At this point, for better or worse, almost everyone has already heard about the new
Sonic the Hedgehog live-action movie. The reason? It's been heavily criticized by fans, who were very vocal about the character's redesign for the movie.
It was easy for fans to start making comparisons with nother video game live-action movie; one that's been getting a lot of praise for it's insanely accurate character designs: Warner Bros. and Legendary's
Detective Pikachu.
Rob Letterman, the Director for the upcoming Detective Pikachu film, has recently commented on this whole Sonic the Hedgehog debacle; claiming that the people over at Paramount are in a difficult spot when it comes to this redesign.
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There’s no right or wrong to how you make one of these movies. It would be very difficult for us to redesign anything. We spent a year designing all the characters ahead of shooting so that we could get it all right. If we were off by an inch on Pikachu, [actor] Justice Smith’s performance would go right out the window. For us, it would have been impossible — but that doesn’t mean they can’t do it. I wouldn’t want to be in their shoes — they’re in a difficult spot."
Letterman also mentions that for
Detective Pikachu, they had been studying how animals behave give some of these traits to the Pokémon in the movie, in order for these creatures to look even more realistic; something that fans will definitely appreciate.
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We studied a lot of animals and how they behave and how they interact to ensure we got it right. Bulldogs, in particular, for Bulbasaur and how they act in packs or how they get you to pay attention. There’s an extraordinary amount of craft that went into making the movie on the animation side as we tried to bring everything to life."
The differences between the two movies are very apparent when wtching their respective trailers, and hopefully Sonic fans get what they've been wanting out of a live-action
Sonic the Hedgehog movie when the film finally releases; this time with a design that doesn't insult neither the character or the fans.
Sonic the Hedgehog is a live-action adventure comedy based on the global blockbuster videogame franchise from Sega that centers on the infamously brash bright blue hedgehog. The film follows the (mis)adventures of Sonic as he navigates the complexities of life on Earth with his newfound – human – best friend Tom Wachowski (James Marsden). Sonic and Tom join forces to try and stop the villainous Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey) from capturing Sonic and using his immense powers for world domination. The film also stars Tika Sumpter and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic.
Sonic the Hedgehog speeds into theaters on the 7th of November.