Saw the Sonic 2 Movie
Apr. 19th, 2022 11:12 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jajalalaI will confess to undying, sincere nostalgia, and love for the Sonic Franchise. Sonic Adventure 2 Battle was one of the first video games I played that I was like, humanly conscious and able to get invested in as a kid (and Shadow the Hedgehog... embarrassingly my very first emo-boy crush). Although I certainly have not played all the games or seen all the series (and pretty much have not touched the comics), something as big as the Sonic movie caught my attention IMMEDIATELY.
And I loved the first movie! I thought the creators choice to set up their own canon was smart. Some adaptations (like Sonic X) are pretty married to game canon in certain respects, and although Sonic X did great with it, that means it's already been done. So seeing them give Sonic this new backstory with Longclaw and giving this whole new cast of humans an opportunity was great. Also the choice to treat Sonic as a bit more of a child was great and very endearing. Canonically I think he's in his teens, but most media kind of treats him like a fully independent adult. I think it gave a great space for the human characters to take on a parental role and make Sonic a bit more like a lovable kid than his usual too-cool-for-school persona. ALSO LOVED WHAT THEY DID WITH ROBOTNIK. It's a sonic origin story, but it's also a Robotnik origin story in the best way (thank you Jim Carrey for your beautiful acting).
I loved the second movie too. As per usual, it's a kids movie so it's not the 'next great cinema', but I can say I had fun the entire time watching it, and I loved what they did with the Sonic canon characters as well as the humans unique to this universe. It's a movie that made me feel like everyone involved was having fun the whole time. The Siberian dance break was completely necessary, as was the agent-getting-married-undercover-but-fell-in-love-anyway subplot with Rachel and Randall (though I wish they had called back to it at the end of the movie as well. It got resolved about midway through and was never mentioned again).
This may be controversial, but I'm actually a big fan of the human characters and want to see them more. They're something completely new to the universe, and the writing team has been doing fun things with them, so I'd be happy to see them do more. The one thing I'll say about the humans is that for some reason the guy playing Tom didn't quite work for me... His arc as Sonic's father was very cute, but his acting felt like it fit in a more grounded coming-of-age movie, which didn't quite fit with the cartoon-ishness of Sonic (Unlike say Robotnik (and even Agent Stone, Rachel, or Wade), who despite being human fits in PERFECTLY with these cartoonish creatures. To be fair though, those characters get a lot more comedic opportunities that lend themselves to cartoonish hijinks, whereas Tom (and Maddie to some degree, though she had her moment with Rachel breaking into the GUN compound) kind of have to play a more nurturing and grounded role.
Still, they didn't skimp on the Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles either, giving some teasing backstory that has some things in common with other canons, but is really its own thing (again, I love that! I love that it's staying in the spirit of Sonic, but not bound to it). Their personalities were lovely, and it was super cute seeing them interact and grow closer. The ending with all of them playing baseball was also a beautiful callback to the first movie. AKA I felt very satisfied by the ending. Plus they set up for the chaos emeralds to scatter around the world, making for a perfect setup for future possible plots.
I think it's pretty much confirmed there will be a third movie. Sonic 2 has been doing great at the box office, and the whole cast seems really interested in continuing. The one exception is that I heard Jim Carrey may be retiring, but the creators very cleverly setup the Sonic 2 ending so that Robotnik's 'death' is ambiguous. They could bring him back, but if not they've set up Agent Stone as someone who could take up his mantle. Agent Stone is unique to this universe, but I adore him. I think his relationship with Robotnik is super compelling on both ends (Robotnik tolerates him and only him, and shows legitimate fondness for his coffee, and Stone just has stars (or hearts) in his eyes in regards to Robotnik all the time), it's humanizing for Robotnik and makes you wonder what is up with Stone that he loves this man so much (yes the Stobotnik ship is strong. I haven't gone trawling through AO3 for them yet, but I have no doubt as to their popularity). Although he's mostly been Robotnik's right hand man so far, he's shown an ability to work with tech himself, and could easily be built up and blossomed into an antagonist of his own right if needed.
Now of COURSE I'm excited to see Shadow the Hedgehog will be present. At the same time though... I'm like AAA it's too soon! The creators have said that they will likely be introducing characters in a different order than in the games, but I'm still like "What about Metal Sonic (who would have fit really well with this Robotnik and/or Stone's tech focus, and could provide a sort of 'mirror' to the Wachowski family with their own blue hedgehog son? Or Amy Rose who is one of the core cast members, plus one of the few well-known female characters? Shadow makes sense from a marketing perspective since out of all the choices he would DEFINITELY grab the most attention and excite the most people, but hmm.
The other thing about Shadow is that he has one of the most specifically established backstories of the core cast. It's hard to get into his existence without getting into the long backstory that takes up Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. And the very little teaser in the mid-credits scene of the movie sets it up so the movie COULD just go over that whole backstory with only a few changes (like that GUN was made way after his creation). Obviously there would be differences with the new humans involved, but at the same time... it kind of feels like stuff that's already been done before (AKA the Sonic X series covered that story pretty thoroughly).
Still, I have trust in the creators of this universe. They will likely keep some things, but I want to believe they'll find a way to make it fresh and unique to this universe. And it's been very fun watching other speculate online as well (I followed like a half-dozen sonic-centric blogs after the movie). Some people have brought up the possibility of bringing Amy and/or Rouge on board (they weren't teased in the end-credits, but then again Knuckles wasn't teased in the end-credits of the first movie, and yet he was central to the second). I think that'd also be great for gender balance; as much as I love the series Maddie and Rachel are basically the only women (Jojo was there, but had almost no lines), and I would love to see some of the female Sonic canon as well (Plus one blog I follow has brought up that it would be super fun to see Amy and Rachel interact or even semi-adopting Amy, as both are fiercely opinionated and would match each others energies. And although the Wachowski family is great, I don't know if they have space for more than three kids in their house).
TL;DR: I'm really happy with the producers/writers and the direction they're going with the Sonic Cinematic Universe. I like the new humans they've introduced, I like how they've characterized the canon Sonic characters, and I like that they seem to be having a really fun time while also putting in effort to create such an enjoyable experience for both those who are and aren't familiar with Sonic. And I think they've struck the perfect balance where it is still a kid's movie, kids will love it and be engaged and entertained, but for long-time Sonic fans it's also a super fun and interesting story no matter your age. I'm super excited to see where they end up going for the third movie!
And I loved the first movie! I thought the creators choice to set up their own canon was smart. Some adaptations (like Sonic X) are pretty married to game canon in certain respects, and although Sonic X did great with it, that means it's already been done. So seeing them give Sonic this new backstory with Longclaw and giving this whole new cast of humans an opportunity was great. Also the choice to treat Sonic as a bit more of a child was great and very endearing. Canonically I think he's in his teens, but most media kind of treats him like a fully independent adult. I think it gave a great space for the human characters to take on a parental role and make Sonic a bit more like a lovable kid than his usual too-cool-for-school persona. ALSO LOVED WHAT THEY DID WITH ROBOTNIK. It's a sonic origin story, but it's also a Robotnik origin story in the best way (thank you Jim Carrey for your beautiful acting).
I loved the second movie too. As per usual, it's a kids movie so it's not the 'next great cinema', but I can say I had fun the entire time watching it, and I loved what they did with the Sonic canon characters as well as the humans unique to this universe. It's a movie that made me feel like everyone involved was having fun the whole time. The Siberian dance break was completely necessary, as was the agent-getting-married-undercover-but-fell-in-love-anyway subplot with Rachel and Randall (though I wish they had called back to it at the end of the movie as well. It got resolved about midway through and was never mentioned again).
This may be controversial, but I'm actually a big fan of the human characters and want to see them more. They're something completely new to the universe, and the writing team has been doing fun things with them, so I'd be happy to see them do more. The one thing I'll say about the humans is that for some reason the guy playing Tom didn't quite work for me... His arc as Sonic's father was very cute, but his acting felt like it fit in a more grounded coming-of-age movie, which didn't quite fit with the cartoon-ishness of Sonic (Unlike say Robotnik (and even Agent Stone, Rachel, or Wade), who despite being human fits in PERFECTLY with these cartoonish creatures. To be fair though, those characters get a lot more comedic opportunities that lend themselves to cartoonish hijinks, whereas Tom (and Maddie to some degree, though she had her moment with Rachel breaking into the GUN compound) kind of have to play a more nurturing and grounded role.
Still, they didn't skimp on the Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles either, giving some teasing backstory that has some things in common with other canons, but is really its own thing (again, I love that! I love that it's staying in the spirit of Sonic, but not bound to it). Their personalities were lovely, and it was super cute seeing them interact and grow closer. The ending with all of them playing baseball was also a beautiful callback to the first movie. AKA I felt very satisfied by the ending. Plus they set up for the chaos emeralds to scatter around the world, making for a perfect setup for future possible plots.
I think it's pretty much confirmed there will be a third movie. Sonic 2 has been doing great at the box office, and the whole cast seems really interested in continuing. The one exception is that I heard Jim Carrey may be retiring, but the creators very cleverly setup the Sonic 2 ending so that Robotnik's 'death' is ambiguous. They could bring him back, but if not they've set up Agent Stone as someone who could take up his mantle. Agent Stone is unique to this universe, but I adore him. I think his relationship with Robotnik is super compelling on both ends (Robotnik tolerates him and only him, and shows legitimate fondness for his coffee, and Stone just has stars (or hearts) in his eyes in regards to Robotnik all the time), it's humanizing for Robotnik and makes you wonder what is up with Stone that he loves this man so much (yes the Stobotnik ship is strong. I haven't gone trawling through AO3 for them yet, but I have no doubt as to their popularity). Although he's mostly been Robotnik's right hand man so far, he's shown an ability to work with tech himself, and could easily be built up and blossomed into an antagonist of his own right if needed.
Now of COURSE I'm excited to see Shadow the Hedgehog will be present. At the same time though... I'm like AAA it's too soon! The creators have said that they will likely be introducing characters in a different order than in the games, but I'm still like "What about Metal Sonic (who would have fit really well with this Robotnik and/or Stone's tech focus, and could provide a sort of 'mirror' to the Wachowski family with their own blue hedgehog son? Or Amy Rose who is one of the core cast members, plus one of the few well-known female characters? Shadow makes sense from a marketing perspective since out of all the choices he would DEFINITELY grab the most attention and excite the most people, but hmm.
The other thing about Shadow is that he has one of the most specifically established backstories of the core cast. It's hard to get into his existence without getting into the long backstory that takes up Sonic Adventure 2 Battle. And the very little teaser in the mid-credits scene of the movie sets it up so the movie COULD just go over that whole backstory with only a few changes (like that GUN was made way after his creation). Obviously there would be differences with the new humans involved, but at the same time... it kind of feels like stuff that's already been done before (AKA the Sonic X series covered that story pretty thoroughly).
Still, I have trust in the creators of this universe. They will likely keep some things, but I want to believe they'll find a way to make it fresh and unique to this universe. And it's been very fun watching other speculate online as well (I followed like a half-dozen sonic-centric blogs after the movie). Some people have brought up the possibility of bringing Amy and/or Rouge on board (they weren't teased in the end-credits, but then again Knuckles wasn't teased in the end-credits of the first movie, and yet he was central to the second). I think that'd also be great for gender balance; as much as I love the series Maddie and Rachel are basically the only women (Jojo was there, but had almost no lines), and I would love to see some of the female Sonic canon as well (Plus one blog I follow has brought up that it would be super fun to see Amy and Rachel interact or even semi-adopting Amy, as both are fiercely opinionated and would match each others energies. And although the Wachowski family is great, I don't know if they have space for more than three kids in their house).
TL;DR: I'm really happy with the producers/writers and the direction they're going with the Sonic Cinematic Universe. I like the new humans they've introduced, I like how they've characterized the canon Sonic characters, and I like that they seem to be having a really fun time while also putting in effort to create such an enjoyable experience for both those who are and aren't familiar with Sonic. And I think they've struck the perfect balance where it is still a kid's movie, kids will love it and be engaged and entertained, but for long-time Sonic fans it's also a super fun and interesting story no matter your age. I'm super excited to see where they end up going for the third movie!
