the only decoration of the film

The authors of the picture clearly insured themselves in case the image of Sonic was not enough to attract the audience. Therefore, the legendary Jim Carrey was invited to play the role of Dr. Robotnik. And this is, without exaggeration, the main advantage of the film. The actor literally draws all the attention to himself.

Of course, Kerry is now shining on the TV series Kidding, recalling her dramatic talent. But in Sonic, he returns to the beloved comedy of the times of Ace Ventura. The actor clearly improvises a lot, dances cheerfully and dominates any dialogue. Each appearance of Aivo Robotnik on the screen is an insane performance with rich facial expressions, gestures and an endless stream of jokes.

He turns out to be the brightest and most elaborate character. For all the comic nature of the image, the villain has a special character, and he also manages to tell about his past and childhood traumas. And it is this hero that is most interesting to follow. But Kerry plays exclusively the antagonist, and therefore he is given much less time than he deserves.

Cartoon Action

In part, you can understand the original idea of the creators of "Sonic in the Movie", which led to the emergence of that very unsuccessful video. They tried to present the character more realistic and close to the human world. But they did not take into account that it can look scary.

The graphics fix was certainly good for the movie. But this almost completely eliminated the feeling of contact between live actors and Sonic. Of course, everything here is much more realistic than in the film "Who Framed Roger Rabbit", and the technologies are completely different. But still, in the aforementioned "Detective Pikachu" there were at least a lot of Pokemon, but here there is only one hedgehog, the world around him is simple, and the hero does not always look organic in the company of actors.

Even worse, the director didn't really figure out exactly how he wants to show Sonic's abilities.

Therefore, the scene of the fight in the bar again copies already familiar plots. Moreover, it resembles not the famous scene with Mercury in "Days of Future Past", but the moment from "Futurama" when Fry drank one hundred cups of coffee. It's just funny, but a very long preparation translates into a gag for a couple of seconds.

The only good news is the references to the games, especially when in the finale Sonic runs away from Robotnik. Here the action almost completely turns into a cartoon, but it looks very dynamic and bright. Perhaps "Sonic" shouldn't have become a feature film at all, in the animation format it clearly feels better.

A funny story just for kids

Of course, you can try to cross out all the claims described above with one phrase: this is a film for children. And you shouldn't evaluate it according to such serious criteria.

"Sonic in the cinema" is as simple as possible, as if it came from the morning air of the Disney TV channel. The jokes of the cartoon hero and the charismatic villain will surely be remembered by the youngest viewers. But cinema for children (especially full-length and such a large-scale one) does not have to be so naive. For example, Pixar manages to create striking cartoons like "Up" or "Coco's Mysteries", which are popular with adults, show interesting characters and raise important topics.

There is no need to talk about "Alien" and many other children's films. Even the same "Detective Pikachu" did not look so flat, turning into a family drama.

It seems that the authors of "Sonic" simply did not figure out what to do with their favorite character, and put him in a script that is suitable for any such character.

It works, but still the hedgehog deserved something more interesting, even from the point of view of the plot. It was possible to show how Sonic learns to use his abilities for the benefit of others, and not just for himself. To reveal that they have a lot in common with Aivo Robotnik: both are superior to people in development, but terribly alone. Or at least just tell more about the characters themselves, without turning them into theatrical masks.

However, it is easier to say that funny characters are enough for children. Surely the film will pay off at the box office, and then they will also launch the same entertaining sequel. I just wish that the desire to remind about the once famous character and raise the sales of toys was covered up by a more interesting action.