First images of Live Action Sonic film version emerge

[wings012]

I didn't actually care too much about the bad design(at least relative to most other people who only comment on the design). I mean yeah, it was pretty bad but at the same time the trailer presented the most tired overdone plot ever. You could replace Sonic with ET or Bumblebee and you'd still get a really tired uninspired waste of time. Sonic's design is really just one of many problems.

 

[Hawki]

I didn't actually care too much about the bad design(at least relative to most other people who only comment on the design). I mean yeah, it was pretty bad but at the same time the trailer presented the most tired overdone plot ever. You could replace Sonic with ET or Bumblebee and you'd still get a really tired uninspired waste of time. Sonic's design is really just one of many problems.

Y'know, it's actually occurred to me just how little Sonic iconography there is.

Robotnik doesn't look anything like his counterparts except for the trailer's final shot. Also, while he has a human assistant, it's not anything like other human assistants he's had (e.g. Snively and Grimer)

Robotnik uses robots, but they don't look anything like badniks, or Egg Pawns, or SWATbots, or anything else. Like, if we freeze framed the robots firing missiles, or the street car robots, would you know they belonged in a Sonic movie?

Also his flying machine looks nothing like the Egg-o-matic

It takes place in the United States, not the United Federation

Sam works for SFPD (San Francisco Police Department), not SSPD (Station Square Police Department)

Now, are these nitpicks? Absolutely. But I can't help but think of Detective Pikachu which, for all its flaws, "got" Pokemon. This is more a generic movie with Sonic shoehorned into it, and it couldn't even get his design right. You mention Bumblebee, but while I've never been much of a Transformers fan, I could tell that the writers had at least some basic understanding of the franchise, and how the Transformers themselves should look/act.

 

[wings012]

I mentioned Bumblebee cause if you think about it... there's a very similar plot structure. Human meets your fictional character. They get up to shenanigans. The military is after them. The military is being manipulated by fictional villain. Not to shit on Bumblebee(though I really did find the plot to be so cliched overdone, but they did get the look of the Transformers right and the retro setting is a nice reflection of when Transformers was created), but to highlight just how uninspired Sonic is.

 

[Hawki]

I mentioned Bumblebee cause if you think about it... there's a very similar plot structure. Human meets your fictional character. They get up to shenanigans. The military is after them. The military is being manipulated by fictional villain. Not to shit on Bumblebee(though I really did find the plot to be so cliched overdone, but they did get the look of the Transformers right and the retro setting is a nice reflection of when Transformers was created), but to highlight just how uninspired Sonic is.

Nah, it's different from Bumblebee. Y'see...um...

God damn it!

On the other hand, Bumblebee was at least decent (6/10), so if the movie's that good as well, then that's better than I'm expecting.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

But I can't help but think of Detective Pikachu which, for all its flaws, "got" Pokemon.

Eeeeh.

I thought what's-it's-name city looked like every other sushi-noir dystopia inspired by Blade Runner. The only part that looked faintly Pokemon was the lab in that one establishing shot. Something about domed buildings, although that's more anime in general.

I also thought the story was fairly generic, and a bit of a cop out in only lightly referencing the two key elements of every Pokemon incarnation which are catching and battling, and in such a way that it felt like the studio was covering its ass with the troubling ethical implications of catching and battling. So there's only one attempt at catching a Pokemon (whereupon the Indian guy yells some bullshit about needing the Pokemon's consent) and only one trainer battle, framed like an illegal wrestling match where one of the fighters is being mind-controlled so everybody stays squeaky-clean blameless about the measure of violence.

 

[wings012]

But I can't help but think of Detective Pikachu which, for all its flaws, "got" Pokemon.

Eeeeh.

I thought what's-it's-name city looked like every other sushi-noir dystopia inspired by Blade Runner. The only part that looked faintly Pokemon was the lab in that one establishing shot. Something about domed buildings, although that's more anime in general.

I also thought the story was fairly generic, and a bit of a cop out in only lightly referencing the two key elements of every Pokemon incarnation which are catching and battling, and in such a way that it felt like the studio was covering its ass with the troubling ethical implications of catching and battling. So there's only one attempt at catching a Pokemon (whereupon the Indian guy yells some bullshit about needing the Pokemon's consent) and only one trainer battle, framed like an illegal wrestling match where one of the fighters is being mind-controlled so everybody stays squeaky-clean blameless about the measure of violence.

Except y'know, the movie is still somewhat based off the Detective Pikachu game which is largely about sleuthing and not battling. It also follows the same overall plot, just somewhat more compact. I think you're overthinking the whole ethical thing.

Personally I think it's an interesting approach. To show that a game universe can tell a different story than just what the core games do. I'm also somewhat dubious on how well an independent trainer-battle story would hold. It works well enough as a long running anime - the journey of a trainer is long and an odyssey of sorts. Trying to jam it into 90-120mins is probably going to be janky.

And with Mewtwo being somewhat central to the plot, I like that it felt somewhat like a semi-continuation of Mewtwo Strikes Back.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

But I can't help but think of Detective Pikachu which, for all its flaws, "got" Pokemon.

Eeeeh.

I thought what's-it's-name city looked like every other sushi-noir dystopia inspired by Blade Runner. The only part that looked faintly Pokemon was the lab in that one establishing shot. Something about domed buildings, although that's more anime in general.

I also thought the story was fairly generic, and a bit of a cop out in only lightly referencing the two key elements of every Pokemon incarnation which are catching and battling, and in such a way that it felt like the studio was covering its ass with the troubling ethical implications of catching and battling. So there's only one attempt at catching a Pokemon (whereupon the Indian guy yells some bullshit about needing the Pokemon's consent) and only one trainer battle, framed like an illegal wrestling match where one of the fighters is being mind-controlled so everybody stays squeaky-clean blameless about the measure of violence.

Except y'know, the movie is still somewhat based off the Detective Pikachu game which is largely about sleuthing and not battling. It also follows the same overall plot, just somewhat more compact. I think you're overthinking the whole ethical thing.

Personally I think it's an interesting approach. To show that a game universe can tell a different story than just what the core games do. I'm also somewhat dubious on how well an independent trainer-battle story would hold. It works well enough as a long running anime - the journey of a trainer is long and an odyssey of sorts. Trying to jam it into 90-120mins is probably going to be janky.

And with Mewtwo being somewhat central to the plot, I like that it felt somewhat like a semi-continuation of Mewtwo Strikes Back.

Well, that's the problem then. They went with the joke game, of all things. I would've liked it the movie just went full speed ahead with such a stupid concept but instead they sorta try and pretend it's for realsies. I got a very middle-of-the-road vibe from the movie. I don't think Pikachu even detects anything, ever (randomly stepping on that shuriken doesn't count). He's basically railroaded from one location to another by the people who volunteer information in the form of videos and holographic recordings. Reminded me of Ratchet and Clank a bit. The Mr. Mime scene was funny though.

 

[BrawlMan]

Well there goes Moviebob's thoughts on the Sonic games from the Genesis era (it's video about video game crunch). He claimed all three of the games we're "decent", which is bullshit. There we go, that's a crap we fans are hearing about when others try to act like Sonic games were never good or just okay. as for his subject on crunch, he really doesn't say anything new that hasn't already been said from Jim Sterling. Other than how crunch started in the tech world.

 

[Hawki]

He claimed all three of the games we're "decent", which is bullshit. There we go, that's a crap we fans are hearing about when others try to act like Sonic games were never good or just okay.

Um, "decent" or "okay" isn't really grounds to get angry in my mind. Like, if someone wasn't enamored with Sonic, who am I to complain?

 

[BrawlMan]

He claimed all three of the games we're "decent", which is bullshit. There we go, that's a crap we fans are hearing about when others try to act like Sonic games were never good or just okay.

Um, "decent" or "okay" isn't really grounds to get angry in my mind. Like, if someone wasn't enamored with Sonic, who am I to complain?

The way Bob sounds clearly shows he's undermining the series success up to that point. Not rage inducing, but an example of being a contrarian (which Bob is known for when it comes to games and movies). I call shithead opinions when I see them. It would be like me saying the the Super Mario Bros trilogy on the NES were "average" or "mediocre". Though IGN's "Sonic Was Never Good" is still the worst.