The Fastest Thing Alive on Film: Sonic the Hedgehog's Journey from Pixels to Motion Picture(s)
Luke Canady
A child of God (Christian); aspiring screenwriter and character designer; creator of Christian cartoon concept Eternity Kingdoms; attending Ball State University for MDIA Master’s Degree and working as a custodian there
In May 2019, the world was... erm, "graced" with the first trailer for Paramount Pictures' adaptation of SEGA's Sonic the Hedgehog. Many fans of the franchise reacted negatively to the eponymous anthropomorphic hedgehog's "realistic" redesign. Given that this was in the wake of the 2016 Ghostbusters reboot and Star Wars: The Last Jedi, one would expect this to be yet another story of "toxic nostalgia-blind manbabies rage at media that isn't for them" from the perspective of the journalists.
However, something different happened.
By some manner of the arcane, this "realistic" Sonic redesign united not only the notoriously splintered Sonic fandom, but also the entire Internet in sheer hatred for it. And then the unthinkable happened. Mere days after the redesign was unleashed upon the world, the film was delayed. This delay was due to production time being devoted to redesigning Sonic after the uproar surrounding "realistic Sonic" and his disgusting teeth.
Later that year, the world was graced with a newly redesigned Sonic, a version of the Blue Blur closer to his game counterpart. Fan-turned-pro Tyson Hesse had a hand in reshaping Sonic for the better, and the end result was good will that simply wouldn't have been there had Paramount responded with "deal with it; this movie's for kids, not you whiners on the Internet". As a result, the Sonic movie became one of the few cinematic success stories of 2020 before the c-virus shut down movie theaters for a year and a half.
Now, in light of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 having released in theaters earlier in 2022 and being yet another hit for SEGA and Paramount, I've decided to take a deep dive into the history of Sonic's journey from gaming icon to movie star. Brace yourselves, folks- we're going to discuss movie pitches lost to the rust of time, scandals regarding some of those pitches, and the convoluted history behind how the first film got made. Also, I'll be sharing my thoughts on the two movies released thus far.
Gotta go fast!
WONDERS OF THE WORLD: Lost Pitch Zone, Act 1
The year was 1993, and the console wars between Nintendo and SEGA were in full swing. The Super NES made like Super Mario and took flight; the Genesis (or Mega Drive for everyone outside of the USA) had found its footing now that it had not just one, but two Sonic games under its belt. Technically, there were more, but 90s Sonic mania got started primarily because of those two games.
In addition to the games, SEGA sought to turn Sonic into a multimedia franchise (their efforts payed off). Two cartoons (the light-hearted Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog and its serialized, serious Saturday morning counterpart Sonic the Hedgehog; fans call the latter Sonic SatAM), a monthly comic published by Archie Comics (that lasted 25 YEARS before its cancellation in 2017 due to legal issues), and countless spin-off games were born from these efforts. Unfortunately, a planned movie wouldn't come to fruition.
This movie would've been called Sonic the Hedgehog: Wonders of the World. And this is a brief recap of its downfall.
Wonders of the World began its troubled development at the hands of consumer products manager Michealene Risley. Risley was among the few people who believed a Sonic film could work, as then-current SEGA of America president Tom Kalinske feared that a particularly (to use 90s terminology) heinous movie could tank the brand. He had good reason to be wary; he was president of Mattel when Cannon Films' dirt-cheap Masters of the Universe movie killed the already-dwindling franchise, and other video game movies like Super Mario Bros (a fine film on its own, just not a good Mario movie) and Street Fighter did to their source material.
Regardless of Kalinske's worries, SEGA was confident in the strength of Sonic as a brand and went forward with starting production on the film in 1994 alongside MGM (insert lion roar here) and Trilogy Entertainment Group. The film would've been about a young lad named Josh, child of a divorced home who escapes his school troubles by playing Sonic X-Treme (SEGA's canned first attempt at a 3D Sonic game; it never released) on his SEGA Saturn (the ill-fated successor to the Genesis/Mega Drive). His father is in the midst of working on a supercomputer with artificial intelligence and virtual reality capabilities.
Naturally, Josh tinkers with it and hooks it up to his Saturn. As he plays Sonic X-Treme, though, something peculiar happens- Sonic comes to life and pops out of the game! Unfortunately, Sonic's nemesis Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik and his legions of "Badnik" robots are quick to follow, and Sonic's absence from his game is slowly draining his energy. The film would've followed Josh and Sonic's quest to find the Chaos Emeralds and stop Eggman from taking over the world and turn the wonders of the world into digital knock-offs.
I can't believe a film that would've released in the 1990s would've had Eggman turn famous landmarks into what could now be considered NFTs (in other words, crappy-looking JPEGs that are somehow worth a lot of money and apparently harm the environment. Strangely in-character for him).
In essence, the film's story read like a mix of Last Action Hero (which was given an awful, AWFUL spoof in the Archie Sonic comics; look up Sonic Live! if you want to hear about it) and various elements from different Sonic adaptations. As with most American Sonic media pre-Sonic Adventure, Eggman was exclusively referred to as "Doctor Robotnik" because SEGA of America assumed that no one would take a diabolical scientist seriously if his name sounded like a line from a Beatles song. Several of Josh's friends and bullies were converted into robots through a process known as "roboticization", the Chaos Emeralds play a surprisingly large role in the film, and Eggman's devilishly childish side is alluded to by the presence a "Botnikland Amusement Park" (by coincidence, 2008's Sonic Unleashed chose to include a location named "Eggmanland").
Admittedly, the film's story doesn't sound terrible. While I doubt the technology would've been up to the task of rendering a fully 3D Sonic that looked believable next to live actors, the story doesn't sound like it'd sideline anything from the games too badly. The only thing I can critique is that the film sounds like it would've been dated EXTREMELY quickly by the failure of the Saturn and the cancellation of X-Treme had it released. (Maybe they could've swapped out X-Treme for racing game Sonic R or Genesis-era trilogy compilation Sonic Jam)
Heck, even SEGA of Japan liked a majority of the pitch, only requesting that Eggman be swapped out for a more intimidating movie-original villain. However, due to budgetary issues and concerns about the potential for Sonic's popularity to wane as the 90s drew to a close (not helped by Sonic X-Treme's cancellation and the SEGA Saturn flopping horribly in the USA), Wonders of the World was cancelled. Again, it doesn't sound like it would've aged the best had it been made, but it was at least a noble attempt.
HURST, PENDERS, and ARMAGEDDON: Lost Pitch Zone, Act 2
Before we get too deep into the discussion of the next Sonic movie pitch, we must discuss the topic of one Kenneth W. Penders II. Ken Penders is infamous among the Sonic fandom for many reasons. He's responsible for some of the most bizarre, off-brand, inappropriate Sonic stories as told in the monthly volumes of the Archie Sonic comics, he's ignited lawsuits against SEGA and Archie that radically altered the universe of the aforementioned comics (and eventually got them cancelled), he's tried to reuse his original characters for a poorly drawn, poorly written comic that STILL hasn't come out, and- most recently- he's attempted to turn his characters into non-fungible tokens.
Needless to say, he's pretty much the closest thing we have to a real-life Doctor Eggman. No, seriously, look at him!
One of Penders's most despicable actions outside of the comics was ensuring that Sonic SaTAM would never receive the resolution to its cliffhanger ending back in 1994. Ben Hurst, one of the head writers for SaTAM sought to give the series the ending it deserved in the form of a movie. He was in the midst of preparing to contact SEGA about the film when Penders said he could contact the big S for Hurst and explain everything that he wanted done for a SaTAM finale movie.
Unfortunately, that's not what Penders told SEGA.
Instead of saying that Ben wanted to revitalize SaTAM, Penders claimed that Ben wanted to co-opt the franchise and reshape it in his image (ironic, given that Penders himself pretty much did the same thing with the Archie Comics). As a result, SEGA shut down Hurst's offer to make a SaTAM finale movie. Tragically, Hurst passed away in 2010, shutting down any and all chances for the series's cliffhanger to be resolved*. While I don't think doing a film intended as Sonic SaTAM's finale would've worked due to the aesthetic clashing between it and the current state of the franchise, it sucks that Penders basically screwed Hurst out of finishing what could've made a considerable sect of the Sonic fandom happy.
*At least officially. There's been a fan project in the works since 2010 to give the series a proper conclusion.
With Hurst out of the way, Ken made his move to propose his OWN Sonic movie. This pitch, entitled Sonic Armageddon would've followed a similar continuity to Penders's run on the Archie Sonic book. Some of the bigger divergences from the concurrent games, comics and cartoons included Sonic's homeworld of Mobius being destroyed, Snively (Eggman's vindictive nephew from SaTAM) being turned into a cyborg, and the "roboticization" process that transformed organic beings into killer robots being recontextualized in a much more grizzly light.
Despite not having many story details, one can assume that Armageddon would've been an overly melodramatic, off-brand disaster given the quality of Penders's work for the comics and uncooperative nature. SEGA must've realized this, as around the same time as them cleaning house at Archie to make the Sonic comics better (thank goodness they did; Penders was at his worst near the end of his tenure), they decided to have the film cancelled amidst "corporate shakeups" (and the unfortunate passing of a SEGA of America executive). For a time, this was the last we heard of any Sonic movie pitch...
... until 2014.
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRST FILM: Confused Clutter Zone
Around seven years after Sonic Armageddon was shelved (with good reason), SEGA began negotiating with Sony for the development of another Sonic film. Sony was also in the midst of negotiating with Nintendo to make a Super Mario movie. (Ironic when you consider that both Nintendo and SEGA slighted Sony in the 90s, resulting in both companies being caught off guard by the surprise success of the PlayStation) Plans for this new Sonic film were leaked during the infamous 2014 Sony Pictures leak, and in the following years, we'd learn more about the film as time went on.
Sony's Sonic was said to be a version of the series given "The Dark Knight treatment" and one that probably would've been rated PG-13. While The Dark Knight influences and PG-13 rating didn't stick for the final product, director Jeff Fowler and Deadpool director-turned-executive producer for this film Tim Miller did. Fowler was an astonishingly good choice for directing a Sonic film, as he'd directed many of the opening cinematics for some of the early 3D Sonic games and he was a huge Sonic fan.
However, Sony must've struggled to make the film work under their leadership, as the film was placed in turnaround sometime between 2016 and 2017. It didn't help that they were going through quite the studio shakeup thanks to several box office failures. The Sonic movie, like Wonders of the World and Armageddon before it, seemed like it would've been trapped in development purgatory.
And then came Jim Gianopulos, newly-appointed head of Paramount Pictures.
Jim saw Sonic as an opportunity to give PP a new family-friendly film franchise (which they needed), and so the film restarted production under the mountain of Paramount. The film moved along zippily following this, with the film's filming lasting from April to December of 2018 and the cast of Ben Schwartz (Sonic), common CGI critter companion James Marsden (a film-original cop named Tom Wachowski), Tika Sumpter (Tom's wife Maddie) and washed-up 90s comedian Jim Carrey (Doctor Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik) being confirmed as the year went on. In fact, the only real problem the film seemed to struggle with during production was with its title character.
More specifically, his design.
Like the 2014 iteration of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and the 2007-present versions of the Transformers, Sonic was subject to a heavy redesign in hopes of making him "realistic". Despite Fowler and SEGA's concerns that giving Sonic such a heavy redesign would alienate fans, Paramount pressed on. After all, if it worked for TMNT and Transformers, why wouldn't it work for Sonic?
May 6, 2019.
It didn't work for Sonic. It didn't work at ALL.
As suggested by the start of this article, Sonic's initial "redesign" was all sorts of wonky. His proportions were made more humanoid, he had strange white hands in place of his iconic gloves*, his eyes were small and beady instead of large and expressive, and most infamously, he was given disgustingly human-looking teeth. This wasn't Sonic as anyone knew him; this was a corporately concocted, ill-conceived demon from the pits of character design Hell.
*He also had blue arms, but compared to everything else (and the fact that blue arms Sonic wasn't a new concept; see Sonic Boom and all the miscolored DVD box art for the old Sonic cartoons), that was rather minor.
And fans and non-fans alike were livid. Fans young and old hated what had become of their speedy blue childhood hero; Sonic's own creators Yuji Naka, Naoto Oshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara were confused at best and disappointed at worst, and general audiences were repulsed by the badly-rendered Blue Blur. If what I've said hasn't made it clear already, beta movie Sonic was universally loathed by the general public.
It didn't help that the trailer was bizarrely scored by Coolio's Stevie Wonder rip-off "Gangsta's Paradise", a heavy song that clashed hard with the tone of the "James Marsden CGI animal buddy comedy" that was being shown to audiences.
News outlets began to speculate what would happen next. Would the film be delayed, or would Paramount ignore the vast outcry and release the film as it was on November 8, 2019? To everyone's surprise, Paramount did the unthinkable. They announced that Sonic would be delayed from November 2019 to Valentine's Day 2020 in order to facilitate a full-on redesign for the character.
For the Sonic fandom, this was a gargantuan victory. Not only had "Ugly Sonic" (as 2022's absurdist live-action/animation hybrid Chip 'n' Dale: Rescue Rangers opted to call him) united them in hatred for the crappily constructed CGI abomination, but their outcry had managed to convince the Paramount execs to let Jeff Fowler and his team have the time needed to rework the Blue Blur's design into something more familiar.
Fowler's response to the negative outcry caused by the original trailer featuring "Ugly Sonic" strikes me as humble and inspiring. He spent about 10 minutes moping about it and decided "nope, we can rebound from this. I just gotta talk my superiors into letting us make this right." Once he got the Paramount execs' approval, he appealed to Tyson Hesse, a Sonic artist who got his start making crude fan comics and managed to work his way up to entering the Archie Sonic comics' team (and later the 2018-onward IDW Sonic comics due to Archie's aforementioned loss of the license) in hopes of mending movie Sonic's design.
On November 8th, 2020, the world was introduced to the new and improved movie Sonic through the film's second trailer. He was closer to his 1998-present physique, his eyes were bigger and significantly more expressive, he got his gloves back, and he now had a stylish pair of PUMA shoes colored to resemble his iconic sneakers. Despite the content of the film appearing to be otherwise unchanged, reactions to this new trailer were a heck of a lot better than the disastrous first one.
All it really took to turn things around were a more appealing Sonic design and a better song choice ("Blitzkrieg Bop") to make the film look like it was worth seeing. Combine that with all the good will that had come from Paramount's decision to delay the film in the first place, and the film suddenly had a legion of followers. Even those who weren't Sonic fans at all were suddenly interested in the movie's cinematic comeback story. In an era where studios like Sony and Disney ignored fan outcry and brushed them off as "toxic" despite them having genuinely good points about what had been done to Ghostbusters and Star Wars in the late 2010s, Paramount chose to listen.
Then came February 14th, 2020. The Sonic movie, after years in development purgatory, was finally released to the general public. It had been through all sorts of ups, downs and all arounds, but would Team Fowler's hard work pay off? Was the delay worth having? Did Jim Carrey still have his 90s eccentricities in him after years of stumbling as an actor unsure of who he truly was?
You're about to find out in the next section.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (2020): James Marsden and a CGI Hedgehog Walk Into a Bar Zone
I find it amusing that we live in a world where a Sonic the Hedgehog film released before we ever got a Flash film. In fact, there's an amusing irony in that despite The Flash being "the fastest man alive", a non-Justice League, non-The LEGO Batman Movie film starring the character has taken the longest out of any of DC's big heroes. Meanwhile, several other speedsters have made the leap to the big screen like Speed Racer, Marvel's Quicksilver (in both the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the Fox X-Men universe) and most recently Sonic himself.
Given that Ezra Miller (current Flash actor) keeps doing more harm to Warner Bros than good, I'm willing to bet that we'll have three Sonic films by the time that the Flash movie comes out.
Flash-bashing aside, the Sonic movie surprised me. Going into it, I was expecting very little from it. I'd come to support a film made by a company who actually listened to fan feedback, and I was curious to see if this would be a decent popcorn flick. Walking out, though, I found a wholesome buddy comedy that doubles as an origin story for both the Blue Blur and his ovoid archenemy.
The film begins with an altered version of the Paramount logo (replacing the stars with the iconic "rings" Sonic collects in the games), a massive SEGA logo accompanied by the iconic "SE-GAAAAAAH!" choir that sung every time you turned on your SEGA Genesis, and the logos for the other companies involved in the film. All of this is accompanied by an orchestral, heart-tugging rendition of the "Green Hill Zone" theme from the original game. Once we're done with the logos, we move into the film proper.
We start in San Francisco in media res. Sonic is running from a goggles-clad foe in a laser-shooting hovercraft, and things look rather intense. Using the power of breaking the fourth wall and voiceover, our spiny blue hero decides to go back to where it all began and explain how he got where he is now. The film then "rewinds" to Sonic's youth on another world (no name given), where he used his zippy speed to run around his island home and lived under the protection of an owl warrior lady named Longclaw.
Unfortunately, with great power comes those who seek to abuse that power, and so a tribe of echidna warriors descend on Sonic and Longclaw, prepared to capture the little boy blue. The two attempt to escape, but faster than you can say The Good Dinosaur, Longclaw is fatally wounded by one of the echidnas. In her last moments, Longclaw gives Sonic a bag of magical rings that will let him go to another world. Despite Sonic's protests, he's sent to this strange new world, forever separated from his strigine surrogate mother.
A decade or so passes, and Sonic is now living on the outskirts of Montana small town Green Hills (ha ha, obligatory reference to the games). I wouldn't call what he does "stalking" because he isn't hurting anyone; if anything, he's just watching over the town from afar. He's attracted the ramblings of local nut Crazy Carl who no one listens to, he's become an avid comic book reader, and he watches over a young couple that he's nicknamed "Donut Lord" and "Pretzel Lady".
"Donut Lord" and "Pretzel Lady" happen to be small-town sheriff Tom Wachowski and his wife Maddie. Tom's in the midst of contemplating moving out to San Francisco due to him feeling unappreciated in Green Hills; Maddie's in San Fran visiting her sister Rachel and niece Jojo. Meanwhile, Sonic is forced to confront the fact that no matter how fast he is, he can't outrun the fact he's lonely, an alien and stranger on a strange world. This prompts him to have an emotional meltdown that triggers a West Coast-wide blackout.
Said blackout attracts the attention of the US military, who send arrogant loose cannon roboticist Doctor Ivo Robotnik and his flunky Agent Stone to find the source of the anomaly. Sonic's also reacting to the aftermath of his outburst, planning to ditch Earth as soon as possible. His planned escape is complicated by Robotnik sending several egg-like drones after him, prompting him to hide in "Donut Lord's" house.
Panic ensues ("Uh... meow?" "GAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!"), and Sonic ends up being knocked out by a tranquilizer dart shot by Tom. To make matters worse, he accidentally sends the bag of rings to San Francisco and Robotnik shows up at Tom's doorstep in search of the source of the blackout. From there, Sonic and Tom end up on the run from not only the bad doctor, but also the US military. Can they retrieve Sonic's rings? Will the two become friends? Did the government make a mistake in hiring a nut job like Robotnik? And what secrets do Sonic's powers hold?
In hindsight, this is a rather basic set-up for future Sonic films. Unlike past video game films, though, this one doesn't feel the need to overcomplicate things with a bunch of variables that weren't there in the original source material. There's no strangely sexually charged moments like those in the 1993 Mario movie, there's no gratuitous divergences from the pre-established canon like The Angry Birds Movie (admittedly good film; mediocre adaptation), and the human characters don't hijack the story of characters from the games or push them off to the side like in Detective Pikachu (mediocre film; good adaptation).
This is just a Sonic movie that knows how to Sonic well while also understanding that you need more than just the Blue Blur and his nemesis to carry a 90-something-minute film aimed at general audiences.
One of the best things about the film is Sonic himself not only within the context of the film, but within the greater context of the Sonic franchise. See, in recent years, Sonic's character has been rounded off and simplified in order to make him a more universally appealing mascot. He's stopped being a character and become nothing more than a hollow catchphrase-spewing cardboard cutout of the icon he once was.
Thankfully, the writers for the movie didn't go down that route. If anything, I'd argue they rerouted Sonic's character, making him into something closer to what he was pre-2010 (when the "mascotification" set in) and also giving him room to grow. He's an excitable, good-natured and extroverted teenager with a big heart. However, beneath the peppy exterior lies a lonely soul who wants- no, needs a friend.
By emphasizing Sonic's more sincere side, the film is able to succeed where recent games and adaptations often fall short. He's allowed to have a wide range of emotions, from childlike joy while running around Green Hills to tender vulnerability (see the blackout meltdown) to panic during a chase scene to righteous anger towards Eggman during the film's final battle. Combine that with a surprisingly well-fleshed out friendship between him and Tom, and you end up with one of the best portrayals of the Blue Blur in a long, long while.
Tom is an acceptable leading man. Granted, this isn't James Marsden's first rodeo with a CGI critter (Illumination's abysmal HOP holds that title), but he manages to deliver a decent performance as Officer Wachowski. Tom is a winsome, upstanding gent played with an off-beat sense of humor, and his bond with Sonic is rather endearing to watch throughout the film. It's not anything on the level of Who Framed Roger Rabbit?, yet it manages to be another aspect of the film I felt was better executed than other films of its ilk.
Unfortunately, the film doesn't really resolve Tom's dilemma regarding whether he should move to San Fran or stay in Green Hill. Despite he and Sonic arguing over it, the film drops it like a hot potato the second the two of them arrive in San Fran. It feels rather weird going from "Sonic and Tom argue about the latter wanting to leave Green Hills" to "Sonic and Tom are back on good terms" within five minutes. Perhaps the writers cut something out because they didn't want a plot-mandated third-act friendship failure to detract from the main duo's ongoing bond, but in doing so they removed something they could've used to resolve Tom's feelings about where he wants to be.
Ultimately, though, I like Tom. He doesn't feel like he was thrown in so the audience can have a human character to relate to; he feels like a necessary addition to this version of the Sonic story. Since Sonic doesn't have Tails, Knuckles or any of his other so-called "dumb friends" (as critical journalists sometimes call the Sonic supporting cast) in this universe yet, having him become buddy-buddy with a grounded, good-natured Montana cop guy is a good way to get around that. Also, Marsden's comedic timing REALLY helps him work well with other actors. That's a plus.
领英推荐
Speaking of which, we must discuss Jim Carrey as Doctor Robotnik. Even as early as the incredibly flawed first trailer, I knew that Jim was a perfect fit to play the bad doctor. Going off of his 90s comedies and early 2000s experimental phase (the weird A Series of Unfortunate Events adaptation, the 2000 Grinch adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind), I knew he was capable of playing very weird, detached dudes, and Robotnik/Eggman seemed right up his alley.
However, the film opts for a more subdued Robotnik- at first. There are glimmers of the mad genius he'll later become, but he starts off as just an arrogant buttwipe who acts and feels like he's the smartest person in the room. Once he starts pursuing Sonic and takes an interest in "the hedgehog's" electric blue quills, he starts to resemble the bad doctor we see in the games. By the time the film's climax rolls around, he's 75% of the way there, having switched into a red and black flightsuit evocative of his design from the games. And shortly after he's defeated by being warped to a mushroom planet (surprisingly, not a dig at Mario; it's a reference to Mushroom Hill Zone from Sonic 3 & Knuckles), he's gone full Eggman- bald head, flared out mustache, goggles that do nothing, and maniacal ramblings included.
While I initially didn't like this approach due to how different Jim's Robotnik (Jimbotnik?) was from the games, I've come to appreciate the writers choosing to make this his origin story just as much as it was Sonic's genesis. It would've been easy for them to just have Eggman already at his apex yet without anything to challenge him (something Sonic would rectify), but they chose to show Robotnik's gradual descent into villainy and potential madness, also making sure to give him a reason to want Sonic out of his hair before he loses it. He's weird, wild, and bent on world domination- eggsactly what one would expect from the bad doctor.
The rest of the human cast is alright. I don't mean that as an insult; it's just that compared to our main trio, there's not much for me to gush about. Maddie is a supportive, caring wife to Tom whose veterinary skills come in handy after Sonic is knocked out by an explosion. Nothing like seeing a positive portrayal of a young man-woman couple in this increasingly confused culture!
Agent Stone is a rarity among Eggman's many underlings from past Sonic media- loyal, competent, and of average intelligence. Sadly, he suffers from the same sycophancy that past Eggman lackeys tend to have when they're not Snively (or Doctor Starline from the IDW Sonic comics, to use a more recent example), but props to the writers for not giving the bad doctor a bumbling henchman whose presence would make Eggman seem like a bad judge of character. Lee Madjoub (Stone's actor) and Jim Carrey play off of each other well, and I'm glad that the film left things open for Stone to return in the sequel (which he did).
If there are any stinkers among the human cast, it's Tom's sister-in-law Rachel. She and her daughter Jojo seem to have only been added so the film could flaunt having more human characters and also have a side plot about Rachel wanting Maddie to divorce Tom that goes nowhere. However, they are plot-relevant, as Jojo is responsible for giving Sonic his iconic shoes. It's a sweet moment, and I feel like it's an important moment for Movie!Sonic since he spends most of the movie running around in worn-down trainers and socks.
Rachel's home also serves as where Sonic and Tom stop to regroup after the former is badly wounded by one of Eggman's drones. So while I feel like Rachel's subplot with wanting Tom gone was kinda pointless, her presence does help the film's narrative move along. Besides, I wouldn't trade the cuteness of Sonic getting his iconic shoes as a gift for anything!
The film's action is kept to a surprising minimum. While the film has many moments where Sonic's speed is shown off (including an amusing bit where he channels his inner Hammy from Over the Hedge; yes, that's really what the VFX team referenced and not the X-Men films), it's not really used in the big actiony way one would expect from a blockbuster. I like this. It allows for the film to make Sonic's speed part of who he is, not something he only gets to whip out when the film declares it necessary.
The only exceptions to this include a roadside fight against one of Eggman's drones involving Tom's truck and the drone deploying smaller and smaller units like a Russian doll, a big chase around the world between Sonic and the bad doctor cleverly utilizing Sonic's rings to change the scenery, and the film's final battle that uses Sonic and Tom's newly established friendship to win the day. Admittedly, I would've liked a bit more action that used Sonic's speed in clever ways (since the truck fight keeps Sonic in the car for most of its runtime and the latter two don't happen until near the end of the film), but what we got was extremely fun and eye-catching. At least the VFX is good enough so the audience can tell what's going on and who's hitting what!
Speaking of the VFX, those who worked on it are the unsung heroes of this film. It takes a lot to make an animation/live-action hybrid work, as suggested by the Who Framed Roger Rabbit? comment earlier. Actors have to make their interactions with their digital co-stars believable, and the VFX has to look like it blends in with its surroundings. And to my surprise, Sonic made both elements work.
I've already mentioned that James Marsden's acting helps carry his friendship with Sonic, but the VFX team went above and beyond to ensure that things turned out just right. Especially so after their blitz to rework everything to include the Hesseified Sonic design. Sonic feels integrated into his environment, he's expressive, and most importantly, he feels real. Not bad for something that had to be overhauled at the last minute! (sucks that one of the companies providing animation shut down one of its facilities due to this and Cats putting it through the financial ringer, though)
If there were any remaining quibbles I have with this film, it's that 1) the soundtrack doesn't really utilize many motifs from the games outside of little nods to "Green Hill Zone", 2) the film fails to address Tom being branded as an enemy of the state for protecting Sonic and punching Robotnik, and 3) Longclaw's death feels like it was thrown in to give Sonic's origin some form of tragedy, but it rings really hollow due to how little she's acknowledged after she gets darted by one of the echidna warriors.
Admittedly, I get Paramount not wanting to pay royalties to the games' composers or to Crush 40 (SEGA's two-man rock band who provided music for Sonic games from 1998-2006), but if they were willing to get Green Hill's theme, then why not go all out? "Endless Possibilities" from Sonic Unleashed would've worked well with Sonic's morning run from the start of the film, and I'm certain I'm not the only one would would've appreciated something like "What I'm Made Of" from Sonic Heroes for Sonic and Eggman's final battle. Then again, we DID get a snippet of Hyper Potions's "Friends" from the animated intro of faux-retro modern classic Sonic Mania during a flashback to Sonic when he was a wee lad, so perhaps someone on the film's soundtrack team wanted to honor the Sonic franchise's rich musical history more but was overruled by the executives who wanted to put pop songs in.
And if The Good Dinosaur comparison earlier in this section made it clear, I wasn't too big on Longclaw's death. She seemed like she was only there to inject Sonic's backstory with a tragic element, something akin to Uncle Ben getting shot, Bruce Wayne seeing what became of his parents after they entered Crime Alley on the way home from seeing Zorro, or Clark Kent being unable to prevent his adoptive father from dying of a heart attack. While I appreciate that the film tried to give Sonic a caretaker for when he was a kid (due to Ken Penders's nonsense giving Knuckles a bajillion family members in the Archie Comics, SEGA is against letting new Sonic media create relatives for characters from the games), Longclaw's character seems very one-note and her death could've easily been cut out of the film.
If Longclaw had to die, I would've preferred it to have been of old age rather than being shot by a dart. Interestingly, that's what the film originally had planned- Longclaw would've gone with Sonic to Earth and would've passed from natural causes. However, someone must've decided against this at the last minute, and so Longclaw is left for dead at the hands of echidna warriors less than 2 minutes after meeting her. This felt weirdly paced even when I saw it in theatres, and I would've much rather the film spent some time establishing Sonic and his adoptive owl mom's relationship before sending everything to crap and the baby Blue Blur to Earth than doing what it did.
Aside from those gripes and the ones I made earlier, Sonic the Hedgehog is a surprisingly better than average video game movie. That's not a terribly high bar what with some of the best reviewed ones being the two Angry Birds flicks, but it's clear that Jeff Fowler and his team had struck a home run. What could've so easily been a generic CGI animal buddy comedy that used the Sonic IP just because it could ended up being a loving tribute to the franchise, a surprisingly sweet origin for the Blue Blur and Doctor Eggman, and a fun film all around. Of course, I wouldn't call this one of the greatest films of all time. That being said, it is one of the best video game movies in recent memory.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 2 (2022): Sadly Not Released on a "2sday" Zone
Compared to its predecessor's sluggish development cycle, Sonic 2 got fast-tracked into production astonishingly quick, especially considering that it was being made during a worldwide pandemic. Within the span of two years, the film was written, filmed, given its shiny visual effects, and fed through post-production. Given such a short production time, one would worry that perhaps Paramount rushed this film into existence and the final product would end up suffering for it.
Fortunately, StH2 is another winner.
The movie picks up around a year after the first one, with Eggman still stranded on the mushroom planet and having Gilligan's Island-ed his surroundings into Rube Goldberg contraptions and seeking a way home. However, one of his efforts results in a red-quilled echidna named Knuckles (Idris Elba) arriving, curious about the quill the bad doctor had managed to snatch from Sonic in the previous film. From there, we transition back to Earth, where Sonic is trying to be a zippy vigilante with decidedly not great results. (Much collateral damage ensues)
Tom decides to confront Sonic about his wannabe vigilanteism and recklessness, telling him that being a hero isn't about what you do for yourself, it's about what you do for others. In other words, with great power comes great responsibility to use that power wisely. Sonic takes this to heart, deciding to streamline Tom and Maddie's trip to Rachel's wedding by using one of the rings. Unbeknownst to him, several events are converging. Not only are Eggman and Knuckles encroaching on Earth, but a little twin-tailed fox nicknamed "Tails" (Colleen O'Shaughnessy; she's so far the only case of a voice actor from the games reprising their role on the big screen) has arrived to warn Sonic about the echidna's arrival.
Unfortunately, Tails is a touch too late, and Knuckles roughhouses Sonic a bit, demanding to know the location of the "Master Emerald" (which neither Sonic nor casual moviegoers know about). After being rescued by Tails and taking shelter at the home of Tom's fellow cop Wade, Sonic discovers that his map from the first movie actually contains a magical final message from Longclaw directing him to the location of the Master Emerald. Will the Blue Blur and his newfound little buddy beat Doctor Eggman and Knuckles to the M.E.'s location? What sorts of bonding will occur on the way there? And what secrets are there to be revealed?
With the synopsis out of the way, let's get talking about the film's individual elements. First off, the integration of elements from the games was a bit more prevalent than the first film. I've already mentioned Tails, the Master Emerald, and Knuckles, but there are many more things from the games than just those three. An organization from Sonic Adventure 2 is revealed to have formed after Sonic and Eggman's worldwide chase at the climax of the first film, a certain alternate state for Sonic is brought into the movieverse, some locations look like they were lifted wholesale from the games, and the mid-credits scene once again reveals a fan favorite character (unlike Tails, though, this figure appears to be a touch more malevolent).
Some might complain that this is excessive "fanservice", but I respectfully disagree. Think about Spider-Man: No Way Home. Aside from the in-story reason they gave for old villains and Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield's Spider-Men being in the film, what reason was there for Tom Holland's Spider-Man to fight his cinematic predecessors' rogues gallery? To me, there seems to be very little thought put into this decision other than baiting audience members with nostalgia, jingling characters like Willem Dafoe as Green Goblin or Alfred Molina as Doctor Octopus in their faces and saying "remember them? They're back now!" in hopes of distracting from the MCU's recent failures to establish new heroes and villains worth talking about (looking at you, Eternals and Doctor Strange 2).
Considering that the Marvel Cinematic Universe seemed like it building up a decent rogues gallery for Tom Holland as Spidey, you'd think they could do the whole "Peter Parker's identity gets exposed to the world and a bunch of villains try to hunt him down" thing without roping in characters from not only older films, but also entirely different universes from the MCU. I mean, they already had Vulture, the Tinkerer, Scorpion and Shocker in Homecoming, so why not complete that bunch with MCU versions of Kraven the Hunter and Black Cat so we could have a new version of the Sinister Six? But nope; Marvel just HAD to drag the multiverse into things just because they could. As a result, we once again have a film where Tom Holland Spider-Man is denied the chance to be his own hero with his own rogues gallery, instead having to deal with other people's problems.
Now let's compare that to StH2. Not only did it bring in elements from the remainder of the "Genesis era" games (Sonic 2, Sonic 3 & Knuckles), but it made them feel organic within the world that had been established by the first movie. The Master Emerald and Knuckles are connected to the tribe of echidnas who hunt down Longclaw at the start of the first movie, Tails learned about Sonic thanks to his blackout meltdown from the first movie, and the government is taking precautionary measures to prevent another "Green Hills incident".
(Also, the film has a GENIUS way of recontextualizing movie 1's mid-credits scene)
See? It's not "fanservice" if it feels like natural additions to the world established by previous installments of the franchise. Tangent aside, let's talk about some of the newbies.
Tails is an endearing, cute, and smart kid who (like Sonic in the first film) feels more authentic than his recent portrayals in the games. Yes, he's smart, but he's inexperienced and rather lonely. He doesn't have much of an arc here, but I quite enjoyed seeing him and Sonic bond throughout the film's runtime. Kinda felt like the Blue Blur was taking what he'd learned from Tom and Maddie from the first film and passing it on to the young fox kit.
Knuckles is the MVP of the film. Recent depictions of the character in Sonic media haven't been the kindest to him, often portraying him as a blithering idiot. (see his Sonic Boom version) Fortunately, this movie went and did him justice. He's a serious, honor-bound warrior bent on seeing Sonic's defeat and the reclamation of the Master Emerald to right a wrong from long ago. He's rougher than the rest of them, tougher than leather, and unlike Sonic, he doesn't chuckle (he'd rather flex his muscles).
One of the things that I love about Movie Knuckles is that his redemption arc, while expected if you're familiar with the character's history, was written in such a manner that ANYONE could understand it. Granted, he's duped into teaming up with Eggman and he wants to see Sonic beaten into a blue pulp at first, but you get the feeling that there's more to this guy than meets the eye from some of his dialogue and interactions with the bad doctor. A scene halfway through the film reveals that he and Sonic both lost important figures in their lives on the same day, explaining why he's so bent on seeing the hedgehog's defeat and tying the two together.
Sonic feels pity for him, inviting him to join his side... and then Tails tries attacking Knuckles, causing the red echidna to think the blue hedgehog was distracting him, setting up for a "betrayal". However, when Tails is hurt by two of Eggman's bombs, Knuckles takes note of the fact Sonic goes to save his newfound little buddy rather than go after the relic he and the bad doctor just stole from our two heroes. It's a small moment, but it plants the seed for Knuckles's redemption later in the film.
When his epiphany and following redemption do happen, they feel super satisfying, and every second of him working with Sonic and Tails to stop Eggman in the film's climax is equally earned. It's not a revolutionary character arc by any means, but for a long-time Sonic fan and an aspiring writer like me, Knuckles was executed well. Nothing about his arc felt rushed, his motivation made sense, and his redemption felt earned. I can't believe I'm saying this, but I'm actually mildly excited for the Paramount+ spin-off show to experiment with him. Pair him up with the Chaotix (Knuckles's on-off allies; composed of Vector the Crocodile, Espio the Chameleon and Charmy Bee), and I'm certain you'd have comedy gold.
Regarding the returning characters, I feel as if my feelings on Sonic and Doctor Eggman have flip-flopped. Since his time on the mushroom planet had to have affected Eggman's sanity, Jim Carrey is able to play more to his strengths as an exaggerated, absurd actor who relies on weird facial expressions and slapstick humor to get big yuks. I would argue that this works for Eggman very well, as the bad doctor's best incarnations have leaned into his bizarre nature to balance out his diabolical machinations. He may have an IQ of 300 and tons of killer robots at his command, but he's got the emotional intelligence and foresight of an impetuous child. And that usually leads to hilarity (it does so here as well).
Conversely, I feel like Sonic was somewhat hurt by Ben Schwartz's vocal performance and the writing. I don't know if it's me getting older or not, but I found Schwartz-Sonic to be more obnoxious than he was in the first film. Admittedly, the writers and Schwartz's performance were able to be sincere when they needed to be, which is more than I can say about Sonic in some of the most recent games. His arc about learning what it means to be a hero and how he can count on his new friend (and rival-turned-friend, in Knuckles's case) is executed decently; it's just that the writers must've felt that Sonic needed to be in non-stop quip mode for most of the film or kids wouldn't be engaged. (A shame, given that the first film managed to balance his humor and heart so well)
I appreciate that Tom and Maddie, while initially suggested to have been sidelined by the trailers, were actually critical to the film's plot again. Tom sets Sonic's arc for this movie in motion and evolves into more of a father figure to the Blue Blur (much to Sonic's consternation... at first), Maddie helps nurse Tails back to health and save both him and Sonic from the military (it's a whole plot thing), and both of them help protect Sonic during the film's climax. Compared to Paramount's past cinematic adaptations of nostalgic properties (looking at you, Transformers), the human characters actually do get to do things that advance the story and aren't just there to save the film's budget from bloating due to having to render so many CGI critters with so much detail.
Also, I just think their whole relationship with Sonic (and later Tails and Knuckles) is so dang sweet.
One of the most widely-criticized aspects of Sonic 2 is a side plot about Rachel getting married only for the whole thing to be revealed as a government plot designed to capture Sonic suppose he shows up. I will concede that this was one of the weirder aspects of the film, but compared to Rachel's subplot in the first movie, this was far more enjoyable. Instead of trying to shoehorn her in with very few narrative consequences, this portion of the film seems to thrive on the absurdity of a wedding being used as a cover for a government operation to capture a blue hedgehog who's gotta go fast while also giving Rachel some minor but much-needed development.
Was it necessary? That's doubtful. But was it entertaining? Yes.
Compared to the first movie, I'd argue that the writing was better here than it was there. There were more moments that played to the cast's strengths, the funny moments were slightly funnier, and I appreciate the greater attempt at adding pathos to the movieverse through things like Knuckles's backstory, the lore surrounding Longclaw and the Master Emerald, or Sonic's relationship with Tom, Maddie and Tails. However, there were also some scenes that felt like they were thrown in there to fulfill executive demands, such as a gratuitous dance battle between Sonic, Tails and some Siberian guy that seems to only exist to use "Uptown Funk" as the soundtrack.
(Admittedly, the scene is a good showcase of Sonic's ingenuity and his growing bond with Tails, but it could've used other music)
The biggest critique I have for Sonic 2 is that the film's action was excessive. Worse yet, I'd argue that it suffers from what I like to call "Dragon Ball Z fight choreography", where two characters are zipping around a wide space like feral cats after chugging 15 cappuccinos bonking into each other as if they were bumper cars going 200 mph. This isn't interesting; all it does is make the audience's eyes hurt and make their brains struggle to comprehend what's going on. All they see is brightly colored objects slamming into one another and that gets their dopamine going.
Yeah, you can tell that I don't like DBZ fight choreography.
While I said that I wish Sonic 1 used Sonic's speed more in action sequences, I noted that I'd rather it be used cleverly. Some of Sonic 2's fight scenes just feel like a kid mashing two of his action figures against one another, something only heightened by the fact the writers chose to make Knuckles as fast as Sonic. Personally, I'd rather have Knuckles be fast, but not as zippy as the Blue Blur. I mean, he does say at one point that he's been training his whole life to take Sonic down, so why not reveal that he worked to get as fast as he was instead of being naturally fast?
(Additionally, if Knuckles is as fast as Sonic, then why is Eggman still so fascinated by Sonic's speed?)
The consequences of making Knuckles as fast as Sonic is that the fight scenes lose a bit of tension. Think about how things could've been different. What if Sonic's lack of combat-readiness cost him big time once Knuckles showed up? That way, he'd have to work to be a better fighter and play to his strengths. We get a glimpse of this in the final film when Sonic is dodging a flurry of Knuckles's swings and commentating "You know, for someone who's super strong, you really suck at punching", and that made me envision a version of the film where instead of trying to fight the echidna directly, Sonic would've chosen to focus on the evasive side of things (something only enhanced by his speed). Instead of directly fighting his red opponent, Sonic should've used his speed to outmaneuver Knuckles.
That would've been creative and interesting, and it probably would've allowed for the writers to show off Sonic's clever side as a contrast to Knuckles being so action-oriented. Sadly, that's not what we got, instead getting action sequences that play out like a hyper 7-year-old pinball wizard racking up his score after getting multiple balls in play. However, I don't entirely dislike Sonic 2's action setpieces.
Eggman gets a fun slapstick-heavy scene early in the film (with a The Day the Earth Stood Still reference that I now get after having seen that film during my sophomore year in college), Knuckles's first bout with Sonic establishes his strength well and shows how outgunned Sonic is, Sonic and Knuckles's snowboard battle is well-balanced and seasoned with vulnerability we haven't seen out of the echidna warrior prior to that point in the film, and the final battle (all of it) is so deliciously Sonic-y that it'll make your heart leap for joy even if you're not terribly familiar with Sonic as a franchise.
Granted, there are moments in some of the latter three battles that feel like DBZ fight choreography is rearing its ugly head, but for the most part, I believe they're well-handled. Speaking of things that were well-handled, let's talk about the VFX. It's about on par with the first film, although there are times where it felt like the CGI critters didn't really mesh well with their human counterparts or live-action surroundings due to lighting issues (see the aftermath of the Siberian dance-off).
Ultimately, Sonic 2 is a worthy sequel to the first film. Granted, it isn't perfect, but it's tonally consistent with the first film, it continues to develop returning characters (and it establishes its newbies well), it expands the world beyond what we saw in movie 1, and when it's good, it gets good. I don't know about you, but that sounds like a good sequel to me. Here's to hoping Sonic 3 will be a worthy conclusion to the trilogy (especially considering this film's mid-credits scene)!
CONCLUSION ZONE: Where Do We Go From Here?
You know, if it weren't for the decision to go back and rework movie!Sonic's design to be more appealing, I don't think I'd be writing this article. Okay, maybe I'd still be writing it, but this article would mainly be about why I thought the first film was an "okay kids film brought down by Sonic's horrendous character design" and what I'd suggest for a potential reboot. There probably wouldn't be a sequel in this hypothetical scenario, either, because... well, no one would've wanted to spend one movie with ugly Sonic. What makes you think people would've wanted a second movie with him?
Thankfully, things changed. Tyson Hesse was called in to fix Sonic's design, and what could've easily been yet another financial and critical flop for Paramount (they were just coming off of Terminator: Dark Fate) and another stain on Sonic's already compromised legacy turned into one of their greatest successes. And given how movie #2 has been crushing it at the box office (even outclassing Pixar's latest film Lightyear, although that film has bigger problems to deal with than box office struggles), Paramount's decision to listen to audience feedback just keeps getting better and better.
The Sonic movies, while not paragons of cinema, are significant in that they represent three things. First, they show what happens when big corporations listen to their massive consumer base- they get happy audiences and therefore loads of money (combining movies 1 and 2's box office gross, they made around $700-something million). Considering how Disney has been treating its user base in 2022 by choosing alienating identity politics over appealing to the widest audience possible they would be wise to learn from Paramount's handling of Sonic.
Second, they've gone and broken the barrier for movies adapting video games. Admittedly, video games are hard to translate from their dominant form to another medium. With games, you're in control of the main character. With movies, you're just an observer watching them do things. The result is that the story of the game may need a few rewrites to make the main character an actual character and not an avatar for you to use as you explore this brave new world the game introduces you to.
In addition, executives who don't give a darned sock about the source material may demand changes to give the movie a broader range of appeal. While understandable, this executive meddling has the potential to derail the adaptation by forcing in celebrities unfit to play characters from the games, radically altering the lore from the world of the games, adding new characters just so a big celebrity can be in the movie, or forcing in the tired trope of "character from other world (read: the world of the games) ends up on our world and wacky shenanigans ensue". As a result, fans of the games are usually disappointed in the adaptation and film critics bash the end result.
Except the Sonic movies do most of these things... and by some manner of the arcane, make them work. Ben Schwartz and Jim Carrey bring new life to their respective roles, the changes to in-game lore are ones that work better for the big screen, and Sonic and co. running around Earth doesn't feel too out of place since they actually justified it rather than just doing it for the sake of saving money. Heck, even the movie-original characters like Tom, Maddie or Agent Stone feel better-integrated than those in movies like Detective Pikachu (if you want to make a good Pokémon movie, adapt one of the Mystery Dungeon games) or The Angry Birds Movie 2.
Finally, they're both good Sonic stories. As a Sonic fan, I'll admit that it's rather disappointing that SEGA has struggled to tell good stories in recent games. It's all just Saturday morning cartoon fluff with no real stakes or character depth (a shame when you consider how good the 1998-2009 writing was; yes, even in the infamous Sonic '06). The best stories we've gotten in recent years have been from the comics from IDW, but sadly, they're not mainstream enough to shift the public image of Sonic as a 90s has-been who "got too melodramatic" in the 2000s and now has to be "safe" and "kid-friendly" in hopes of regaining some ex-fans.
Fortunately, that's not the direction the movies took. Sonic 1 provides a good origin for the Blue Blur and Doctor Eggman while also serving as a fun buddy comedy; Sonic 2 establishes a whole bunch of lore, establishes Tails and Knuckles, and keeps up the fun buddy comedy vibes from the original film. The writers know they're not trying to be Shakespeare, yet they're not writing for the lowest common denominator. Unlike the games, Sonic isn't a catchphrase-spewing soulless mascot, Tails isn't a scared baby boy always crying for help despite having the smarts to get out of the messes he finds himself in, and Knuckles isn't a braindead moron and a pushover.
Just because these characters are Technicolor cartoon animals who go fast doesn't mean they should be written with the depth of a puddle. Kids can tell when someone is writing in a condescending manner, and it's clear that the fine gents who wrote the Sonic movies knew that. Sonic's insecurities about his loneliness (movie 1) or his responsibilities as a hero (movie 2) are real and valid, he's allowed to have more than 1 emotion, and he gets to be a real hero, not just a mindless quip machine. Tails learns to be confident in his own abilities and develops a sweet brotherhood with Sonic. Knuckles gets to be an intimidating warrior with a surprising amount of depth and heart. And don't even get me started on Jim Carrey as Eggman! That's perfect casting right there.
I think the biggest difference between the Sonic games right now and the movies is that the movies are being unabashed about what they are. The games are still trying to scrub off the stink from the late 2000s, but as a result, they've lost some of the edge that the series once had. Characters were reduced to shells of what they once were, the world became incredibly inconsistent, and the writing became painfully cringeworthy, with all the "self-aware" quips of a Marvel wannabe and constantly undercutting any attempts with drama with bad jokes. It's almost like SEGA is ashamed of what Sonic was, so they're sanding it down and rounding off its rough edges to make the franchise seem more accessible at the cost of alienating the pre-existing fandom.
And yet Sonic 1 and Sonic 2 show that all they really need to do to succeed is treat things like they matter. Show that there's pathos and logos behind character choices. Don't reduce these characters of 30-something years to only having one defining trait. Make character relationships matter. Keep the world consistent and well-defined. Do all that, and the audience will be engaged in your story. They admire sincerity, not artificial attempts at appeal.
Now, where do we go from here?
Well, Sonic 3 has been announced (alongside a TV show on Paramount+). I'm excited for this one given that Fowler and the writers from movies 1 and 2 are coming back, but sadly it seems as if Jim Carrey might not be. Carrey said that he was planning on retiring after movie number 2. If he really is retiring, then I say congratulations, good sir- your career went out with a bang.
He might come back if there's a good script, but if he isn't, then I urge Paramount to either go fully animated and recast Eggman with a Jim Carrey soundalike or to hire Rainn Wilson of The Office fame to take over the role. I mean, Dwight Schrute already seemed like he had megalomaniacal tendencies, so why not go full ham and let Wilson take over the role of the bad doctor? Then again, it might be jarring for kids to go from Jim "Later, haters!" Carrey as Eggman to Rainn "Identity theft is not a joke, Jim!" as Eggman, so perhaps it's for the best that Jimbo sticks around.
Regarding my personal wishes for movie #3:
Overall, I really like the Sonic movies. Again, I don't consider these to be among the greatest films ever made, but rather some of the nicest video game movies and also some of the best Sonic stories in recent years. Hope you enjoyed reading my ramblings, everyone. God bless!