Some might insist on giving fan films a pass based solely on the fact that they lack the funds and resources of their Hollywood counterparts. But the “little guy” goodwill only extends so far and Blue Core's Sonic fan film suffers from serious script and tonal issues that are hard to overlook.
Playing like a patchwork of the original Genesis games, the Saturday morning cartoon, and the godawful 2006 Sonic game, this is a film that SEEMS to understand where its audience is coming from, but quickly calls into question if it even knew what made Sonic tick in the first place. Some of the fanboy shout outs, such as the return of original Sonic voice actor Jaleel White, help to play to a fun sense of nostalgia. Others, such as the plethora of awkward cameos by the likes of James Rolfe (Angry Video Game Nerd), Craig Skistimas (Screw Attack) and Doug Walker (The Nostalgia Critic) seem like a cynical grab at marquee value that detracts from the film itself. These gee whiz cameos might have actually worked had the movie's aspirations not been so pretentious….
Despite what you may think, it's surprisingly easy to overthink the
sociopolitical implications of a cartoon hedgehog fighting for our freedoms....
…. Yes pretentious. The 90's Saturday morning cartoon may have dabbled with somewhat dark subject matter (enslavement, greed, genocide, forced automation) but it did so with a lighthearted tone that never got too heavy. Blue Core's film takes itself deadly serious from the moment the film opens with a score that wouldn't sound out of place in The Dark Knight. The filmmakers were trying to do a serious take on a property that was essentially aimed at children, but in doing so they stripped away most of the charm that made us love the property in the first place. While Sonic himself does have a few cheesy wisecracks, he's ill equipped to bring levity to the tone of the film and it's only in the film's final moments (when it eschews the realistic world for a tribute to the original Green Hill Zone) that the film starts to feel…. right.
Despite its glaring shortcomings, the Sonic fan film is not without its bright spots. On a special effects level, this is a surprisingly slick little production with an interesting aesthetic sensibility. Sonic is highly detailed and beautifully animated; his fur gives way to individual quills and his design seems like a hybrid of classic era and Dreamcast era Sonic (players of Sonic Generations will be intrigued). Most of the CGI characters blend pretty well with the human actors and the robots have a tangible, metallic quality that really helps to sell them.
The acting in this film is almost universally bad, with one exception; ROBOTNICK! This villanous character was easily the best actor in the entire movie and fully commanded it with his screen presence. Robotnick fully embraced the serious tone and upstages every other character in the film, including Sonic himself. Whether this is a testament to the actor or a slight against everyone else in the film is up for debate though.
It's hard to give this movie much leeway seeing as how they had more resources to make it than most fan films. It was shot on professional grade cameras (RED ONE MX), featured Jaleel White (not the biggest star in the world but a SAG actor far outside the grasp of most fan productions), helicopter shots (according to the production blog, this was not stock footage) and you couldn't turn a corner at MAGfest without being bombarded with promotion for this film (while other, arguably superior, projects went neglected). The "little guy" card isn't exactly in this film's deck, so don't even try to play it.
Cool poster huh? Now imagine that everywhere you
turn, you see at least 3 of them. Still cool? Didn't think so...
Ultimately, the elements are too disparate to really gel and the film comes off as horribly uneven. A talking, blue hedgehog with super speed is a difficult sell when played this seriously. The key reason that fan films are made (aside from being used as "calling cards") is because the fan community is consistently burned every time Hollywood adapts their favorite properties to film; they're filmmakers who don't understand (or even respect) video games. A film like this, that throws away much of the charm that made us love Sonic in the first place, defeats the purpose. Had it embraced the innate childishness (and ridiculousness) of a super fast hedgehog and his anthropomorphic friends fighting an evil scientist bent on world domination, it could have been successful. It almost seems like the creators of this film were as clueless as the suits in the big studios. We constantly give Hollywood flack for its gritty reboots of classic properties from our youth, why should indie films get a pass?
Currently, the film is free to view online and therefore worth a watch for curiosity's sake more than anything. As a spec film, it proves that a mature take on Sonic is NOT the right path for the property (remember Shadow the Hedgehog?). As a fan film, it's far glossier than most; but if George Lucas taught us anything, special effects aren't everything. There are far better examples of the fan film genre out there, check them out after finishing this one, it's better that way…..
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