To say that people did not respond well to the Sonic Movie trailer when it was released is an understatement. Simply scroll through the #SonicMovie thread on Twitter and you can see audience’s reaction. While Jim Carrey’s portrayal of Dr. Robotnik is generating excitement, it’s the design of the titular character that is garnering much of the negative reaction. Not only does it seem that Sonic’s poor animation is generating more buzz for the movie Detective Pikachu, but people are really disliking the use of accurate human teeth for Sonic.
HOW do you mess up #sonic!? Like this apparently. Where are his gloves?! His eyes are wrong and what's with the human teeth. His proportions are weird and what's with the weird glowing hair/quills? There is source material everywhere! Just make more animated movies! #NotMySonic pic.twitter.com/yKrrHL6byQ
— Harry (@combatmedic02) April 30, 2019
Sonic is reminding me of Peter from Jumanji when he turned into a monkey. Just terrifying… WHY DOES HE HAVE THOSE CREEPY LITTLE TEETH #SonicMovie #SONIC pic.twitter.com/SKNzWmJkxE
— Joanna Ward 🧣 (@JosieEBoyd) April 30, 2019
https://twitter.com/Misheard_Metal/status/1123277274072133632
With the internet voicing its opinion, the director Jeff Fowler made the following statement.
Thank you for the support. And the criticism. The message is loud and clear… you aren't happy with the design & you want changes. It's going to happen. Everyone at Paramount & Sega are fully committed to making this character the BEST he can be… #sonicmovie #gottafixfast 🔧✌️
— Jeff Fowler (@fowltown) May 2, 2019
There is certainly time before the movie’s November release to fix the concerns fans have, but it does warrant the question, why was a trailer pushed out so soon? Maybe they wanted a reaction first, to see where they needed to approve? Either way, it’s no telling what the changes will be, but hopefully, Fowler goes back to his design team to really rework what we were shown to give us a Sonic movie that can get to the level of Detective Pikachu’s excitement.
Source: Game Informer