There was once a time not long ago when the prospect of a video game film adaptation would send chills down the spine of any gaming fan. Thanks to abysmal efforts such as Alone in the Dark and Max Payne, the genre's reputation had been stained and held little faith that anything semi-decent could hit screens. There seems to have been a turn as of late, made evident by the success of Sonic the Hedgehog 2 as well as its predecessor, released in early 2020.
Although far from a perfect film, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 is a major step up in almost every conceivable way from video game movies of the past. For fans of the blue blur and video games as a whole, this is a breath of fresh air, and renews hope that solid film adaptations for games can be produced. With numerous other video game movies on the horizon, there are many lessons that can be learned from Sonic the Hedgehog 2 to ensure that these projects also succeed while being translated to the motion picture medium.
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Sonic 2 Stays True to the Games
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When adapting properties from one medium to another, naturally some concessions must be made. Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy changed numerous elements in order to make the trilogy work as movies, for example. That being said, Sonic the Hedgehog 2 still does a commendable job at retaining many of the aspects that make the video games so endearing to begin with. The film is not shy to embrace Sonic's goofy antics, Eggman's outrageous machines, and touching upon the lore revolving around the Chaos Emerald.
Far too often in the past have film studios been afraid to keep elements from an original work, possibly thinking that it may be too bizarre for general audiences to accept. The Resident Evil film franchise altered numerous things about the narrative, while 1993's Super Mario Bros is barely recognizable as an adaptation of Nintendo's infamous platformer series.
Sonic the Hedgehog 2 shows that it's okay to represent these films as close as possible to the games which they are based upon. The upcoming Metal Gear Solid movie would be wise to be a deft blend of action, drama, and a hint of comedy, not being far off from a James Bond adventure in terms of style. Sonic paved the way to prove that a faithful adaptation can work, now its just up to future projects to carry on with this mentality.
Sonic 2's High Production Values
It goes without saying that Hollywood productions are big business and can be extremely expensive, depending on the scale of the film at hand. While wanting to turn a profit is understandable, a certain amount of money does need to be given to a film in order for it to shape together properly. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has a reported budget of somewhere between 90 and 100 million dollars, and it definitely shows. The special effects are top-notch, and the action sequences are extremely engaging.
Video games as a whole, all feature larger than life worlds, characters and storylines. The aforementioned Metal Gear Solid series, The Legend of Zelda, and BioShock cannot be adapted faithfully to the screen without a decent sized budget, similar to that of Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Earlier efforts like Street Fighter and Doom were from an older era of video game based films, and had lower budgets. Because of this, the end results had a very B-movie feel, and didn't help matters in the films being taken seriously.
Now that Sonic the Hedgehog 2 and other video game films like Rampage have been proven box office hits, hopefully studios realize these adaptations aren't as much of a gamble as they once were. With future video game film adaptations having better funding behind them, the possibilities are higher to more faithfully adapt these games to the big screen just as Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has.