The idea of making a live-action film based on Sonic The Hedgehog sounds absurd, or creative, depending on your point of view. Depending on who you ask, this film either shows that it can be done, or shows why it wouldn't work.
Blending multiple Sonic continuities together, this film features a grittier, much more cruel form of Dr. Eggman, his name being changed back to "Robotnik" like in the early Genesis days. Robotnik has taken control of the world's human population in a setting similar to Station Square from Sonic Adventure 1, using methods similar to the gritty Saturday morning cartoon (as opposed to the comedic weekday afternoon one), but G.U.N., the military unit from Sonic Adventure 2 opposes him. Tails the Fox and other Sonic mainstays are nowhere to be seen (for the most part), and it's otherwise just Sonic and Dr. Robotnik, much like the very first game. All taking place in a realistic setting that blends real people with a cartoon hedgehog, much like Sonic 2006. That's a huge mix of continuities.
The result works in its own way. The continuity blend allows the filmmakers to create their own original story and focus more on the human characters, therefore lowering the budget for special effects.
It's a bit jarring, however, seeing a blue cartoon hedgehog coexisting alongside real people, especially in something which is not a comedy. The movie tries to reduce this effect by making Sonic more "realistic", which means that he is colored a realistic shade of blue and has smaller quills to go with his cartoonishly large ones, making him look like an odd mixture of cartoon proportions and realistic texturing. When you combine that with some of the action movie stunts that Sonic performs, such as riding a missile through the sky and jumping off it only to land on a bee robot in midair, you get what is essentially a cartoon character doing cartoon things in the real world. Throw in some animal-themed robots, of which some were modified to fit with the grittier theme and others were not, and the gritty/cartoony mix is truly strange.
But I admire the film's creativity and production. Can Sonic the Hedgehog work in a real life setting? If you have enough imagination to accept the absurd, then yes.
Michael Bay does Sonic the Hedgehog
The idea of making a live-action film based on Sonic The Hedgehog sounds absurd, or creative, depending on your point of view. Depending on who you ask, this film either shows that it can be done, or shows why it wouldn't work.
Blending multiple Sonic continuities together, this film features a grittier, much more cruel form of Dr. Eggman, his name being changed back to "Robotnik" like in the early Genesis days. Robotnik has taken control of the world's human population in a setting similar to Station Square from Sonic Adventure 1, using methods similar to the gritty Saturday morning cartoon (as opposed to the comedic weekday afternoon one), but G.U.N., the military unit from Sonic Adventure 2 opposes him. Tails the Fox and other Sonic mainstays are nowhere to be seen (for the most part), and it's otherwise just Sonic and Dr. Robotnik, much like the very first game. All taking place in a realistic setting that blends real people with a cartoon hedgehog, much like Sonic 2006. That's a huge mix of continuities.
The result works in its own way. The continuity blend allows the filmmakers to create their own original story and focus more on the human characters, therefore lowering the budget for special effects.
It's a bit jarring, however, seeing a blue cartoon hedgehog coexisting alongside real people, especially in something which is not a comedy. The movie tries to reduce this effect by making Sonic more "realistic", which means that he is colored a realistic shade of blue and has smaller quills to go with his cartoonishly large ones, making him look like an odd mixture of cartoon proportions and realistic texturing. When you combine that with some of the action movie stunts that Sonic performs, such as riding a missile through the sky and jumping off it only to land on a bee robot in midair, you get what is essentially a cartoon character doing cartoon things in the real world. Throw in some animal-themed robots, of which some were modified to fit with the grittier theme and others were not, and the gritty/cartoony mix is truly strange.
But I admire the film's creativity and production. Can Sonic the Hedgehog work in a real life setting? If you have enough imagination to accept the absurd, then yes.