After a trailer that was panned online and an entire character redesign that caused the film to be delayed, everyone has been curious about how the Sonic the Hedgehog movie holds up. While many expected the movie to be an unmitigated disaster, Sonic's early Rotten Tomatoes score tells a different story than anticipated.
There have been many roadblocks to overcome on the film's path to release, with the opinions of several fans being that if a good Sonic video game has become such a rarity in recent years, how could there possibly be a good movie? The fact that the initial trailer for the film showed an absolutely terrifying design for the blue blur as well as a hilariously generic looking story did not help matters in the slightest.
Despite all initial expectations, the Rotten Tomatoes scores for Sonic, both from critics and from audiences, have been respectable, and certainly a far cry from the face plant that was anticipated. In fact, in a shocking bit of comparison, it appears that Sonic's Rotten Tomatoes scores are both higher than those of Rise of the Skywalker, despite the latter being the three-year anticipated close to the third Star Wars trilogy. While hope for the upcoming High Republic Era films remains high, it seems that more movie goers would rather watch a speedy blue hedgehog than the last part of Rey's saga.
One of the big reasons is that while it was competently made, Rise of the Skywalker left many people feeling hollow about the experience overall, with critics citing a lack of the old creative spark that carried previous films and made them great. There was, in short, a lack of soul, as well as a fundamental misunderstanding about the Jedi and their role in the universe. The fact that so many people expect so much out of a Star Wars film probably also made them much angrier when said film did not live up to expectations.
Sonic, on the other hand, had almost no expectations to live up to except utter failure, and since it turned out to be surprisingly decent, there was no reason to rake it over the coals unnecessarily. Add to that a genuinely fun performance by the legendary Jim Carrey and a star who has fond memories of the Sonic video games, and you've got a cast that genuinely wanted to make a fun kids movie.
This news is no doubt disappointing to many Star Wars fans, and it could be taken as an indicator of the state of the franchise these days, which is certainly a grim thought. But, again, there is still hope for the future of Star Wars, both the films and the video games. Rather than dwell on the disappointments, now is the time to face forward into a new era of promise. After all, if Sonic can be surprisingly good, then the next Star Wars movie absolutely can.
Sonic the Hedgehog is in theaters now.
Source: Rotten Tomatoes