Sorry for the Lack of an Interesting Article Name... So Here's a Review of Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie (1999)

 

It’s safe to say that all of our usual readers know about the live action Sonic the Hedgehog films*. However, a long time ago in the days of dinosaurs and watching movies on those big black rectangles called video tapes, there was another.  Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie was the name. An animated film made up of a two-part OVA series that came out in Japan. Don’t ask me what years that they came out. I can’t be bothered looking and this isn’t a bloody history video from someone reading only Wikipedia… 1996 in Japan. 1999 in English. Although I remember seeing this film available where I live (Australia) around mid-to-late 2000.  Yes, I did get those years from Wikipedia. lol (Click on “Read More” to read the full article).

 

If you were one of the hip kids back in the day, chances are that you were one of the many that rented the latest Dragonball Z or Pokémon tape over this. Yeah. I was one of the adventurous types that rented this one back in the day… All of the Dragonball Z and Pokémon were rented out, so it was either renting Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie, some worn down Voltron tape from the 80s and not any of the 90s re-issues from Siren, or one of The Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog volumes. I chose the movie because I had not seen it before and didn’t know much about it.

Once my little 12-year-old self got home, I plopped on the tape and I was not amused. Why? Well, I’ll get to that later. This isn’t a review of the film from when I rented it in 2002. I will say this though. I was wrong to not like it back then, but I can sure as Mephiles understand why I didn’t like this at that age. That's enough about me and more about… Well… Me. To be more accurate, my review on the movie that doesn’t exactly feel like a movie because it’s just a two-part special, gaffer taped into one 50-minute feature (give or take a few minutes).

Anyway, the story in this one is on the simple side, but it will also throw off anyone who is familiar with any of the stories in the typical Sonic games that you’d know. The story in this is exactly like that, but the parts that’ll throw you off is the choice of characters… But I am jumping too far ahead.

Going back to what this movie is about. Some crazy old owl named Old Man Owl needs the aid of Sonic because President the President and his daughter named Sara is being invaded by Dr. Robotnik. I think you’re starting to get the point as to why the characters are throwing you off, but let’s continue. OH NO! Dr. Robotnik isn’t really taking over the kingdom, but he needs Sonic’s help. Robotniks' big hunky city of a lab has been taken over by his own creation, Metal Robotnik.

Sonic isn’t buying Robotnik’s story one bit. He thinks that it is a plan to get rid of Sonic in some form or way. Robotnik is like “Oh no! I’m not lying! I wouldn’t lie! Plus the world is in danger”.  Sonic ends up going along and decides to help out. Of course it ends up being a trap. Dr. Robotnik kidnaps Sarah, so he can marry her against her own will and have many Eggbabies with her. Meanwhile, Sonic is off to save the world, only to run into a trap where he must fight an evil robot version of himself called, Metal Sonic (yes, the same Metal Sonic from Sonic CD). I’m skipping some minor details, but that’s essentially what the film is about and yes, the heroes do win in the end. Also, yes, Knuckles and Tails help out in their own way.

 If you haven’t guessed as to why the story bafflingly throws you off is because of the new characters. Who the hell are they? Why are they here? Why are we supposed to act like they’ve been there since the very start when they are new? I don’t know. I find it weird, but thankfully it doesn’t take long to get over that shock.

The story itself is basic. Not like that’s a bad thing though, it didn’t need to be anything complicated or grand. Just a simple story of Robotnik wanting to destroy that damn hedgehog with his own damn hedgehog. What I didn’t like was that it was predictable and in a very dumb way too. Sonic knew not to trust Robotnik, until Robotnik was like “uh uh” and Sonic went along.  I mean, I expected that stuff from Knuckles, but not Sonic.

Yes, as I have mentioned before. Tails and Knuckles are part of the story and they really don’t add that much other than the sidekick and comedic role. Speaking of comedy, this short has some surprising innuendos such as Sonic getting his blue spheres hurt, Tails unintentionally groping Sara, and Metal Sonic unintentionally looking up the Sara's very skimpy looking wedding dress. Surprising it is, but it’s also quite mild.

 What I wasn’t expecting to see was a shot of Sarah breastfeeding a little baby Robotnik. It did take place in Robotniks’ mind though and it also wasn’t anything explicit. Just Robotnik imagining being married and having lots of kids. It was just something that stuck out for me while watching this film.

Oh, yeah, right. There’s quite a bit of action to be found here. Pretty fun and exciting to watch too due to its decent animation and sweet futuristic jazzy sound. The action scenes that I liked the most was of the Metal Robotnik fight and the Metal Sonic fight. They were chaotic and made me wish that they were boss fights in the games.  I know we got a Metal Sonic boss stage in Sonic CD, but that stage was lame. All you did was race Metal Sonic and not fight him. BOO!

The artwork is really good. The characters looked like what they should be and the backgrounds had some nice detail and really helped build up a special mood that makes you feel like that you’re on an adventure with Sonic himself.  Sure, it felt a little outdated by the time that this film came out, with it sounding like it should be played at a 1992 pool party, but it was fun. I wouldn’t mind owning a copy of it.

Okay, now we are up to talking about the English dub and this is the weakest thing about this film. All of the main characters have a weird cutesy and nasally style and I didn’t like it.  Sounded like listening to Smurfs with really bad colds.  The voices for most of the other characters were fine though.  Robotnik sounded like a mad scientist, Sarah sound like a bratty teenager which is perfect for her character, and Old Man Owl the Old Crazy Owl sounded like a crazy old owl if crazy old owls could talk.  Metal Sonic does speak at the very end (sorry for the spoiler) and his voice is a very typical beep boop robot voice.

Yeah, the English dub can be pretty annoying to listen to. Does it ruin the overall experience? Depends on your patience, but I found that it wasn’t annoying enough to make me turn the film off or want to kick the voice actors in the nuts.

Overall, I wouldn’t say that this is a must watch experience for anime and/or video game fans as a whole. It is a fun watch for if you are a fan of Sonic though. A neat little oddity from the blue blur franchise. Just prepare to pay top dollar to obtain a legal copy of this.

Bonus: Here in Australia, we had the VHS version of the film come out as a bonus item with the deluxe version of Sonic Advance for the GBA. We never got it on DVD down here.  Also, huge thanks to Cameron Hons (another fellow contributor to the Emerald Rangers brand) for providing a photo. I’m not saying where he lives, because I know you’ll rob him if I do.

 

 

*Personal note: First one is great. Second one is overrated (send your letter bombs to my travelling PO Box. This week it can be found on top of. I have not seen the third one.