There's a certain formula for making live action adaptations of anything animated, especially if it's a franchise that's been around for decades, and we all know what it is:
Show only a little bit of the animated character's world, before shoving them into the real world, usually via a portal.
Make them live with humans and focus on the humans.
Have it set in a well-known American city.
Shove in a romantic subplot no-one cares about.
Fit it into a genre.
If it's based on something that was popular ~30 years ago, throw in a few retro references. Focus on what parents who grew up with the franchise like instead of what modern fans like.
Well, this movie, based on a video game series that originated in 1991, does all of that, despite the director's and writers' complaints. In fact, the writer duo said they previously applied for a job writing for the Tom and Jerry live action movie, and when they were being interviewed for the job and told the executives that any Tom and Jerry movie would need to actually focus on Tom and Jerry themselves, they were bluntly told to get out.
So the result is a movie that follows the standard Hollywood formula, but with the director and writers trying their best to fight back and make it somehow work.
And, I feel like within the limitations of what they were forced to do, it actually does work.
After seeing only a little bit of Sonic's homeworld, we see him go through a portal into our world. He lives on Earth, hiding from people and being undetected for a long time, until his run-in with a local cop. The two team up to stop Dr. Robotnik - yes, his 1991-1995 name, instead of the 1998-present name of Eggman - in San Francisco. And in the end, Dr. Eggm- Robotnik, is driven out.
Yeah, it fits the formula. But they did their best to make it work, with help from some elements of the Sonic franchise itself.
Why is the city in question San Francisco? Because Sonic Adventure 2 uses it for a few levels.
Why is the villain a human? Because he was already a human in the games.
Why does he call the villain "Robotnik," which was only his real name in the 1990s? Because the English translation of the games hint that Robotnik was his real name before it became Eggman. (Sonic Adventure 2 even mentions relatives named Robotnik despite using the name Dr. Eggman for the villain.)
How about the retro references? We got those, but we also got the "Sanic hegehog" meme and robots with designs similar to more modern Sonic games such as Sonic Forces.
Why is it a road trip? Because... Sonic doesn't know the layout of Earth and therefore needs help. Okay, that's a bit forced, but still, it's an explanation.
The push and pull between executive mandates and writers/director trying their best to make a good movie that doesn't feel like it's ignoring everything that happened with the franchise in the 2000s and 2010s can be felt throughout the film. But in the end, it works well enough for video game adaptations, before The Super Mario Bros. Movie showed a better way to do things.
Follows the standard Hollywood formula, but it actually worked here
There's a certain formula for making live action adaptations of anything animated, especially if it's a franchise that's been around for decades, and we all know what it is:
Well, this movie, based on a video game series that originated in 1991, does all of that, despite the director's and writers' complaints. In fact, the writer duo said they previously applied for a job writing for the Tom and Jerry live action movie, and when they were being interviewed for the job and told the executives that any Tom and Jerry movie would need to actually focus on Tom and Jerry themselves, they were bluntly told to get out.
So the result is a movie that follows the standard Hollywood formula, but with the director and writers trying their best to fight back and make it somehow work.
And, I feel like within the limitations of what they were forced to do, it actually does work.
After seeing only a little bit of Sonic's homeworld, we see him go through a portal into our world. He lives on Earth, hiding from people and being undetected for a long time, until his run-in with a local cop. The two team up to stop Dr. Robotnik - yes, his 1991-1995 name, instead of the 1998-present name of Eggman - in San Francisco. And in the end, Dr. Eggm- Robotnik, is driven out.
Yeah, it fits the formula. But they did their best to make it work, with help from some elements of the Sonic franchise itself.
The push and pull between executive mandates and writers/director trying their best to make a good movie that doesn't feel like it's ignoring everything that happened with the franchise in the 2000s and 2010s can be felt throughout the film. But in the end, it works well enough for video game adaptations, before The Super Mario Bros. Movie showed a better way to do things.