Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Sonic the Hedgehog Movie (2020)
297 Plays2 years ago
In this episode, Adam and Satsu discuss the widely discussed Sonic the Hedgehog film. Was it as good as everyone said? Or did the film play it too safe? Only one way to find out in this latest episode!
For more Satsunami content, please click here!
For more Chatsunami content, please click here!
--- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/chatsunami/message
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Sonic's Media Overload
00:00:05
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami.
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello everybody, and welcome to another episode of Chatsunami. I'm Satsunami, and I cannot believe it Adam. I've finally got you to come on the episode and talk about Sonic the Hedgehog. Yeah, I'm not sure how this happened. I think I might have taken a wrong turn at Albuquerque, but hey ho, here we are now, so hello, hello, good to be back. I was just about to say that, you know,
00:00:43
Speaker
left rush and it turned right. And now you're falling down the rabbit hole with sonic media. Oh no. You're powerful. Well. It was only a matter of time. In your presence it was only a matter of time until this happened. That is true, yes. I'm totally not like a cult leader when it comes to Sonic the Hedgehog. It's like, yeah, try Sonic Adventure. I'm sure you'll love it. You're far more benevolent. You're like the head of a major religion rather than a cult. Well, all I ask is for a donation of a hundred rings for an extra life. Oh no, the ties.
00:01:12
Speaker
Anyway, my site hobby's assigned. Yeah, we're going to be talking about quite an anomaly in terms of cinema, and I never thought I'd be saying that when talking about Sonic the Hedgehog.
Adam and Satsunami's Sonic Experiences
00:01:23
Speaker
Before we dive into what we're going to be talking about today, I've got a question for you Adam, and don't worry, no pressure, but where were you in the night, Duncan? What is your relationship with the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise?
00:01:36
Speaker
I want to say passing, but even then I don't think it's quite as substantial as a passing relationship. The only Sonic game that I've really put some time into and really tried was Sonic Adventure 1. That was at Satsunami's house when he kidnapped me and tapped me down.
00:01:56
Speaker
No, I'm just kidding. We tried it out. That's the only real game I've put some time into. I've played some of the 2D ones for a little bit until my brain exploded because I couldn't handle the speed. So I really don't have any kind of relationship. I never had a Sega console, and I never really played any Sonic games, even when I was growing up. So really no relationship to speak of. Anyway, thank you for coming and listening to this episode of Chats in Army.
00:02:22
Speaker
really in our, you know, group. I want to say you're more like the FPS aficionado, like for Medal of Honor. I'm the mature gamer. Did you print off that badge yourself? I did wear it this hour. Hi, I'm Adam, I'm a mature gamer. Hide behind your chest-eye walls of checking keywords of war copies. Just you wait until my health regenerates and you'll be
00:02:48
Speaker
Just you wait till you get that jam off your face, yeah? Then you'll be sorry. Moving back onto Sonic, yeah, for me, I grew up pretty much in a gaming household. My brothers were kind of casual gamers, and that's not slight against them, but one of my brothers in particular used to play like I will at the Sonic games on the Nintendo. Sorry, Nintendo. Wow. So you were saying you were a Sonic fan?
00:03:26
Speaker
I love that Italian plumber Sonic. It's the mustache.
00:03:36
Speaker
I also love his sidekick, Crash Bandicoot. I thought they worked well too. When they're fighting Master Chief. Yeah, along with Spyro, who just slips down and saves the day. Oh god, so yeah, sorry, let me say that again. So my brothers both had each of the flagship consoles. One of my brothers was more on the side of Nintendo and my other brother was more on the side of Sega. And I remember growing up and
00:04:04
Speaker
seeing my brother play the Mega Drive or, for those in America, the Sega Genesis. And when we were playing together, you know, I was having a good time with the duty games, but I don't know, like, they didn't grab
Transition from 2D to 3D Gaming
00:04:17
Speaker
me the same. Even with Mario, like, I played them and, you know, they were all right, but we kind of, it was right to say, isn't it, Adam, that we grew up in a kind of transitional period of gaming?
00:04:28
Speaker
yeah I'd certainly say probably by the time that we were both getting into gaming would have been the oh god is it the sixth generation of consoles so I think your Xbox as a game cubes were most most likely to be our kind of quote-unquote first consoles oh it's about an attendant 64 as well I suppose just before that in your dream care so yeah we're very much in the 3d era age of gaming
00:04:49
Speaker
because I always remember the very first time I saw Sonic in 3D and that was when my brother got a Dreamcast and I always remember seeing it because I think I've said this story before on the show but I think I was going to school or a dentist appointment or something rubbish anyway and I remember my brother, he was like off.
00:05:08
Speaker
school for whatever reason. Yeah he was playing through Sonic Adventure and for all those Sonic Adventure fans out there it's the very beginning scene where you're playing the Sonic, you're fighting against Chaos who's just this watery demon blob thing and I remember thinking wow this game looks so cool and everything but I kind of got dragged away at the last minute. You know that way where it's like you want to see the end of it and it's like okay little Sitsu time to go. It's like no! That when you learn that life is cruel
00:05:34
Speaker
Yes, exactly. That made me bitter and a Sonic fan. Yeah, so that kind of got me curious and eventually that just laid into a rabbit hole of playing like Sonic Adventure for the Gamecube when they re-released it, Sonic Adventure 2, Sonic Heroes, those were kind of the main three. Even, and I know this is controversial, but I was even looking forward to the Shadow of the Hedgehog game when it came out. I mean, I don't blame me on me as a hedgehog with guns. If I'd known that that was a thing at the time, I think I'd be very excited for that.
00:06:02
Speaker
I mean, it is a terrible game, but I kid you not, I remember my mum actually bought this game for me. Of all things, I remember I was in church and my mum asked me to get something out her purse, so I was like, okay, so I opened up her bag. And then all of a sudden I saw this copy of Shadow the Hedgehog, and it was like one of those medical moments where I was like, oh, you're a good God, thank you.
00:06:25
Speaker
And people, apparently, like some of our friends she was talking to was like, why is Satsu continually staring into your bag? And it's like, well, do you see the shadow of the hedgehog? Sonic, for me, has always been that kind of comfort food of gaming. It's one of those series that I grew up with. And although I don't really have the same opinions of the later games, some of them were better than others, of course. But I don't know. The adventure series definitely, for me, was kind of the peak.
00:06:54
Speaker
of my enjoyment of the series. Whether you've watched my videos either on YouTube or on Twitch, you'll know that I always return to Sonic Adventure quite a lot because it's one of those series that I played so much. But you'll probably be sick of watching me, Adam. No, I'm still trying to watch you play City Escape. I keep always missing it. Every time I join you, I'm always too late. I'm still waiting for you to play City Escape. But I get that. It's that game series that obviously hits you in your nostalgia glance.
00:07:25
Speaker
game or that series of games that we probably played as kids that, you know, we can't even look ab... and it's not to say in these bad games, it's the games you can't even look objectively at anymore because they're just so near and dear to your heart and you just love them and just return to
Sonic's Media Expansion
00:07:37
Speaker
continually. Of course, with a popular series like Sonic, you of course had a whole lot of media attached to it. You had comic books, which I think that would be a good episode for another day because I do not want to deep dive into how there's like aliens and the Kidna Wars and things like that. Who knew?
00:07:54
Speaker
a kindness could wage war. Not me until I read those. That's a whole other world. You've got the comics, you had the TV shows. I always remember the TV shows. There was like loads of them. One apparently was considered really good called Sonic Sat AM, which was like a kind of like the environmental friendly one where it's like them
00:08:13
Speaker
as a resistance group fighting against Dr. Eggman and everything. You had the Adventures of Sonic, which was like this goofy cartoon, and then you had Sonic Underground where it was like a rock star. Have you heard of any of these ones, by the way? This is wild to me. This is a whole world I have no idea existed. Okay, we'll be right back in a couple of minutes until Adam watches this. Now I'm all the kiddin'. For now, I'm all the kiddin'. Wait till Season 5 of Chet's enough.
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, you've got just a long flowing beard and you're just like, you don't know the shit I've been through. I'm recording from my cell in
Sonic Movie Evolution and Backlash
00:08:47
Speaker
the sanitarium. The satsuterium. By that point, I'm hoping that chat tsunami is like popular enough that I can fund it. That you can build a sanitarium. It's like we couldn't buy better mics, but you know what, that's all we could afford.
00:09:02
Speaker
But yeah, my pettiness to earn money to make a joke a reality aside, I've always heard that Sonic is one of those series that a lot of people have said, oh, they should make a film of it. And I don't know because technically there is already a Sonic the Hedgehog film and it's like more of a cartoon.
00:09:22
Speaker
It's terrible. Sonic fights against the robot self, Metal Sonic, and there's like an owl mentor figure. But instead of this film we're about to talk about where, you know, the owl's very dignified and things. This owl is an old man that nearly crashes a plane and then dresses up as a 90s surfer dude. So the 90s were a different time, okay? Adam, back me up on this. The 90s were just a different time. It's true, but also why aren't we watching this film? Next week, don't you worry.
00:09:49
Speaker
Do you know, funny enough, I actually watched this film with Craigie C from the Bead and Chill podcast and then, oh boy, it is bad. Was it everything you hoped it would be and more? And worse, yeah. Knuckles has a hat in it though. Oh my god, that's the worst thing. Knuckles actually has a hat and I have no idea why. There's also a cat girl for some weird reason. And I don't mean like a cat, you know, like an anthropomorphic cat. I mean an anime girl with a tail in the ears. Are we talking D4? Are we talking D4 style?
00:10:17
Speaker
yeah nearly yeah only if the tale was real yeah that's um the sweaty game by the way i'm assuming that's what you were referring to yeah everybody go type in d4 cat lady it's into youtube and you'll see what we're talking about it made me the man i am today
00:10:33
Speaker
Twisted and bitter. But anyway, D4 Recite, that's the next episode. Even though they've had loads of series, I mean there was even Sonic X as well, you know, the anime series. Despite all of that, despite all the series, the external media and things, we have never had a proper film for Sonic the Hedgehog. And I don't know whether that's a blessing or a curse. You can tell me in the comments, but it just seems weird that it's never had a film. Because even Mario had a film. And it's gonna have another film this year with
00:11:02
Speaker
Chris Pratt as the man that met the legend, but that's a rant for another day. Yeah, there was much rejoicing.
Sonic Movie Success
00:11:08
Speaker
But then of course in 2019 this film was announced, wasn't it? Or maybe 2018, might have been further back, but they announced it and that of course led to the very very infamous, do you want to explain the infamous trailer? Yeah so where they thought hey we have this cartoon hedgehog
00:11:27
Speaker
but what if we tried to make it look like a real hedgehog crossed with a human being and yeah everybody was like oh my god please kill this thing with fire. It's actually one of the few times that a film's got so much backlash that they actually had to redesign the character model. That was actually really baffling to me because I remember seeing the trailer and it was played against I think it was gangster paradise was it?
00:11:51
Speaker
It was, you think you're right? Yeah, and it was like this horrible 3D model of Sonic. He had like human teeth, he had like tiny eyes, like beady eyes, and it's like, I honestly don't know if there is a copy of the film out there that uses the original model. Do you think there is? There's probably a cursed copy somewhere that, you know, but reads somewhere and buried next to all the copies of E.T. the game for to be seen. And there it is, your Atari Bashard. Been a while I feel like since I'm back to Atari.
00:12:19
Speaker
That is true, yeah. So props to you for lasting for so long. So in all honesty, is it safe to say that this film kind of broke the mould in terms of really just like, this is going to sound terrible, but being a good video game film
00:12:34
Speaker
I definitely think it's one of the few examples. There are others out there, I mean, I have a soft spot, I'm not gonna lie, I have a soft spot for the 90s Mario Bros. film. I really like that film, but I know, I know, generally, it's not considered a very good film. Definitely something that's one of the few examples, I'm just trying to think if it broke the mould, because I'm...
00:12:52
Speaker
I feel there's another film out there that was based on a video game that people, that was at least genuinely right, but it's one of the very, you're right, it's one of the very few. There's not many that you can stack up on the good side of, you know, the video game. Sorry, the movies based on video games. Well, I think the year before was Detective Pikachu. Oh, that's the one. Was that the one? I was thinking of, you're right.
00:13:13
Speaker
yeah 2019 was when Detective Pikachu came out and that was I think maybe that was the one that was kind of regarded as you know oh they can actually make a good film yeah or a good video game based film and yeah I was even surprised because the first time I saw this film was one of my friends brought it over and he's not even a Sonic fan he just said he got it for his birthday and it sounds like the beginning of like a creepy pasta
00:13:38
Speaker
It's just like, I got it for my birthday. His uncle from Sega got it from... Yeah, exactly. His uncle Nintendo from Sega. Yeah, the rest was really history from there. But of course, you know, you might be wondering why are we reviewing this film this week? And the reason being that the UK release date for this film was on Valentine's Day. Would you believe? I mean, I can think of no other date in the year which a Sonic film should be released.
00:14:05
Speaker
Exactly. I mean, you know, you've got the candles, you've got the romantic dinner, you've got a blue hedgehog staring into your soul. What more could you ask for other than a fishing rod for your Valentine's Day treat? Same without any further ado,
Analyzing the Sonic Film's Narrative
00:14:20
Speaker
while we dive into this clearly love fest of a film, this rom-com, okay, we will dive in, but before that, as always, we will be right back just after these messages.
00:14:31
Speaker
Welcome to Chatsunami, a variety podcast that talks about topics, from gaming and films, to streaming in general interest. Previously on Chatsunami, we discussed Game of the Decade, Deadly Premonition, the romantic thriller, Birdemic, and listen to us get all sappy as we discuss our top 5 Christmas films. If that sounds like your cup of tea, then you can find us an anchor, Spotify, YouTube, and all good podcast apps. As always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.
00:15:02
Speaker
We are Beer and Chill Podcast. Podcast where we review TV shows, games, movies, and whatever else takes our fancy. So what are you waiting for? If you're a cool kid like us, you're gonna listen to the Beer and Chill Podcast. You can get it anywhere from Spotify all the way to your grandma's radio. My name is Jan. And I'm Cricky C. And we are Beer and Chill.
00:15:37
Speaker
So Adam, I've got to ask, what were your first impressions of this film? I actually really liked this film. I had a lot of fun. I think it's a very fun film. You know, it wasn't a chore to watch at all. So I watched this in my fiance and we both had a really good time with it. It's of a good length. It has good pacing. There's lots of funny moments in it. There's good action. So yeah, like I genuinely was very favorable towards this film. I'm not going to say it's one of my favorite top 10 films of all time, but I was surprised at how much I actually really enjoyed it.
00:16:06
Speaker
You're saying this isn't the Citizen Kane of video game films? I will say this is the Citizen Kane of Sega video games. Well, you know what? I actually can't deny that. I don't know if there's another film out there based on the Sega property.
00:16:21
Speaker
I have to admit, before I watched this film, I'm wondering if you thought the same as well, but I remember hearing about this film and you know, the controversy behind it and thinking, eh, I really want to waste an hour and a half watching this film when I know it is just going to be disappointing, you know. Of course, when I watched it with my friend, I was like, wow, this is actually good, but were you the same?
00:16:43
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, when I first heard it was released, again, having no real sort of interest or love for the Sonic franchise, it wasn't really a film that was on my radar, you know, and also as well, I kind of presume that this is probably not going to be very good.
00:16:59
Speaker
so I'll leave this one you know by the wayside but then I heard people say it actually was very good people saying not only was it very good for a video game film but it also was a good film overall so I thought well that's interesting well maybe at some point I'll catch it but I don't know if I hadn't had the impetus of Chatsunami to watch it if I've gotten if I would have gotten around to seeing it but I did. Would you say it was worth it then? Not to put you on the spot.
00:17:24
Speaker
to make a snap judgment. I think it is worth it. It is fun. It's a fun film to watch. I don't think it's a film that will maybe stay with you for the rest of your life. I don't think it's going to change your life in any way. But for an hour and a half, there's a lot worse things you could do. You could spend your time doing. I think it's a lot of fun. I would recommend by most people watching it, because I do think you will have at least a good time watching it. It's not offensive in any way.
00:17:51
Speaker
because I think this is one of the core questions that popped up about this film where, don't get me wrong, there's a lot of good bits in it and overall it's like a good kind of, as you said, relatively inoffensive film but I think people were kind of asking the question of, is this a good film or is it a good film because the standard for video game films is set so low? Is this a good film because of its own merit or is it just because of the failures of the past?
00:18:20
Speaker
I think it's a really good point. I think it gets a slight bump because of the previous failures in this genre. So I do think it gets a slight bump because of that. I do think though it is, it is still a good film. So I think it still would be categorized as good. I think that it just gets that kind of extra push because well, the last video game film that we did here was Alone in the Dark, if I recall. I'm going to try and compare the two of them because, you know, one is Sonic and the other one is a dumpster fire. To pin it nicely.
00:18:48
Speaker
Yes, exactly. Not to be offensive to dumpster fires. So I take it we won't be getting our sponsorship from the director of that film or the main actor of that film. No, I think it's more likely that I'll be challenged to a boxing match. Like if you've able, we get a sponsorship. OK, so I just want to kind of stop the episode quickly to put out applications for a new co-host. Just so that, just in case that happens, you know, I'm being proactive. You probably could beat me up in fairness. I don't like my chances, but
00:19:18
Speaker
To be fair, I think he could beat both of us up even if we went together. Yes, that's why we run a podcast, not a boxing ring. But be careful Mr Ball, I don't know if you've heard, but I'm a mature gamer. Yes, that is true. He is a badass. He has got a sign on his door that says gamer at work. So you better be careful, you know.
00:19:39
Speaker
You better watch your chest high walls because he's coming. Exactly, they'll probably get you. As I said before, for a franchise like Sonic, there is honestly so many ways they could have taken this film. I mean, you'll probably be familiar with a lot of properties over the years that have been turned into films, like the kind of old 80s, 90s cartoons like Alvin and the Chipmunks, Woody Woodpecker, the Smurfs, that kind of thing. Ninja Turtles, yeah.
00:20:04
Speaker
Ninja Turtles there where they've tried to make it into like a film or rather like a live-action film and nine times out of ten they don't really work because obviously they're for kids but as it's safe to say they're kind of borderline defensive at times
00:20:20
Speaker
They definitely can be, as well, because I feel a lot of these films came out in the kind of, you know, formative years of CGI, so they have not aged well in the slightest. Or, you know, if it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, some of it's really like offensive rubber suits and stuff, you know, that are probably quite good for the time, but now you're like, oh my god, they look terrible. So yeah, I feel a lot of these came out like a bad time, technology-wise. Well, at least with Sonic, I feel now we're at a stage where technology, the available technology, can render, you know, a much better version of that kind of cartoon character.
00:20:48
Speaker
I think if this came out earlier then yeah definitely I would not have worked the same. Could you imagine a guy in like a rubber sonic suit running about?
00:20:57
Speaker
I really want to see that now. If we like those fail videos you see of people in the kind of blow up T-Rex. Yeah. I mean, I have, I've changed, well, I've seen two versions. I've seen the people when, you know, they obviously mascot suits were selling it. And then I've seen the people who decide to paint themselves blue and run very fast. And let me tell you, there is not a happy medium in between now.
00:21:20
Speaker
Although this is me showing off like my Sonic neardom here but I always remember in probably one of the worst considered games of the franchise but Sonic 06 there's actually a guy called Sonic Man who like he clears a helmet and a Sonic t-shirt and they keep saying I'm the real Sonic and he runs around going vrrrrr and you're like could I just feel bad for beating this guy?
Film's Technological Advancements
00:21:41
Speaker
You don't beat him up. When they reiterate, you don't beat him up, you just raise him up. It's like, I feel really bad for this guy. Is he okay? Because he keeps saying things like, oh, I don't believe you're the real Sonic, and you're like... But I have to admit, when I heard it was, you know, like this kind of buddy cop, I was about to say drama. It's not really a drama, you know? It's not when you're going to be scratching your head after and being like, aye, a murder mystery with something. Yes, the Sonic Squid games as it were.
00:22:11
Speaker
There probably is fatter of that. I'm not even going to make a joke there. As the internet is 2022, there will be fatter of us. If you do, you'll be getting a band. And my fictional lawyer will be in touch. And my fictional lawyer is indeed telling me that for legal reasons, this is also a joke. In the past, and again, apologies, I'm going in the rank here, but a lot of sonic media
00:22:37
Speaker
didn't really know where it was kind of placing itself, like for example that sonic satium cartoon, they kind of built up their own world where the majority of the inhabitants were like creatures and animals and things but then like years later an anime called Sonic X came out and
00:22:55
Speaker
they did a weird thing where they repeated the same beats of Sonic Adventure and Sonic Adventure 2, but they did it in the real human model.
Character Portrayals and Performances
00:23:05
Speaker
It was really weird, it's like they transported all the cast from their supposed origins to like the real human models and things and I don't know, it just felt really weird. So when I kind of heard that, you know, that's what they were going to do. Again, like I wasn't mad about it or anything because come on,
00:23:20
Speaker
like Sonic the Hedgehog at the end of the day, but I know people who probably were raging that it wasn't like a kind of faithful adaptation. But I mean, see for what it was, I was actually really surprised at how well they pulled it off. Is it safe to say that it does fall into kind of the same tropes as a lot of these kind of films?
00:23:39
Speaker
I don't think this film does too many original things, I would say. The buddy cop is the perfect term for it, and I think it follows a lot of those tropes, but it does them well. It doesn't fail at accomplishing that. And that's kind of enough to be honest. I don't think this film really needed to be like a really original, you know, this didn't need to be a Christopher Nolan, you know, film that blows your mind, you're like, oh my God, I've never seen anything like this before.
00:24:02
Speaker
It just had to do its formula really well, which it did for the most part. I think it does enough. I was about to say that's all you could ask for with a Sonic film. You do make a good point though, because the first film, and this is especially the case for the 90s, because you remember the Mortal Kombat film, and of course
00:24:24
Speaker
Super Mario, your favourite, where they set up for a sequel at the end. And it seemed as if that was the case for a lot of these films at the time, where they were expecting, oh, it's a popular video game, anybody will buy it. Don't get me wrong, I think Mortal Kombat did get a sequel, but
00:24:40
Speaker
the less said about those the better but you know it's like they were expecting this sequel whereas nowadays i think because we've got the power of hindsight and we can just look back and go okay maybe don't start off too strong like i mean even with Detective Pikachu that there's something similar where in a lot of areas they could have gone balls to the wall but they play it safe and i feel as if a sonic they play it extra extra safe this place is so safe
00:25:05
Speaker
it was everything and I think setting it in the human world I guess was viewed as the safest course of action because that's one thing I actually wanted to I wanted to ask you um because one thing I one criticism I'd maybe level against this film is that I feel it doesn't really use any of the kind of sonic universe outside of outside of sonic and kind of dr. Robotnik
00:25:27
Speaker
I know there's that little bit at the beginning, but I kind of wondered how as a Sonic fan you felt about that, because I kind of looked at that as a slight criticism, but perhaps I don't know how you feel about that. Well, I'm not saying I created a change.org petition, but I created a change. Now I'm only kidding. Now we're done.
00:25:43
Speaker
Now I say exactly what you mean and that was kind of the issue I had with, as I said before, with like that Sonic X series which I know it's like beloved but that was the same case where they were taking Sonic and co from
00:25:58
Speaker
their world into the human world and it almost felt as if they had to build the story and things around the human world. If it makes sense, they couldn't be too fantastical with their elements. Obviously, I'm not expecting it to be a one for one interpretation of the games because I did like the fact that
00:26:17
Speaker
you did see Green Hill Zone, but maybe it's not Green Hill Zone, but it's Green Hill Zone at the very beginning of the film. And one thing that was quite interesting as well, and here's your fun fact for the Knight Adam, but one thing that was quite interesting was the Echidna tribe that was trying to kidnap Sonic. Did you notice that? Yeah, I did this at the beginning.
00:26:36
Speaker
So they're all pretty much just look like Knuckles the Echidna, which you've seen on many a playthrough of Sonic Adventure and Danger 2 on the channel. But yeah, I was actually surprised they got them in because there was actually a lawsuit about the Echidnas in the series.
00:26:53
Speaker
Well, long story short, there was a fellow who created one of the Sega comics at the time. I think it was the Archie comics. There was a guy called Ken Penders, and as soon as I've said that name, I think a thousand Sonic fans have just shuddered at the other end of this podcast. But basically, he was a guy who, a bit of a strange guy. I don't know personally, obviously, but he did a lot of very weird storylines and things like that. Honestly,
00:27:19
Speaker
I would recommend you look up a video on the whole saga, but long story short he basically, I can't remember if he got fired or I think he stepped away, but he wanted to take his characters with him and he had basically built up a game of thrones slash Lord of the Rings style family tree of like Knuckles the Echidna and his whole family and his whole lineage and things.
00:27:39
Speaker
Yeah, apparently he won a lawsuit against Sega because they lost the paperwork. I think it was Sega and the Archie comics, he won a lawsuit because they lost the paperwork to prove that they owned the rights to these characters. And he also rose a lawsuit against Bioware as well, because in
00:27:59
Speaker
I think it was 2010, there was a game called Sonic Chronicles and it was like this DS game where again it was like an Echidna tribe who were the main villains and he sued them because he thought that they were copying his story or something. It is like a whole rabbit hole of information. But anyway, that was a long way for me to say I was really surprised at the aspect that they brought those guys back and I don't know whether they're like, you know, oh no it's just they're aliens or whatever but
00:28:25
Speaker
I see what you mean. I feel as if taking Sonic out of his world and then into our world, because that's the thing I kind of, again, I agree with you. It's the kind of thing where it's like, if I want to watch a film about something like Sonic the Hedgehog, then I want to see Sonic the Hedgehog and like Sonic the Hedgehog things. I don't want to watch a film about, I cannot even remember the guy's name. You know that James Marsden's character? The Sheriff, donut lord.
00:28:52
Speaker
Like, don't get me wrong, James Marshtin and the actors alongside him do a fantastic job in this film. Really great job. But at the same time, it's like I didn't want to watch a Sonic film with it focused on their issues. And don't get me wrong, I think the way the film is structured, as you said, it's like the perfect length.
Heartfelt Moments and Future Sequels
00:29:11
Speaker
It's well-paced, so it doesn't come across as if it's like sagging. But at the same time, you kind of think
00:29:16
Speaker
and then I would like to have seen more sonic elements. But one thing I do like, and I'm just going to point this out quickly, I actually loved the way they incorporated Dr. Robotnik into this film. Yeah. In a weird way, this almost felt more like a Dr. Robotnik. Can I ask a quick question first? Yeah. So he's got two names right. He's called Robotnik or Eggman. Is there one that I should be using?
00:29:41
Speaker
don't know how happy I am, I'm just like the trivia is coming out tonight. He was always known as Dr. Eggman in like Japan and things but for whatever reason when it came to the West they called him Dr. Robotnik and I don't know whether that's just like a marketing thing or I mean it sounds infinitely cooler than Dr. Eggman by far but
00:30:04
Speaker
Yeah technically his name's Dr Eggman but I think that's what they're going back to to call him Robotnik because I mean come on you you would not take it but it's a sonic film again but you wouldn't take him as seriously if he was known as like Dr Eggman. It's kind of like Eggman's like an insult basically and he almost adopts it as like it's like a way of like disempowering the word or whatever or reclaiming the word.
00:30:28
Speaker
What, to empower eggs? I don't know, to empower himself. He's like, yeah, I'll take this egg man and run with it. So he's appropriating egg culture. That's what you're saying.
00:30:39
Speaker
That's the real crime he's committed. Okay, well I'll call him Eggman then for simplicity. Yeah, it almost felt weirdly to come with like an Eggman origin story. It's not really more than about as much as it felt like a kind of Sonic origin story. I generally liked Eggman in this film. I was a little, I don't know, I was a little
00:30:58
Speaker
but couldn't quite make my mind about Jim Carrey in the role. I felt that when the kind of Jim Carrey got to go off the leash and be a bit more of the classic Jim Carrey, I really liked it and I thought Eggman had some really funny lines. There's one where he's trying to get into Donut Lord's house and I can't remember what the Donut Lord says something to him and I was like, oh that's nice, throw my
00:31:23
Speaker
which just cracked me up. I thought it was such a hysterical line. So when he kind of gets to go be a bit more crazy, the kind of classic Jim Carrey, I really liked it. But I felt a lot of filming had to be quite restrained. And I guess this is because, you know, he's meant to be a character in the human world. And, you know, he is kind of a, he's a mad scientist, but he is slightly more, he's not the kind of, he's not the Eggman that, you know, of the games and of kind of Sonic, Sonic Lore.
00:31:45
Speaker
And I wonder if in the next film, because by the end of the film he's kind of adopted the classic Doctor Eggman look and you feel like he's gone properly unhinged now. So I wonder if moving forward I might really like it. But I don't know, I kind of felt because Jim Carrey had to play a bit more, I don't want to say subtle, subtle is the wrong word, but a bit more restrained. I wasn't always the biggest fan of the character, but generally I liked it.
00:32:08
Speaker
It's interesting seeing Jim Carrey in a more comical role, because I feel as if the last couple of films I've seen him in, he's just very serious. And maybe I've missed a couple of comedies, don't get me wrong, maybe I've just missed a couple. But yeah, he's always been so serious and kind of, it's like, it's been a while since I've
00:32:25
Speaker
seen a film where he is just, you know, to coin your phrase, Jim Carrey. You know, Jim Carrey. I didn't like Jim Carrey. And it is refreshing to see. But I see what you mean. It almost feels as if this film had to walk. So hopefully, well, the sequel, which was coming out this year, so the sequel could run, essentially, because it looks as if they've got more kind of Sonic-y elements in the sequel coming up.
00:32:49
Speaker
Because at the time we're recording this, the sequel hasn't come out and I don't think it's coming out for Valentine's Day, so unfortunately neither of us can take our partners to see it. Well, there goes my plant. I'm out of ideas. I'm going to have to break the noose tonight, you know, it's going to be devastating, but we'll get through this. We'll be sleeping on the couch next. Exactly. Yes, with my sonic bedspread and everything, of course.
00:33:11
Speaker
It did almost feel as if they were trying to make him more human, if that makes sense, or make him seem as if he belonged in the human world. Because you do, you get people like that who are very overbearing and they all think they're right, but I totally agree with you. I think he had some great one-liners. I actually laughed out loud. I know exactly the scene you're talking about. It's when Robotnik is saying,
00:33:33
Speaker
I was spitting out formulas when you were spitting up formula." And he goes, I was breastfed, actually. And he says, spit that in my orphan face. That genuinely got a real chuckle from me. I was like, okay, that was pretty funny. And when he's got the big dance number in the middle, which I never thought I would say that about a sonic film, but when he's just like dancing to himself, his assistant accidentally scares him and he gives him the coffin. It's like, I got you a latte. I thought you would like it. He's like, of course I like a latte.
00:34:00
Speaker
I love the way you make them and you know it's just that energy which I thought is fantastic because if he understated it I think that would have been a huge detriment. But it's the fact he's kind of over the top maniacal mad scientist. That was just really a highlight. But looking back into the stars of the film, what were your thoughts on Sonic himself?
00:34:19
Speaker
I actually thought the voice actor Ben Schwartz did a really good job. I think he was actually perfectly cast. I've seen him in a couple of things, Ben Schwartz. I'm a big fan of Parks and Recreation. He plays one of the bigger secondary characters in that. It's very good. So I've seen a couple of things and I always thought it was quite funny, but I thought he was
00:34:36
Speaker
perfect. I felt he got kind of the sonic personality, all of it that kind of cocky kind of swagger you know to it and the kind of quipping quipping nature of what I associate Sonic's personality with so I thought he captured that very well. I thought James Marsden had a good performance
00:34:55
Speaker
I think he did what he needed to do. I don't think his character is particularly an amazingly well-written character. It's very much that kind of stock buddy cop. He's kind of the straight man to Sonic, but he does it well enough. I didn't really have any problems with him. Same thing with him.
00:35:11
Speaker
the actor who plays his wife, Tika Sumter. I thought she did a good job. I really liked the woman who plays her sister. I thought she was really funny and she has this kind of irrational hatred of Donut Lords, the sheriff, whatever his name is, and Sonic ends up coming down. So I thought she was very funny in her kind of small role. And there was nobody in the cast who I remember having a real problem with. I kind of wish that, you know, there's the kind of crazy conspiracy theorist who's like,
00:35:37
Speaker
but I kind of wish he'd been given more of a role, because to me that would have been more funny in a way if it had been him who discovered Sonic and it's an empty teaming up. That's maybe my only slight criticism of the casting, but there was no real weak link that I can remember.
00:35:53
Speaker
Do you want to know a fun fact about that scene as well? See at the very beginning we've just got like a very poorly drawn picture of Sonic. That's actually a real picture someone drew on like. It's called Sonic the Hedgehog I think. It's like an actual picture someone drew. I don't know what the origins are but it's like a very famous kind of Sonic meme picture and they actually included that in the film.
00:36:15
Speaker
was like a lot of really small like easter eggs and things in it and i have to say i i did like that like with some of the labels and things and the you know egg man's i was about to call it his hut but it's not really a hut it's more of a van an egg van sorry an egg van actually no that just sounds like a terrible business plan never mind
00:36:35
Speaker
but you know like he had a lot of really kind of cool like moments like that. Yeah I thought he did a good job. I was actually surprised he didn't get the voice actor for the games involved but see to be honest I'm kind of glad they didn't because I know people who say they're probably not like a big fan of the new voice actor Roger Craig who
00:36:58
Speaker
I think he's in Resident Evil as well. He's done quite a few things. He did Batman in one of the Arkham games. He also did some of the earlier Assassin's Creed games. He was one of the main character hits here. Oh, of course, yeah. I mean, he's a talented voice actor. Don't get me wrong, we're not going to take that away from him just because people don't like his rendition of a cartoon a job, you know. It's like, oh yeah, he's a bad sonic therefore, blah blah blah. Different strokes and all that. But I was
00:37:22
Speaker
priced at that. Like, genuinely, I was really surprised. But, I mean, it wasn't an unwelcome change. The guy who plays Arco, you know, I don't even know what show it is, but you know, Arco, Julio White, I think his name is? Family Matters. Yeah, he played Sonic at some point. Oh, really?
00:37:38
Speaker
yeah he played him in that um in the animated film that was telling you about it yeah like so he's gone through the motions of voice actors and adored i want to say adoring but i'm saying that very loosely adoring fans who you know every time there's a new voice actor people like oh i don't i don't really know about this but i think ben schwartz did great and i think he put in a lot of research because i was watching a video between it was him and james marston and they were both like
00:38:07
Speaker
Quizzed on Sonic Trivia, and Benchmore actually knocked it out of the park with his ones. He got 8 out of 8, and James got like 5 out of 8 or 4 out of 8, something like that. That's not bad, that's quite bad though, I wouldn't use it, fair enough. Okay, so the next week's episode is... Oh no, it's the Sonic Mark Quizz.
00:38:26
Speaker
Well you never know, although I would get the most obscure facts of history. But that aside, yeah I thought he did an incredible job to be honest. I thought the supporting characters were great, they weren't too overbearing. See if you think about it though, because I was trying to think of like the story beats of this film and they are very basic aren't they? Yeah it's that classic fish out of water mixed with a kind of buddy cop who then have to go on a road trip.
00:38:54
Speaker
kind of final climactic showdown between, you know, the hero and the villain. So you're totally right, it hits a lot of familiar beats across the way, and that's kind of what we were talking about earlier. It's not particularly an original film, but it does those tropes very well. One of the things that, and I don't know what you maybe think of this as, you know, being someone outside of, I don't want to be gatekeeper and be like outside of the Sonic fandom.
Humor and Critiques in the Film
00:39:17
Speaker
You're not a part of this.
00:39:19
Speaker
No Adams are allowed to have one okay. Like seeing terms of Sonics quote unquote power, well don't get me wrong I know obviously that's the whole point in the film that the government wanted to study him and get his power and everything but it just kind of seemed random at points.
00:39:35
Speaker
Has he ever had lightning slash EMP powers in any game? Not as far as I know. No. Like he's always ran fast. That's kind of been his staple. He always ran really fast. He did curl up into a ball that's obviously one of his famous moves, the spindash. But no, he's never really, unless there's like an obscure thing in media that's just drawn from, but
00:39:57
Speaker
No, I honestly don't remember there being any like EMP powers which, see if you actually think about the repercussions of that like EMP blast. This turns it into like a whole like horror film.
00:40:11
Speaker
Yeah, I was genuinely surprised when I was watching this film and they used the word domestic terrorism in a Sonic the Hedgehog role. And I thought, aha, that is something I have never heard in a Sonic game. Unless it was in Shadow the Hedgehog, you know, but that's
00:40:29
Speaker
you would expect it in that, but you wouldn't expect it in the family-friendly Sonic film. Imagine Little Timmy going back to his parents and saying, mum, what's a domestic terrorist? You're like, ah, how do I explain this in the most Sonic-friendly way possible? And then when they're talking about coups and things, that is one thing I did find out later, so they'll see when it was like, oh, Dr. Robotnik has put down all these coups all over the place.
00:40:54
Speaker
country. I was like all over the world and it was like, really? Are we going into geopolitics in a sonic moment? Just exactly what sonic needed. Yeah this honestly feels as if it is like, I don't want to say you know it's somebody's fan fiction but if the name Satsunami42 is on the back of that I would like it back. Send me an email and they'll give you the address to send it back to. What did you think of that? Did you think it was as jarring or because I know it's obviously not a big thing but
00:41:21
Speaker
There's no denying it was a little jarring when the words domestic terrorist came up. I'm not gonna lie. One thing the film has going though is that at least it goes so fast that you kind of, at least you do kind of forget. You're like, oh look, now we're running really fast. Now we're in a bar fight. You know, you kind of forget about the domestic terrorist angle. But maybe that's something we can joke about now.
00:41:41
Speaker
because it dives from that to adverts for Olive Garden and then back again, which I'm going to be honest, have you ever been to Olive Garden? I have not. I have not been to that fabled place. No, neither have I. I've only heard of it in American shows and genuinely this isn't an advert for them. I've heard of them. They've been in a thousand like American TV shows, never been so like the advert fell in deaf ears for me and they brought it up like I think twice in the film.
00:42:10
Speaker
Well, that's his big reward, isn't it? At the end, he gets the $50 coupon to Olive Garden. Which I have to admit, that was kind of chuckleworldly, but you were like, really? How much did Olive Garden pick you? I don't want to know. I was going to say it probably rivals the acquisition of Activision by Microsoft numbers. They plump down at Olive Garden, plumping down a cool 70 million. To get reference, to get positive reference in the comic film, I love it. Was it not 70-something billion?
00:42:38
Speaker
Oh, 70 billion, sorry. Good point, sorry, I got my millions and billions mixed up. Because in, you know, a Sonic the Hedgehog film, the things you really want to come away with is America's anti-terrorism policy and the Olive Garden. Those are like the two sticking points you really want to know about in a Sonic the Hedgehog film. Also as well, you might be able to tell me this, was Sonic, did Sonic add it to Fortnite around this time?
00:43:01
Speaker
Is Sonic in Fortnite? Is Sonic in Fortnite? I don't think he is. Because there's several points in this film, he does flossing, which has made me wonder, is Sonic in Fortnite? And was he added to Fortnite around this point in time? And so this is like some kind of stealth marketing for Fortnite. No, I think, let me look that up, because honestly, if I find out that Sonic's in Fortnite, I'm coming to your house tonight to cry.
00:43:31
Speaker
He's going to have to play it tonight. Fortnite is getting Sonic the Hedgehog's skin, but that was last year. Oh yeah, for his 30th anniversary. Right, okay. But he's not actually on. Okay. No, that's right. No, I think, and this is actually a point that I was going to bring up, it is weird watching this film as closer to Sonic's age than the target demographic of this film. Not to sell myself short, but yeah, I'm not too far off the age of this franchise. In fact, we both are.
00:44:01
Speaker
But it was weird seeing him making references to things that, obviously because this is a kids film, you know, I'm not going to be one of those people raging that he did The Floss. But I think because Fortnite's popular, The Floss' popular,
00:44:15
Speaker
I can't remember the other things he said, but there were a couple of references I picked up on. He reads a lot of comments in The Flash, the superhero. It almost felt as if it was gearing all the references to younger audiences. When I say younger audiences, obviously it's a children's film, but I mean more in terms of
00:44:33
Speaker
modern day children. They weren't really advertising themselves to the 90s crowd, if that makes sense. Like, there were, you know, there were fan service moments and things, but there wasn't really that kind of 90s attitude. Yeah, it kind of felt like the producers were like, well, we've got Sonic on the front cover, so that'll probably be enough to draw in, you know, the established fans. So perhaps that's why they tried to gear, you know, so much of the film towards the more gin, ginic, oh, go
00:45:01
Speaker
whatever generation this is now, you know, they're trying to gear the film more towards that age group, as you say. I actually can't remember what it's called, but I know what you mean. I lose track of all the different ones. It does seem as if they are the target for this film, but rightfully so, because I mean, as I said before, in the 90s,
00:45:21
Speaker
It is very much, you know, Sonic is portrayed as a routine joke, you know, with the cool latitudes and the sunglasses and everything and trying to be, I don't want to say edgy, but you know, like Bart Simpson edgy for the time rather than
00:45:37
Speaker
you know what he was here. Here he just seemed like a kind of naive child. I mean I was surprised at that kind of portrayal but again it's not something that would be up in arms at to be like oh it's you know the end of the world for Sonic because at the end of the day it's introducing Sonic to like a new generation of kids. Although then again no sorry let me rewind a second because there is like a 90s reference and the egg is going to be in my face if I'm wrong here but it's speed. A 90s film. You're right it is, it is. It's an early 90s film.
00:46:07
Speaker
Good point. Yeah, and do you know another film they were actually watching which I was really surprised that Naked Gun. Oh god, they did watch the real Naked Gun. Oh it's the hey, it's a Rico Bludzo. Rico Bludzo. Oh, that's a great film. Anyway, so that's another chance and I may have just made him in the works. OK, there was those moments because he goes up to the guy in the bar and he's like, hey, Pop quiz such a and he does the whole stand off. And I'm surprised these punches did nothing to that guy.
00:46:36
Speaker
Yeah, because he has been a bit of a brawler, has he not, in some of his games. He has beaten up. I remember in Sonic Adventure beating up robots and stuff. Oh yeah, he literally slammed your body. He even makes a joke in the film, and I know that's because he's powered up, but he literally makes a joke saying, curl yourself into a ball and smash your body against him. It works for me! And it's like, okay, that's pretty funny.
00:46:55
Speaker
yeah that's exactly what he does but yeah it's kind of surprising although I did laugh at that how he did no damage but then Robotnik later when he's interviewing the same guy throws him through a window he's like my mind's kind of fuzzy and then it just cuts to him smashing through a window that's literally just been replaced and you can see the two delivery guys just like man
00:47:19
Speaker
It did have its funny moments though. I wouldn't say I was bored at any point in this film. Oh yeah, no I was never. It moves long so well and there's enough laughs and there's enough good action. That's one thing as well. I think they actually got Sonic's speed really well in this film because I've seen other things where they've tried to emulate and show speed and it doesn't really come across.
Film Ending and Emotional Impact
00:47:42
Speaker
I felt like here they really did a good job of it and that kind of climactic chase between Eggman and Sonic, where they're spanning the globe and everything, I thought was really well done and really did capture that. The essence, because speed is the essence of Sonic at the end of the day, that also helps as well. There's no real lull, there's no real kind of down point of the film.
00:48:03
Speaker
And that particular point of the film, it definitely felt more of a spectacle. You know, because until then it was your like average buddy cop film. And then this was pretty much all of the scenes in the trailer. You know, they would like cut things in between, but at the end of the day, it would be like Sonic running over the Great Wall of China, Sonic running over the pyramids, Sonic running through
00:48:24
Speaker
cut towards the other way, and Paris under the Eiffel Tower. Very basic landmarks to show, you know, oh it's a different country, but and then they end up in like a street in Green Hills. But I know technically, you know, it's like obviously narratively it makes sense, but it almost felt quite boring that it ended in just a random street in Green Hills. It was kind of like, oh man, and then they just kind of like, boops them into the ring. Into the real Mushroom Kingdom. Would you say the ending to this film seems a bit lackluster?
00:48:52
Speaker
Again, it does feel that way of... maybe it's not like this, but maybe this is just how I remember it, but it does almost seem like that friendship was the real power all along, you know, and that gives Sonic the energy to actually say, boot Eggman. By the way, have the rings always been teleporters in Sonic? The rings have always... I think for the majority of the games, the rings are just like the coins, and you know, like the Mario series, where it's just like...
00:49:14
Speaker
Yeah but you collect a certain amount, well I don't know if it counts for Mario but for Sonic at least you get a hundred rings and yeah you get an extra life and everything and that's exactly what they say in the game or not the game but that's exactly what they say and the film where it's like oh I need an extra life haha and it's like haha it's a reference.
00:49:33
Speaker
think maybe in a spin-off game? Actually no, I tell a lie. In the original games, there's the special zones, remember? And it's like the big rings there, so maybe that's what they were going for? I mean, it's been done before technically, but yeah, in terms of the way they do it in this, I've never really seen it. Like the way the ring just expands, I've never really done that, but
00:49:56
Speaker
Again, you know, it's like, I mean, it's an end, isn't it? Yeah, well, that's exactly it. As you say, it's a convenient way of, you know, of getting characters. From A to B. Yeah, exactly. From A to B, basically. But yeah, so sorry, that was a tangent. But you're right, it does feel quite abrupt, the ending. And then, you know, Eggman is sent off to the other world.
00:50:16
Speaker
One thing I'll say about this film is I think it has some quite nice heartfelt moments. A lot of fun, but there is some nice feel-good moments when Sonic moves in at the end to the house with Donut Lord and his wife. You know, there were some bits of myself watching my fiance and they kind of barely almost felt Sonic's like, oh, I'm going to be all alone again. And then she was like, oh, her heart broke.
00:50:37
Speaker
for a lonely comic there and so there there is some quite quite good emotional scenes to this film that go along nicely alongside the kind of general sense of fun that the film has all the way through but yeah i do see what you mean and that it does feel quite like a sort of especially after that big kind of chase for the way eggman's kind of dealt dealt with it's just a bit like oh that's it then you know that's done with now i felt as if they needed an ending and they were just like right okay put them in the phantom zone and that was it
00:51:04
Speaker
because I know technically and I think this is why they put them to the mushroom zone because I think the mushroom zone's like one of the first labels in Sonic 3 I want to say and that was like the first game that Knuckles was introduced in, you know.
00:51:19
Speaker
slight spoilers for anyone who hasn't seen the trailer for the new one but this is where they're introducing more kind of sonic elements so they've got sonic they've got tails coming in and then they've got knuckles as well voiced by Idris Elba of course which he actually sounded really good in the role and i feel bad because tails's voice actor does sound good as well but for the life of me i can't remember who voices him she's the one from the games though apparently is it actually is it the same person Colina Shaughnessy
00:51:47
Speaker
I thought I read that she did. At least she did some of the games. I don't know. Maybe she didn't do all of them. Ah, you're right. It's called we know Shaughnessy. Yes. Because I was trying to remember, honestly, Tails is one of those characters and just me looking back into my sonic neekdom. But Tails is one of those characters that either has like great voice actors or voice actresses or downright horrific.
00:52:08
Speaker
I'm looking at you Sonic Heroes and don't you worry Adam, I'll show you one day but she does an incredible job of voicing the characters. They all do, like as I said before I don't think I came out of this film and again like the film that's about to come I don't think anyone did like a poor job for what they had to do and that kind of gives me hope for the sequel you know that they'll be able to say okay we're gonna go a little bit crazier
00:52:32
Speaker
with this we're gonna do this we're gonna do that i don't think they're gonna go over the top i think it's going to be another like action adventure one i don't think i'm gonna like deep dive into the sonic lore and how the government decided to shoot a child in the face and space yes that is part of the sonic lore
00:53:10
Speaker
Did you know that?
00:53:19
Speaker
them. Yeah, Sonic's weird. Sonic's weird. So I'm glad we didn't get like a gritty reboot, like an Uwe Bow reboot of Sonic. Oh you know if he'd done that Shadow would be like straight in there. It'd seem to be fair, Shadow would be perfect for him. Shadow and what's it, Rouge is it? Rouge is oh my god. I can only imagine what would happen with Rouge. Would it not literally just be alone in the dark?
00:53:51
Speaker
but instead of like the demons it's just like robots or something it would be it would be something dumb like that but oh my god the actual horror of that yeah kind of just as a closing point before i go and you know think happy thoughts look at puppies and you know try not to wonder what i've done is there any kind of closing points you have for this film
00:54:11
Speaker
Yeah, so overall, I did like this film. It's a lot of fun. I think it has some nice emotional heartfelt moments to it. There's no weak link in the cast. The story, while the story is unoriginal, I think it does everything, it does everything well. So there's not, there's no real big fault that I can lay it level against this film. It's not my favorite video game film, and you're probably gonna disconnect me from the call for saying this. I still prefer the 90s married episode.
00:54:39
Speaker
So this one, purely because, objectively, this Sonic film is a much, much better film than that Mario Bros. film, just purely objectively. But I do think this one, this Sonic film, played it very safe, while I kind of like the fact that the Mario film just went, excuse my language, it just went balls to the wall, and was just like...
00:54:59
Speaker
through it we're just gonna have Dino Hatton it's gonna be this crazy and we're just gonna I don't even know what but I admire that about Mario Bros which makes me kind of love that film in a way that I like Sonic the Hedgehog but I don't I didn't love this film because I felt it played it quite safe and hopefully as you say this is just this will be a springboard where they can incorporate more of the kind of Sonic universe into future films and I look forward to seeing what they do with that but
00:55:24
Speaker
You know, overall there's no, I've got no real problems with this film. I think it's good fun. I would recommend people watch it because I don't think anybody would really have a problem with it. It's inoffensive, it's good fun, there's some nice, the cast does really well, nice story moments. Yeah, you'll just have a good time watching it.
00:55:42
Speaker
I would echo this point because I'm a filthy copier, but yeah, no, I would totally agree
Comparison with Other Video Game Films
00:55:48
Speaker
with that. I do think that although this is a safe film, it's probably for the best that they kind of take their time to walk with this film, rather than going to butterflies that we both said earlier, both so crazy, being like, oh, let's talk about the Chaos Emerald, let's talk about Angel Island, let's talk about, again, the shooting of an 11-year-old girl on a space station.
00:56:12
Speaker
I still haven't come to terms with that I have to say, but that is a story for another day. It's a safe film. I would agree with you though, I would also say this isn't my favourite video game film. I don't know what would be, it's unfortunately not the Super Mario Brothers film, I'm sorry. But I would say the closest probably for me is maybe Detective Pikachu, and that's very
00:56:34
Speaker
that that's because I am just like a filthy nostalgia. I'm a glutton for nostalgia to be honest but the way they did everything in that film and just the way they brought everything together it was just a great experience overall and that is one we actually do have to do at some point.
Future of Video Game Films
00:56:50
Speaker
Yeah it's a really good film. For Sonic I probably, maybe it's just because I went in with low expectations thinking ah this is just gonna be you know run of the mill kind of thing and
00:57:02
Speaker
it just turned into something that I didn't expect and again whether or not that's because of the stigma against video game films maybe it's just because you know people say oh video game films are always going to be this medium that people aren't going to take seriously and
00:57:19
Speaker
If this filament like to take to Pikachu and things have proven anything really, it's that films can be done right. We've had what, how many films in the last decade? Trying to capitalise on video game nostalgia, like World of Warcraft. Assassin's Creed. Assassin's Creed. We've got Tomb Raider. Oh Jesus, I've got my Tomb Raider. Oh God, there's two Tomb Raiders actually. There is, Prince of Power, yeah.
00:57:45
Speaker
I'm just going to go off in a slight rant here. Prince of Persia is one of the worst films I've ever seen. Video game film or not is one of the worst songs ever. I care it with a passion there. I've said my piece. I remember going to see that in the cinema and just having such a visceral reaction of, wow, that was a bad film. That was a really, really bad film. Why are we covering that one? Next week on Chatsunam, no I'm only kidding. Thank you for bringing out those repressed memories Adam. That's what I'm here for. I'm here for free.
00:58:15
Speaker
Now it's a race to see who can raise enough money for the Satsatori. Don't worry, we'll both end up in the same place with that one. I don't want to share a cell with you, me or himself. Yeah, it would just be me saying, did you know in the Sonic comics that you're like, guard! Guard!
00:58:33
Speaker
Let me out of here! But yeah, there's been tons of them that really haven't captured the essence of what makes a good video game film. I know, I think Uncharted is coming out soon. Doesn't that look like a fun adventure ride? Oh yeah, with Babyface Stonewall. And Sully with no moustache. What the hell? I'm not even a fan of these games and I'm annoyed by that.
Satsunami's Gaming Backlog and Sonic's Lore
00:58:59
Speaker
Is that Mark Wahlberg's character? Yeah, that's Mark Wahlberg. No, that's fine. That's one of the games that I bought it. I've got it on the back wall. I've yet to play. I bought that game in 2020. That shows you how committed I am. I know.
00:59:14
Speaker
Anytime on the backlog. Can I just say in two years a sequel to the Sonic film came out and I haven't even played like the first level of Uncharted. I need to get my hat together man. Well when you're in the sanitarium you'll have lots of time. Oh exactly. To catch up on the backlog. Yeah first persona then the Yakuza series you know. Why do I buy games that are like 50 hundred hours long?
00:59:42
Speaker
pretty much is like no no I've got yakuza I've got a persona 5 thanks some neutral friend a spanks I also have a persona 4 to get through like I appreciate it
00:59:56
Speaker
really down at the same time it's like well I have to play it now. It's sitting there giving me the eyes of I know what you did you want to play this it's like no I really it's like I really don't. The last game I played like that was um Red Dead Redemption 2 and that was on stream and that is by far one of the worst experiences I think I've ever had. Not because it's a bad game it's a good game but I think
01:00:16
Speaker
rushing through the game. No, it's not good. I don't know. Maybe I'll play it while I'm watching like the Sonic sequel or something in the background or the Prince of Persia. I'll be like that guy, okay? So even when we review Prince of Persia, I'll be that guy like at university who's like, um, I didn't actually read the text, but I did this other thing in state. So I'm just going to talk about this for an hour in state.
01:00:40
Speaker
So I was like, yeah, I actually didn't, you know, what? I didn't actually watch Prince of Persia, but I played Persona 5 and I get the feeling they're the same game. So Persona 5 came out in 2000 and tempted, but anyway.
01:00:55
Speaker
And on that note, Adam, thank you so much for finally waxing the lyrical about Sonic the Hedgehog. My pleasure. It's fun to... This was probably a good way for me to get introduced to the Sonic universe in a very small bite-sized chunk. I look forward to undoubtedly delving deeper into this rich and complex universe.
01:01:13
Speaker
Oh, yes, yes, yes, this lovely lore. You can't see it right now, but I am sweating. I'm just like, oh sweet Jesus, like what have I done? Obviously you've got the space station incident, you've got giant purple cats that fish, you've got robots. And that's not even the weirdest part, so yeah. You can even mention the Sonic and Princess relationship.
01:01:39
Speaker
Oh my god, I didn't. What, you mean the Sonic 06 one? See, even you know about that. Even I know this one. Okay guys, even Adam, who is not a Sonic fan, knows about this. Fun fact before we close off the episodes, but they actually asked that question to Ben Schwartz and James Marston about the Princess Elise relationship. They both were just like a real woman.
01:02:06
Speaker
Just like, are they fun fact? He was supposed to actually have a girlfriend. It's not supposed to be Madonna basically. Yeah, pretty much, yeah. Like when Sonic came out in the 90s he was supposed to have a real human lady as a girlfriend. It's flying people. It was the 90s, it was a different time.
01:02:25
Speaker
We didn't know any better. We didn't, exactly. We didn't know. You know what, I cannot wait to deep dive into more Sonic topics with you just to be like, I feel as if I'm now like a Sonic apologist. I'm just like, on behalf of all Sonic fans everywhere, I am sorry you had to suffer.
01:02:44
Speaker
It's like, you know that scene at the end of Good Will Hunting where I'll be like you in the corner saying it's not your fault, and I'm just like, I know. And you're like, no, it's not your fault. Don't you say this to me.
Conclusion and Future Discussions
01:02:59
Speaker
Curly up a ball and charging at me. Yeah, on that note. It's like, could I? No.
01:03:11
Speaker
Sorry, I definitely wasn't writing down the logistics of that in a haphazard way. You know, just drawing a circle and just a pearly drawing thing of your face, just like a speech bubble coming out saying, oh, my face.
01:03:26
Speaker
On that note, I'm gonna go away and learn how to spin dash. On that note, thank you all so, so much for listening to this episode of Chat Tsunami. And if you want to listen to more episodes, you are certainly most welcome to listen to them on Anchor, Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, and really all good podcast apps. So if you've got a podcast app, look for the name Chat Tsunami, look for the red panda, and you are most welcome to listen. And on that note, stay safe,
01:03:55
Speaker
stay awesome. And most importantly please don't try to spindash your friends, it'll only end in a lawsuit. I'm not advocating this, the fake lawyer standing behind me is saying for legal reasons do not charge into your friends.
01:04:11
Speaker
will be amazing. That would be it. I'd love to watch that. Okay, I'm going to go away and try and figure out the localities of actually recommending this course of action. But until then, as always, stay safe, stay awesome, and most importantly, stay hydrated.