The 'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie just dropped its first trailer, and Jim Carrey looks right at home as Dr. Robotnik
- Paramount Pictures has released the first trailer for "Sonic the Hedgehog," an upcoming film starring the iconic video game character and Jim Carrey as Sonic's nemesis Dr. Ivo Robotnik.
- Sonic became a household name in the 90s as the mascot of Sega, a Japanese video game company. Sonic has spawned dozen of games, multiple cartoon series, and countless media tie-ins, but this will be his first movie.
- The film brings Sonic to the real world with a mix of action and comedy; the film's creators have compared it "Ted."
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Paramount Pictures just released the very first trailer for "Sonic the Hedgehog," the upcoming film starring Jim Carrey, "Westworld" star James Marsden, and Ben Schwartz as the voice of Sonic. The new movie brings the iconic video game character into a real world setting, with a style the filmmakers have compared to Seth MacFarlane's "Ted."
Sonic is best known as the mascot of Sega, the Japanese video-game developer that once served as Nintendo's primary competition with consoles like the Sega Genesis and Game Gear. While Sega hasn't released a new console in more than a decade, the "Sonic the Hedgehog" franchise has seen new games nearly every year since his debut in 1991. Through the years, the character's popularity has led to multiple cartoon spinoffs and legions of dedicated fans creating their own Sonic art and original characters.
The character's design in "Sonic the Hedgehog" is a bit different from what fans are used to. His fur is made of individual hairs, rather than the solid blue color usually seen in the games, and Sonic has a much more human-looking physique, with defined arms and legs. Sonic looks somewhat similar to the CGI Pokémon seen in the Warner Bros. trailer for "Pokémon: Detective Pikachu," which added skin and fur textures to the video game creatures.
Fans expressed concerns about Sonic's movie design, highlighting the difference in design based on early posters. Countless memes on social media lambasted the movie for trying to make the blue hedgehog seem more realistic. Months later, Sonic's CGI design still seems a bit unusual to some, but it isn't the nightmare fuel people were worried about.
Read more: A 'Sonic the Hedgehog' movie is on the way, but fans think his new design looks awful
According to the film's synopsis, Sonic is on the run from the government and enlists the help of police officer Tom Wachowski, played by James Marsden. The military recruits Sonic's video game nemesis, Dr. Ivo Robotnik, to help track him down. Jim Carrey looks right at home playing the evil genius Robotnik as a flamboyant know-it-all. Best known for playing Jean-Ralphio in "Parks & Recreation," Ben Schwartz's Sonic displays plenty of the brash confidence the character is known for.
"Sonic the Hedgehog" will race into theaters on November 8, 2019.