What’s with the New Sonic Movie Design?

With the live-action trend happening in movies today, it’s no surprise that a Sonic the Hedgehog movie is going down. The character design was recently leaked, and I must say that it was a little shocking to me. I’ll let you be the judge yourself.

The image of Sonic was released but then taken down by the movie marketing company. Maybe the design will be revamped due to a backlash on social media; I’m not sure. Personally, I am not a fan of the design. I think it looks weird and whacky and is a poor representation of Sonic. It appears a little creepy honestly, not like a hero that you would want to root for.

I don’t get why they are going for this realistic, live-action concept for Sonic. It may work for movies like The Lion King, but that’s because those animals are real and can be easily replicated. Sonic is a blue, physically altered hedgehog. I don’t recall anyone asking to make him look like a real life hedgehog, we all understand the suspension of disbelief with the character. He is the fastest hedgehog in the world; it would have been totally okay if this movie were animated. It would actually make more sense if it were. However, it’s not my decision to make.

I think that this whole live-action trend has to be more thought up in the future. If it works out, it’s fantastic. But if it doesn’t it can be disastrous and a stain on a particular character or franchise. The character design obviously is similar to Sonic, but it doesn’t feel like Sonic. The eyes really bother me and this design feels like something from a parody version or something. There have been some people on twitter who have tweaked the design, and I actually think the tweaked version looks acceptable.

This “fixed” version is something I can get behind. The eyes and nose look so much better. Something as simple as that and making the ears bigger can be seen as immense improvement. With an iconic character like Sonic, it is important to maintain key, recognizable features that are universally understood as part of the character. If they made these changes, I think the character design would be fine.

I am interested to see what changes will be made to the design, if any, and what the other characters will look like as well. I wonder how Knuckles and Tails will turn out if they are featured in the film. I would also love to see Shadow as well, I think they could make him look pretty sick. However, if they don’t tweak the design for Sonic, I think this movie won’t be received too well by audiences.

Whether you have played a game with him or not, pretty much everyone knows who Sonic the Hedgehog is and knows what he looks like. Even the casual video game fan can identify the character. That’s why it is so crucial to get the look just right for this upcoming movie. If the design isn’t updated, audiences will respond with their wallets and won’t go see it. What do you think about the design? Do you love it or hate it?