Sonic the Hedgehog movie director Jeff Fowler has thanked fans for their positive response to Sonic’s redesign in the live-action/CGI adaptation.
The director tweeted about the movie’s new design the day after it was revealed and everyone had a chance to see it. Fowler thanked all the fans who’d shared their thoughts on the characters updated design and called the 24 hours since the tweet was shared “extraordinary. He also teased that there’s more to come, so we’ll certainly be seeing more of Sonic before the movie’s release early next year.
It’s generally agreed the main reason Sonic looked so unnerving in his original live-action form is, well, there’s nothing remotely “real” about the character in his classic video game form. From his cartoonish white gloved hands to his unnaturally large eyes and running shoes (not to mention, his anti-authoritative attitude), the animated and pixelated Sonic the Hedgehog simply doesn’t lend himself to a photorealistic interpretation. Thankfully, Sonic’s new design in the movie restores the character’s exaggerated appearance by making everything from his irises to his teeth and facial mannerisms less human-like and more expressive. As a result, the character no longer has the uncanny valley quality that made his original live-action design so disturbing and unnerving to look at, and his facial movements are better harmonized with Schwartz’s energetic vocal delivery.
On top of all that, the new Sonic the Hedgehog trailer was simply an improvement overall. Its musical cues synced better with the footage’s goofy family-friendly tone, and there were a lot more clips of classic Sonic video game locations (namely, Green Hill Zone) and humor in general. Fowler and his visual effects artists have clearly poured a whole lot of effort into fixing Sonic’s appearance over the last six months, so the positive response to the trailer was very much deserved. Who knows, if people like the actual film as much, then Sonic the Hedgehog may go on to become the next (mostly) successful video game movie after this year’s Detective Pikachu adaptation.
