Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie (1996)

Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

A Major Disappointment

After playing with our expectations, this turns out to be a very different sort of film.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

I'm writing this breakdown in response to other users scathing reviews. I also appreciated a few others' tidbits concerning the transition from it's Japanese to North America release.The SatAM universe that this movie is often compared to was a great work, especially considering it's cohesion and strikingly well constructed universe. However the SatAM, and by extension the Archie Sonic Comics, were great but entirely separate from the video game series.My defense for this movie is that at the time, this was a fair representation, even with the NA dubbing. The animation was passable, but the action sequences were fun, the characters were colorful and lively and the voicing could easily have fallen prey to awful "someone from the office" actors that plagued many games and low-budget shows. The voice actors also typically have to match the intensity of the original actors, and compared to some people considering this 'screeching', matched the voicing purposely (Tails is a child, Sara is a brat, etc.). Watching the VHS and the edited DVD release, both of these versions are just enjoyable to watch, beginning to end.I think this movie falls prey to reviewers who have had plenty of Sonic the Hedgehog (TM) movies, games and TV show series (Sonic X, Sonic Boom (I'm so sorry), Sonic Adventure) that are more palpable than this 1-hour short, but didn't know that at the time to find ANYTHING Sonic the Hedgehog outside of the games was rare.

Sonic the Movie/Sonic OVA is a well-made Japanese dubbed movie which really captures the early games and elements of the Sonic the Hedgehog video game series before it all became about 3D aspects, werehogs and Shadow. The animation and music are good, although the voice acting is a little iffy but full of memorable lines (e.g. "Strange isn't it?").The plot is split into two acts. Eggman sends Sonic and Tails down into what looks like a dark abandoned version of New York to stop Metal Eggman, a giant fat robot, from doing something. Knuckles makes his animated debut in this film, sporting an Indiana Jones' hat and wrongly-coloured shoes, and for some reason, is mistook for a mole. Eventually, Metal Sonic makes his fantastic appearance to initially take over the world for Eggman.Being an anime cartoon, there are a large number of elements from the Japanese cartoons that are included, including characters randomly falling over, the character Sara is placed into a rather short miniskirt of sorts, and there is some adult humour. Unlike America, Japan doesn't really care about swear words and the protection of their kids, and included some adult jokes in the movie. The notable jokes include Sonic flipping the bird towards Metal Eggman, Sara has a vision of her breast-feeding a baby resembling Eggman, Tails accidentally touching her cleavage, and rather dodgy scene involving Metal Sonic unintentionally looking up Sara's skirt.Regardless, it is a great movie to watch if you are a Sonic fan. I recommend you watch a parody of this film on YouTube, called Sonic B******ized.

I saw this movie when I was ten years old and fully into the whole American Anime craze. I was watching DBZ and Pokemon when I saw this film. I haven't seen it since, but for some reason I cant describe, it held a place in my heart. I never forgot that first scene where Sonic is laying on the beach, enjoying a sunbathe and Tails comes up with a jet-propelled body-board and annoys Sonic by blocking his rays. I remembered the first time Knuckles appeared, flying in front of the city with that hat. The character design is inaccurate to the games design, but the animation really makes up for it with beautifully done action pieces that truly defined Sonics sense of speed in the games and integrated into the film. The story is decent and has its fair share of moderately clever twists, but nothing thats going to turn the heads of many critics anytime soon. Sonic has seen rise and fall, but this film was nowhere near his fall.

Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie.First law of watching movies: If it says "The Movie" at the end of the title, it won't be good, and should not be taken seriously.Second law of watching movies: If it's based off a KID'S GAME, it's gonna be a KID'S MOVIE. Do not expect a wonderful plot, impeccable dialog, or deep personalities in the characters. It's a KID'S MOVIE. Such movies are quite shallow, and, again, should not be taken seriously.Sonic the Hedgehog: The Movie, fulfills both laws, and thus, should not be taken seriously. Deal with it.Okay, now to my own impression of this cartoon. It was a silly movie, but I kind of enjoyed it. Nice action, a few characters worth a snicker (like a kooky owl), and the setting of some scenes were great.That it was set on Freedom Planet gave me the idea that this had little to do with the continuity of the games. Such suspicions were confirmed by a few new characters (a gutless king and a screaming brat of a princess), with only Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles as familiar characters.I did have a few complaints. Number one, the princess drove me up the wall. I hate screaming brats; I hated the screaming girl in "War of the Worlds" and I hated this one. However, it was a Japanese movie, and I thought I read somewhere that the Japanese see temper tantrums and behaving like a little girl as a good thing. Whether or not that's true, I found it a little annoying.Sonic, Tails, and Knuckles sounded like KIDS. Seriously. Mind you, in the comics, they are teenagers. I thought Sonic had way too much of a "screw you" attitude. Some might have thought it cool, I found it irritating. Tails was often hollering for help, especially in the beginning of the movie. (Interesting note here, Tails' real name is Miles.) Knuckles, I thought, was the best of the lot. He was laid-back, confident, and mature. Too bad he showed up so late in the movie.Unlike a lot of movies with a shallow plot, this one's actually possible to follow. Maybe rather strange, but it does pick its way through a sequence of events, that are, at least when you let your inner child out, believable.All in all, this wasn't a bad movie, if you know what to expect. If you're looking for something great and thought-provoking, don't watch this. If you want to watch a kid's movie that requires no thought whatsoever, enjoy.