Sonic the Hedgehog (film)

Sonic the Hedgehog
Film information
Directed by	Rob Cohen
Produced by	Brad Silberling
Written by	Shiro Maekawa
Based on	Sonic the Hedgehog by SEGA
Starring	Jason Griffith Veronica Taylor
Music by	Masato Nakamura
Studio	OLM, Inc.
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release Date(s)	November 18, 1998
Running time	119 minutes
Language	English Japanese
Budget	¥5 billion US$50 million
Box office	$263.9 million

Sonic the Hedgehog (ソニック・ザ・ヘッジホッグ Sonikku za Hejjihoggu) is a 1998 American/Japanese computer animated/anime film based on Sega's best-selling video game franchise Sonic the Hedgehog, directed by Rob Cohen in his animation debut, and produced by Brad Silberling. It is the first film in the Video Game Extended Universe.

The film was released in North America on November 18, 1998. The film tells the story of Sonic the Hedgehog and his friends as they arrive in the world of Pokemon as they take on both Sonic's rival Dr. Eggman and Ash Ketchum's enemies Team Rocket while also battling a black hedgehog named Shadow who somewhat resembles Sonic.

Sonic the Hedgehog was very popular upon it's release and was both a critical and commercial success, eventually becoming the second highest-grossing animated film of 1998.

Plot

The film begins with Patty the Puffin telling Perky the Cat that the kids are here to see the lost episode. However, Perky says that he has lost the lost episode, and tells the kids to forget about Sonic. The French Narrator introduces a segment called "Remembering Sonic", a musical montage of clips from the past Sonic video games. After a long treasure hunt where Perky finds a tape that holds the movie, he plays the tape. The tape shows a long clip of Sonic doing walk cycles to upbeat music before abruptly showing the EBS color bars. After Perky sees this, he proclaims that "Sonic betrayed us!" and throws out all his Sonic merchandise and runs away. However, Patty informs him that the tape is not over and that the real lost movie is about to begin. As a countdown to that starts, Perky excitedly says, "Really?!" and his throwing everything away is rewinded and the movie begins.

After the movie, Perky attempts to play it again but doesn't know how to play it. He and Patty press a lot of buttons on the remote but the tape wears out and comes pouring out of the player, causing Perky to get tangled in it. The movie ends with the narrator saying to the viewers to get lost.

Cast

Character name	Japanese voice actor	English voice actor
Sonic the Hedgehog (Sonikku za Hejjihoggu)	Jun'ichi Kanemaru	Jason Griffith
Miles "Tails" Prower ()
Knuckles the Echidna ()
Dr. Eggman ()
Metal Sonic ()
Sally Acorn ()
Amy Rose ()
Rouge the Bat ()
Blake the Cat ()		Trevor Devall
Sara (セーラ Sēra)	Mika Kanai	Sascha Biesi
President (大統領 Daitōryō)	Yuzuru Fujimoto	Edwin Neal

Production

Warner Bros. Pictures bought the rights to produce an animated film of Sonic the Hedgehog in 1992. Rob Cohen, who currently directed live-action films at the time, was chosen to direct the film. Cohen wasn't familiar with animation at the time, but soon grew into the art and style of animation.

It was the first anime film based on the Sonic universe. It was primarily influenced by other anime rather than work from the West, and was created for a Japanese audience. Yuji Naka, then the head of Sonic Team, filled in as executive producer, and Yuji Uekawa created all of the original characters. 4Kids Entertainment handled the show's American localization. 4Kids was told by SEGA themselves not to edit any content from the film. 4Kids complied. 4Kids has been described by Destructoid as being "infamous" among anime fans for this type of overzealous editing.

While traditionally animated, it includes non-outlined CGI elements for things such as Sonic's homing attack.

4Kids found new voice actors rather than using those from the games, with auditions beginning in early 1997. They invited Mike Pollock to audition for Eggman. 4Kids allowed Pollock to make minor alterations to the dialogue when lines "[didn't] work for some reason". He recalled being given only short samples of Eggman's voice from the games—he was not told specifically which game—and brief descriptions of his characters' roles. Beginning with Shadow the Hedgehog (2005), the cast of the film series would assume their respective voice roles in all Sonic games released between 2005 and 2010, at which point all the roles were recast with the exception of Mike Pollock as Eggman.

Reception

Critic reviews

Sonic the Hedgehog received positive reviews from film critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a score of 89% "fresh" approval rating. On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 74 out of 100 based on 39 reviews, meaning "generally favorable reviews".

Box office

Sonic the Hedgehog was released in 3,110 theaters on November 18, 1998 and broke the record for an animated film opening on Friday with US$11.5 million. The film also set house records in several theaters around the United States. Sonic the Hedgehog grossed $32.5 million on it's first week of release, peaking at #1 at the box office.

Soundtrack

Crush 40, which consists of Senoue and Gioeli, officially debuted with the theme song "Live & Learn", which plays during the main menu, the final battle, and the ending credits.

The Sonic the Hedgehog Multi-Dimensional Original Soundtrack was produced by Jun Senoue and released by Marvelous Entertainment on November 18, 1998. The songs feature the band Crush 40.

Track list

Disc 1

Track No.	Title	Length	Total length
1.	Introduction ...featuring "Open Your Heart"	1:47
2.	Welcome to Station Square	3:14
3.	Event: Strain	1:00
4.	Boss: CHAOS ver.0, 2, 4	2:22
5.	Azure Blue World ...for Emerald Coast	4:13
6.	Windy and Ripply ...for Emerald Coast	3:11
7.	BIG Fishes at Emerald Coast...	1:50
8.	and... Fish Hits!	1:32
9.	Hey You! It's Time to Speed Up!!!	0:33
10.	Twinkle Cart ...for Twinkle Park	2:04
11.	Pleasure Castle ...for Twinkle Park	1:55
12.	Twinkle Circuit	2:21
13.	Fakery Way ...for Twinkle Park	1:09
14.	Run Through the Speed Highway ...for Speed Highway	1:56
15.	Goin' Down!? ...for Speed Highway	0:31
16.	At Dawn ...for Speed Highway	2:41
17.	Choose Your Buddy! -Slap Bass ver.	2:03
18.	Theme of "CHAO"	2:27
19.	Letz Get This Party Started ...for CHAO Race Entrance	4:05
20.	Join Us 4 Happy Time ...for CHAO Race	2:29
21.	The Dreamy Stage ...for Casinopolis	2:15
22.	Blue Star ...for Casinopolis	1:36
23.	Dilapidated Way ...for Casinopolis	2:10
24.	Challange for Another Aim	0:56
25.	Theme of "Dr.EGGMAN"	2:31
26.	Egg Mobile ...Boss: Egg Hornet	2:04
27.	Mystic Ruin	2:26
28.	Windy Hill ...for Windy Valley	1:42
29.	Tornado ...for Windy Valley	1:37
30.	The Air ...for Windy Valley	2:53
31.	Fight for My Own Way ...Boss: Event	2:07
32.	Snowy Mountain ...for Icecap	2:07
33.	Limestone Cave ...for Icecap	1:52
34.	Be Cool, Be Wild and Be Groovy ...for Icecap	2:24
35.	Invincible ...No Fear!	1:00
36.	Choose Your Buddy! -Finger Bass ver.-	2:02
			76:33

Disc 2

1. Mt. Red: a Symbol of Thrill ...for Red Mountain (1:47)
2. Red Hot Skull ...for Red Mountain (4:58)
3. Heartless Colleague ...Boss: E-Series Targets (1:25)
4. Sand Hill (3:09)
5. Event: Sadness (1:14)
6. Theme of "TIKAL" (3:23)
7. Tricky Maze ...for Lost World (2:31)
8. Danger! Chased by Rock ...for Lost World (1:36)
9. Leading Lights ...for Lost World (1:49)
10. Event: The Past (1:30)
11. Event: Fanfare for "Dr.EGGMAN" (0:26)
12. Tornado Scramble ...for Sky Chase (1:33)
13. Funky Groove Makes U Hot!? ...for Options (1:45)
14. Egg Carrier - A Song That Keeps Us On The Move (4:03)
15. ZERO The Chase-master ...Boss: Eggman Robot -ZERO- (1:58)
16. Skydeck A Go! Go! ...for Sky Deck (1:41)
17. General Offensive ...for Sky Deck (2:44)
18. Theme of "E-102g" (4:26)
19. Crazy Robo ...Boss: E-101R (2:33)
20. Bad Taste Aquarium ...for Hot Shelter (3:31)
21. Red Barrage Area ...for Hot Shelter (2:47)
22. Danger is Imminent (1:12)
23. Sweet Punch ...for Hedgehog Hammer (1:04)
24. Militant Missionary ...Boss: Egg Walker & Egg Viper (1:17)
25. Mechanical Resonance ...for Final Egg (3:05)
26. Crank the Heat Up!! ...for Final Egg (3:00)
27. Boss: CHAOS ver.6 (1:54)
28. Calm After the Storm ...Egg Carrier -the ocean- (2:08)
29. Event: Unbound (1:12)
30. Perfect CHAOS Revival! ...Boss: Perfect CHAOS (1:43)
31. Event: Good-bye! (1:19)
32. Will You Continue? (0:34)
33. Open Your Heart -Main Theme of "SONIC Adventure"- (4:29)