Credit: Paramount
Thank goodness, he’s not terrifying anymore.
Back in May, the first trailer for the live-action Sonic the Hedgehog movie was released. Sonic fans, much like old-timey people at a carnival freak show, reacted to the hedgehog’s original design with shock, horror, and outcry. His eyes were really far apart, he had weird human teeth, and he had creepy little fingers, among other complaints I’m trying to block from my memory. The movie was originally supposed to release this month, but after the backlash, the film’s director, Jeff Fowler, promised an overhaul of the character. To accommodate this, the release of the film was pushed back to February 2020. Yesterday, a new trailer was released featuring Sonic’s updated design, prompting a sigh of relief from all onlookers.
Compared to his previous design, Sonic’s new look is more expressive and overtly cartoon-y. His posture is a little more angular, he’s wearing proper gloves, and his movements in the film are a little more animated and free-flowing. Overall, it’s a massive improvement over the furry blue gremlin we had before. The trailer also showed some more story beats from the movie, which seems to have lightened a bit in tone and humor (and thankfully did not feature Gangsta’s Paradise again).
While plenty of doubt still lingers about the quality of the film overall, it can now at least be concretely said that it won’t give children nightmares.
