The Reel Rejects - SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (2020) MOVIE REVIEW!! FIRST TIME WATCHING!!

Episode Date: May 8, 2024

GOTTA GET CAUGHT UP BEFORE SONIC 3!! LIQUID IV: Visit http://www.liquidiv.com & use Promo Code: REJECTS  Sonic Full Movie Reaction Watch Along:  https://www.patreon.com/thereelrejects With Season 1 of Knuckles airing on Paramount+ and Keanu Reeves joining Sonic 3 to play Shadow The Hedgehog this winter, Tara Erickson & Andrew Gordon Give their First Time Reaction, Commentary, Breakdown, & Spoiler Review for the adaptation of the beloved Sega Video Game Series starring Ben Schwartz (Parks and Recreation, Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) as Sonic & Jim Carrey (Ace Ventura: Pet Detective, The Mask, Liar Liar, Bruce Almighty) as Dr. Ivo "Eggman" Robotnik along with James Marsden (X-Men, Enchanted, Hairspray), Tika Sumpter (Knuckles, Ride Along, Sonic the Hedgehog 2), Natasha Rothwell Insecure, Love Simon, Saturday Night Live), Adam Pally (Iron Man 3, Dirty Grandpa, The Mandalorian), Neal McDonagh (Minority Report, Captain America: The First Avenger), and MORE! Tara & Andrew React to all the Best Scenes & Video Game Easter Eggs including the Young Sonic Scene, Sonic's Cave Scene, Rooftop Missile Chase Scene, Sonic Vs. Robotnik Scene, Tiny Helicopter Terror Scene, Bar Brawl Scene, Super Sonic Scene, Can't Do This on My Own, Tails Teaser, & BEYOND! Follow Tara Erickson: Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@TaraErickson Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/taraerickson/ Twitter:  https://twitter.com/thetaraerickson Follow Andrew Gordon on Socials:  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@MovieSource Instagram:  https://www.instagram.com/agor711/?hl=en Twitter:  https://twitter.com/Agor711 Support The Channel By Getting Some REEL REJECTS Apparel! https://www.rejectnationshop.com/ Music Used In Manscaped Ad:  Hat the Jazz by Twin Musicom is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ POWERED BY @GFUEL Visit https://gfuel.ly/3wD5Ygo and use code REJECTNATION for 20% off select tubs!! Head Editor: https://www.instagram.com/praperhq/?hl=en Co-Editor: Greg Alba Co-Editor: John Humphrey Music In Video: Airport Lounge - Disco Ultralounge by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 license. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Ask Us A QUESTION On CAMEO: https://www.cameo.com/thereelrejects Follow TheReelRejects On FACEBOOK, TWITTER, & INSTAGRAM:  FB:  https://www.facebook.com/TheReelRejects/ INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/reelrejects/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thereelrejects Follow GREG ON INSTAGRAM & TWITTER: INSTAGRAM:  https://www.instagram.com/thegregalba/ TWITTER:  https://twitter.com/thegregalba Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Well, what have you got to say to the people before we walk to? As you pointed out, I did play this game a lot as a kid. I don't remember a ton of the story beats, but I also did watch the animated show as a kid. I believe it was Jaliel White, who was the voice. That's Steve Urkel. And I believe Bradley Pierce, the kid from Jumanji, was the voice of a character who's a psychic that I won't spoil the name of that character.

And then also, I believe it was Jim Cummings was the villain that now a certain comedian in this film is going to be playing. So that was a big staple for me. But again, I don't remember a ton of the story, but hopefully this will get me back into my childhood nostalgia. He's like, I don't remember a ton, but here's five facts. Right off the Nuggan there.

I did not watch that show. I only watched a friend playing the video. game, so I don't know much. And all those rings coming off when he got hit. Oh, right. Yeah, I do remember that. You've just reminded me. Going in the circles and like a roller coaster.

Well, we better get into it. Yes, I want to see those. Let's watch the Sonic Hedgehog. I assume you already know, but Tails is his major sidekick. That's the one I said Bradley Pierce is the voice of when we were talking about earlier. That I said, I don't want to spoil the sidekick for you. I kind of remember that, but not fully because I didn't play the game. but I only watched my neighbor when I was a kid play it.

Anyway, and I love James Marsden so much. Everyone in this truly had great comedic timing. Every single person like Bravo to whoever cast this, because you did a great job because not everybody is as good with these lines in the way that the pacing and the tone, the delivery was, like, this is such a fun film, kept me engaged the whole time, but I truly, that really does come down to good actors. Absolutely.

And I loved it. It was a blast. No, for sure. And I thought this film, too, I'm going to get into Jim Carrey. And also, too, we want to give praise to the actor who voiced Sonic, Ben Schwartz. He did such a great job of encompassing, not only balancing with the comedic timing as well of Sonic, but also embracing, like, that lost and lonely type of character who just wants to, you know, have a family. And I felt that.

Like, I was invested in him just from that. Not only the nostalgia of just, I love Sonic just from a kid and the animated show, but like, I felt it for him. I could relate to that. And, you know, that's a human quality trait. Totally. Not just a space blue devil alien thing. Like, I thought they did a good job making us relate to, you know, characters that are not real.

And I think that's a very big deal in films of supernatural's, you know, kind of state of being in this thing. And I thought they nailed that with Sonic. Yeah. And it went a lot more emotionally, had more emotional. In the first five minutes, I was like, oh my God, shit, I'm not expecting to feel this way. Like, we both felt a certain way. It felt like a Disney movie in the first five minutes.

Like, they nailed that. But yeah, in regards to James Marston and the chemistry, him and Sonic had, again, I love that, that bro type of road trip. I love that they, again, they gave it time to breathe to build up the camaraderie and the friendship so that it never felt rushed. It was really well-paced. so that by the time that they did like fully embrace each other as friends you bought it you were invested in it again it never felt rushed so i thought that was all great all their interactions were so well done and again sonic did feel even though he had been on earth for most of his life he did feel a little bit like a fish out of water in terms of he's never had human interactions like that so from that perspective i loved it um so that was all great and again jim carey i agree with everything you said uh just again the character just the way he was able to be intelligent, really scary, and also his comedic timing, the way he could blend all three. Like, again, it's a character you're supposed to hate.

It's Dr. Robotnik. But I didn't. He was like, and again, I'm not rooting for him in any way. But you love him. You love him again. Oh, for sure. And it's Jim Carrey's charisma. Like, it's something you can't teach.

Flies off the screen. In my opinion, yeah. That's something you can't teach in acting school is charisma. And Jim Carrey. is just oozing with so much charisma. And I love the way he couldn't stand people. Like people are so beneath them. And I love that too.

Like with James Martston and also with Sonic, he's finally kind of met his match. Yeah. But he never shows it. And, you know, like in terms of his facial emoting and like he's just trying to like tow the line between that. And like he's trying to like, that's why he's so obsessed with this mission on top of like,

yeah, it's a blue devil alien. I want to catch it and stop it and kill it. But like he's actually met his match too. Yeah. And that was a challenge for him. And nothing is ever a challenge for this guy. Right. So I thought that was like an interesting character, you know, just a thing with him.

But yeah, he was such a lovable villain. I really, and again, I can't, I love how they set it up in mushroom land or whatever with the mushroom world. Where they sent, yeah. With basically setting you up with, uh, sequel bait with that, uh, with the fur, the feather, whatever it was of Sonics that's lighting up. And we know he's most likely going to be in the sequel. I haven't looked at IMDB or anything.

Even though I'm sure many of you are going to accuse us of having seen the movie as we mentioned. Well, we got the miles per hour and a couple of other things. We watch so many films, you guys, and I'm sure this happens on multiple movies. We just watch so many that you get used to the plot twist here. I mean, a lot of it is readable. It's like we could, yeah, we know where scripts are going to go

or what the choice would be. For sure. But I really liked the emotional aspect, again, like you said, up at the top. But then secondly, he didn't just, when he was outside the window, watching the movie with them and going like, but I'm so lonely. I'm alone and he leaves. But then we get another taste of it when he's on the baseball field alone and he has a lot of fun. But then he like runs it off angrily of like, but I'm still alone, even though he can like easily play with himself in this baseball game.

That really hit home because they did it. I think three times is kind of a charm. because mom died and he's alone and then he realizes like he's on the outside looking in on this family, he's alone. Baseball field, he's alone. So earning that friendship and going through that bucket list with Wachowski is just, it's such a fun way to see him learn and grow and live a little and earn that friendship from him. But also change Wichowski's mind about not going to San Francisco in staying where his home is at, like Sonic was the only one

that really got through his brain of telling him, these people care about you. You're not just a meaningless cop because you help them restart their cars. People could call their neighbor to help restart their cars. They don't.

They call him. They respect him. They trust him. And that means a lot. He may not get that in moving to a big city. It would be such a change for him. And I like that at the end, he was like,

I think I just want to take care of the people that I care about. That's sort of a better way to live anyway, right? Yeah, no, I love the journey we go on, not only with the two of them, but just James Marston's Tom, his character in particular, like, you know, he used, the journey he goes on with Sonic to discover, like, he's more meaningful than he understands. And I love that, you know, he learns through the discovery of friendship with Sonic. He discovers that. I think it's a beautiful character.

it's good character development for him and also too I love the leap of faith that he takes because yeah he did shoot Sonic with a tranquilizer and he felt a little guilty about that understandably so but like once he punched Robotnik I mean he was taking it and then taking him across you know the United States or wherever from what was the town that he was in

Green Hills Green Hills all the way I don't know San Francisco I don't know how far I'm sure it's fall it's quite a trip but again being labeled a domestic terrorist I mean he's trying to build a fan family with his beautiful wife and he's trying to move to San Francisco as well like that's a major leap of faith and it shows what kind of a good spirited and a wonderful human being he is that for this thing that is an alien for all you know I mean he doesn't even know this thing so I just think it just shows the spirit and what a wonderful human being he is at his core and I love again through the spirit of friendship that he discovers oh my god like I actually mean something in this town I'm not just changing tires and doing this yeah might seem a little boring and And I want to seek a little adventure, which I can understand. But now he's got it. With Sonic living with them, they can go have adventures.

Yeah, it's going to say. Especially because him having some rings left. You know, you could ring it somewhere and then ring back home. As long as you still have some of that left, that's going to give him sort of maybe the variety that he wanted in life. Yeah. And I know it wasn't in the movie a ton, but I actually thought it was so funny. The relationship and the dichotomy of the sister-in-law, how much she hated.

I just thought it was funny. She's hilarious. She's like, JoJo. Catch me such good deliveries. That's why we're talking about how good some of the actors are. Again, it didn't add a whole ton to the story.

Well, I guess I can't really say that because they had to tie her up and they had to bring Sonic there. So it did add a little bit to the story. But I just thought it was hysterical. And again, just added the comedic beats to the film. And again, wonderful deliveries.

And I love that Jojo gave him the classic red Sonic shoes. I thought that was so beautiful and so well done. We got to talk about the visual effects. Because clearly during the reaction, we didn't talk about it enough. We didn't.

But we, I mean, you heard us saying like, wow, that's a cool shot. But literally every time there was a visual effects up, and we would call it out, you know us, we would go, ah, that might doesn't look so good. That doesn't gel so well. Every shot where they had a visual effect, it looked great, especially that 360 shot where they turned around on Jim Carrey and he's in that chip and he's doing all his special effects stuff. Wow. I mean, it looks so, it just looked very real and I don't think they missed a. step in those visual effects.

For sure. And even like, again, before we even get a little deeper with the, uh, talking about the visuals, I love like simple shots. Like he's looking at has the goggles on and you can see Sonic charging up in the reflection like, totally simple, good visual CGI shot, but it's so effective and like, awesome. Yeah. And then you got those two amazing quick silver esk X-Men days of future past shots.

You got the, uh, or I guess type scenes. You got the one in the bar where he's doing all the maneuvers. awesome so cool those were my favorites I loved it so much and it's just I love how creative with Sonic got in the bar and then also too you got

when he pushed them off the building and then he's doing all his stuff again there it's just again so well done also too we talked a little bit about it at the very beginning props to the studio and Jeff Fowler and just everyone else who recognized hey fans don't like the look of Sonic

that we originally are going with right now And look, who are we trying to appease right now? And no offense, we're trying to get money from the fans. So if we're getting hatred from the fans over this look, we've got to change it up. Because if we're pissing off our fan base, it's not going to be worth it. It's not a good look. So, you know, it could have been a disaster. Even if the movie was great and you have a look at people are not going to show up.

They're not going to want to watch it. Again, like props to them for saying, hey, because like you said, it's not cheap to go change the whole look for the character. So honestly, major props that they recognize their mistake. They listen to the fans and fixed it. Like, seriously, and many studios are not going to do that. They're not going to do that. And, you know, the Little Mermaid, the newest one that came out with, I forget her name. Haley Berry.

Yes, she's a great voice, great, great acting. She did a great job, but, like, flounder and scuttle. They all look different and it looks weird. And Sebastian. Like, it all was just like, wait, why did we do this? And it kind of, like, irked me a little. bit. And I wish that that would have come out. People would have been like, what are you? Why? Because everyone I talked to once they saw that movie, they're like, it's not that great. I didn't like the animation. It's like, it's weird. It threw me off. Like, why did they switch it, change it so much? Simple things like that can really give people the ick about a movie to where they're like, I'm so focused on how it doesn't look good that I can't actually sit here and enjoy. And for this, he was cute. He looked like how he looks. in the video game.

For sure. And we were sold at the top. Reject Nation. I am here to talk to you today about something that I value very much. And I hope you will learn to value it to. And if you already do, then I got an amazing recommendation for all of you. Now, many of you guys have been so kind to notice that Sir Gregory over here has been getting a little bit of a better shape as a late in the past year or so.

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That's comedy gold. Visual reference nostalgia is a very powerful tool. You remember when the rings came, nothing had happened in the movie yet. Right. The rings came up with the Paramount thing. How did I react? Yeah, he freaked out. I was, yes, this is my childhood. Yeah, but if they didn't, like, again, I wouldn't have, like, got mad, but just the small little things

like that, like, it brought me back to my childhood. Yeah. And To your point, when you're changing up again to get back to Little Mermaid for a half a second year, when you're changing up things like that, again, has nothing to do with the story, the movie, the character, the acting. We're just talking about visual looks to make us remember nostalgia, our childhood. You're going to piss people out of it. And that's who you're trying to engage with this. I agree.

And like the nostalgia is there. I mean, when we think about Disneyland, it's like Flounder and Sebastian and Scuttle, they look like the first original version, right? I'm not saying that they may change Haley-Berry. That's her name, right? Hallie-Barrie. Haley-Berry. Haley-Berry.

Haley-Berry's character to the one. I don't mind that because she was great. Yeah, she was fantastic. Her voice. But it's just like the nostalgia there is like, I get it if you're trying to adhere to a new audience, a younger generation. I'm like, but you don't have to change how the characters look that drastically. When the first thing works, right, we can go with a different lead,

but do we really have to switch up the other character? actors out much. I don't think that was necessary, which is why I think a lot of people got upset. And bravo to this movie and people freaking out and they went, I'm going to change it. And then I remember the press going out of them going, we're going to change it. We're listening to you. Don't stress. That's something that never happens. Absolutely. Again, that's why I give them major props because a lot of time studios won't shell up. They won't do that. Oh, we got a good movie here. People are, they're going to cut out. They just put it out. They don't care. Yeah. Jeff Fowler, again,

to him in the studio, so seriously. And also, too, there was a line in there where he said, you want to get fast, let's get fast. I could be wrong, but it reminded me of the line from Batman 89, and obviously the new Flash movie, where Michael Keaton's Bruce Wayne says, you want to get nuts? Let's get nuts.

Maybe I'm wrong, but you guys let us know in the comments. You guys let us know in the comment section if that's what that line was referencing. But do any before I get, do anything else? I loved it. What a fun movie. I loved it, too, and we'll give our final remarks after I get off a few things.

Jim Carrey remarked during his press promotion for the film that very little of the dialogue from the pages of the script ended up in the film. He also was given a lot of creative freedom for his non-verbal scenes, receiving basic instructions like, here's the room and this is the music.

Just do something to go with it. Oh, that's Jim Carrey to a T. Baby makes choices. Yeah, like, again, I got, which I love that they gave him that creative freedom. I'm just telling you, I feel for, again, if the other actors were able to improvise with him,

props to them. I got to imagine there were certain points for like, how do you keep up with this guy in his improv? Because he's a comedic genius. Totally. So again, props to all the actors that had to work with him, I can only imagine how tough that must have been. It must have been really tough. You know what? If you guys

have seen jury duty with James Martin in it, you can see that he worked with a bunch of improvisers, one of them, a couple of them my friends that I went to like Second City UCB with, but he is obviously a great improviser too, which is why I'm like, oh, that was a good head-to-head match choosing James Marzin and Jim Carrey to be able to work together. I thought that was a really fun choice. Absolutely.

I totally agree. Yeah, they had good, like they had a good contrast between them and chemistry for sure. Jeff Fowler, the director, explains the sonic references as being put generally throughout filming, and I quote, it's not like you're going out of your way in terms of the story to put these things in. they are what they are, which is just a way of rewarding fans for their years of enthusiasm and getting to see some things that they would recognize

but some, then the rest of the audiences might not. I love that. It's great. It's like naturally built in. Yeah, you don't just want to throw them in just to throw them in because people are going to be like, okay, that was cool to see, but what did that add to the story or the characters? Exactly. You don't want to leave the audience ostracized

if we haven't played the game as much and all of that, not recognizing all the Easter eggs. And so he did it just right. Absolutely. There is a chaos emerald drawn on Sonic's map. Many Sonic games revolve around Sonic's efforts to collect the seven chaos emeralds. I knew there were so many Easter eggs.

Okay. I was not going to understand. Yeah. When Sonic starts rolling along the ground, two sounds from the gameplay simultaneously, the iconic spin attack sound and the dash pad sound. Cool. Very, very cool. Love that.

Robotnik tells his assistant agent Stone that he was trained by Native American Shadow Wolves. Surprisingly, that's a real thing. They're trackers who are part of U.S. immigration and customs enforcement ice. Wow. Okay. Okay. Interesting. The villain was known as Dr. Robotnik outside Japan prior to Sonic Adventures.

Sonic the Hedgaw called him Eggman as more of an insult before the villain became known as Dr. Eggman. Oh, okay. So that's why you were saying the egghead thing. Yeah, and also the egghead, yeah. I don't remember any of that, but again, I didn't play the game, so. Yes, yes. Oh, so Ben Schwartz's voices and also provides the facial motion capture for Sonic. Okay. He did great. He did a great, great job. That's tough to do both.

That's why I was like, oh, how do they do the, like, the dog licking his face so well? And I'm like, maybe the motion, well, he just did facial motion capture. But anyway, that looks great. That was a great shot. I'll read one or two more. Let me go to the spoilers ones because they always have some interesting ones as well. Oh, my God. There's a lot of trivia in there.

Wow. If I read them all, we'd be here for hours, people. Yeah, there's a lot. Hold on. Almost to the, there we go. Okay. All right, let's see. A lot of people like this one.

So when the slow motion scene at the Transamerica Tower begins, Sonic does the foot tap idle animation from the games. That's great. Yeah, when he would be waiting. Yeah, and the foot tap. Oh, I didn't even notice that. That's great. I was just so engulfed by the amazing visuals.

I didn't even pick that up. Agreed me neither. That was great. Okay, so we got one more. This got 248 out of 250 people found this interesting, Tara. I just wanted you to know that. Okay. During the same scene, the slow motion scene at the Transamerica Tower,

Sonic uses a pair of missiles at xylophones to play the level complete music featured in so many of the Sonic games. Whoa. Oh, when he does a ding, ding, ding. Yes, yes, yes. Again, so that's what the director, Jeff Fowler was talking about, like, hey, I'm going to throw a reference in there. Right, but as long as they're...

Yeah, but, but like, it's not just a reference to be a reference. It's part of what's happening in the story. And we loved it. Like, you're giving fans what they want and also not ostracizing the audience. If we don't know what D.F. that is. Yeah. Which is perfect. Again, I love this.

I think they just did such a good job of balancing emotion. depth layers. And also the comedic tone was so damn perfect. I was laughing. It was heartfelt. The visuals were so damn good. You had an amazing villain. The camaraderie and friendship and chemistry between Tom and Sonic. And then obviously, as I just mentioned, Jim Carrey was so damn fun and entertaining and charismatic. And the music by Junkie XL was awesome too. And then all the Easter eggs that we didn't even catch and the ones we did catch. I loved it. I was such a fun time. If we weren't done for the night,

I would say let's just right now jump into Sonic 2. I can't wait for us to watch that. Me neither. I'm so excited. So, yes. It's going to be a blast. I loved also that it was a happy ending. I know we cut to the villain after scene

that he's going to make his way out of there. But the happy ending of that, he gets his family, lives in the attic, and looks just like his room. It's just so heartfelt. It makes me so happy. And I love movies like that.

Like this movie, again, made us emotional, made us laugh, and then super, like, touched our hearts. And that's actually a hard thing to do. There are not a lot of movies that hit all those, so I loved it. We can't wait to watch the next one. Thank you guys for tuning in, share the crap out of this. Make sure you like it. Leave some comments for us so that we can watch the next one.

We love you so much, and we will see you on the next one. Bye.