Steve Pond's Blog, page 1985
February 13, 2020
Universal Confirms Nirvana, Elton John and Sonic Youth Masters Lost or Damaged in 2008 Vault Fire
In new court filings, Universal Music Group has confirmed that recording masters belonging to 19 different artists, among them Nirvana, Elton John and Sonic Youth, were damaged or destroyed in the 2008 fire at the center of a $100 million lawsuit.
The admission is the first time Universal has publicly confirmed the loss or damage of master recordings. The court papers, filed Thursday, also acknowledge damaged or destroyed masters recorded by Michael McDonald, Beck, R.E.M., Bryan Adams, You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead, Y&T, David Baerwald, Sheryl Crow, Jimmy Eat World, Les Paul, Soundgarden, Peter Frampton, Slayer, Suzanne Vega, Surfaris, and White Zombie.
Universal said however that at least for Adams, Nirvana, Y&T and Beck, safety copies exist for all the affected recordings.
In June, five plaintiffs — Soundgarden, Steve Earle, the estates of Tom Petty and Tupac and the band Hole — filed the lawsuit against UMG, accusing the label of not adequately protecting the master recordings and misrepresenting the extent of the damage from the fire to affected artists. The lawsuit asserted that affected artists are entitled to 50% of the money UMG received from successful litigation and insurance claims filed after the fire. The suit said the company did not disclose them.
Also Read: Universal Music Group Maintains 'Many' of Artist Plaintiffs' Masters Were Not Lost in 2008 Fire
Indeed, the court filings Thursday concern discovery in the case. At dispute is a document UMG filed in 2008 when seeking an insurance settlement for the 2008 fire — the company claimed at least 17,000 recordings were affected. Universal said in the papers that the document listed assets that were “potentially” affected, and the list was not intended to be definitive.
Hole was removed from the plantiffs in August, “solely based on UMG’s written assurances to Plaintiffs’ counsel that no Hole Master Recordings were lost in the Fire,” court filings said at the time. The four remaining plaintiffs are suing for breach of contract — revenue sharing, breach of contract — bailment, negligence, reckless conduct, conversion, and misrepresentation but omission. They claim the warehouse the masters (the original source from which all copies are produced) was a “firetrap.”
“UMG breached its duty of care through its negligence in storing the Master Recordings in the firetrap that was the Universal Studios backlot warehouse. And given UMG’s concealment of the loss of the Master Recordings for eleven years, it should be “presumed to have willfully, or by gross negligence, permitted the loss or injury to occur,” the lawsuit read.
Also Read: WGA Drops State Lawsuit Against Agencies, Files Antitrust and RICO Claims in Federal Court
The suit also says the plaintiffs are entitled to a percentage of the substantial funds UMG recovered from its insurance claims after the fire.
While UMG confirms that assets were lost in the fire, its continued focus is evaluating what was and wasn’t lost. The New York Times estimates assets from “hundreds more artists,” including Dr. Martin Luther King, were affected by the blaze.
in a statement provided to TheWrap, representatives for UMG said: “The plaintiffs’ lawyers have already been informed that none of the masters for four of their five clients were affected by the fire — and the one other client was alerted years earlier and UMG and the artist, working together, were still able to locate a high-quality source for a reissue project. Recognizing the lack of merit of their original claims, plaintiffs’ attorneys are now willfully and irresponsibly conflating lost assets (everything from safeties and videos to artwork) with original album masters, in a desperate attempt to inject substance into their meritless legal case. Over the last eight months, UMG’s archive team has diligently and transparently responded to artist inquiries, and we will not be distracted from completing our work, even as the plaintiffs’ attorneys pursue these baseless claims.”
Attorney Howard King, who represents the plaintiffs, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Pamela Chelin contributed to this report.
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Fox Business’ Lou Dobbs ‘Disappointed’ by Attorney General Bill Barr – One Day After Praising Barr for ‘Doing the Lord’s Work’ (Video)
What a difference a day makes.
On Wednesday, Fox Business host Lou Dobbs praised Attorney General Bill Barr for “doing the Lord’s work, as well as that of this great republic” for intervening to reduce the recommended prison sentence of convicted Trump ally Roger Stone — a virtually unprecedented move that led all four prosecutors to resign from the case.
But just one day later, Dobbs turned on Barr, saying he was “so disappointed” in Barr and his management of the “rancid, corrupt” Justice Department.
In particular, he singled out the attorney general’s Thursday interview with ABC News in which Barr complained that President Trump’s tweets about ongoing criminal cases like Stone’s “make it impossible for me to do my job.” Barr also told ABC News Chief Justice Correspondent Pierre Thomas, “I think it’s time to stop the tweeting about Department of Justice criminal cases.”
So on Thursday, the Fox Business host ripped into Barr for the public comments about Trump. “It’s a damned shame when he doesn’t get what this president has gone through and what the American people have gone through and what his charge is as Attorney General,” Dobbs said, renewing a right-wing talking point about ongoing investigations of the inner workings of the Justice Department and unsubstantiated claims about the “deep state.”
“Where the hell are the indictments, where the hell are the charges against the corrupt, the politically corrupt deep state within the Justice Department, the FBI?” Dobbs asked. “Why in the hell are we hearing apologies from someone in that rancid, corrupt department?”
Dobbs continued by suggesting that Barr should be more loyal to Trump — and shot down the longstanding practice of impartiality for Justice Department officials, particularly on criminal matters involving the president and his administration. “It’s his mission to … not to carp about his boss,” Dobbs said. “And by the way, I don’t want to hear any crap about an independent Justice Department. This Justice Department … works for the president. It’s part of the executive branch.”
Lou Dobbs attacks Bill Barr, suggests he's part of the "deep state," calls the Justice Department "rancid, corrupt" pic.twitter.com/PzjnieGrlK
— Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) February 14, 2020
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Special Harriet Tubman Visa Debit Card Sparks ‘Wakanda Forever’-Themed Backlash
The largest Black-owned bank in America paid tribute Thursday to abolitionist hero Harriet Tubman with a new Visa debit card bearing her likeness. Unfortunately, the tribute provoked much head-scratching and a lot of mockery, thanks to what looked like an attempt to connect the antislavery icon to the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
The new card, from OneUnited Bank, shows an image of Tubman as she’s popularly portrayed: Wearing her trademark headscarf with a look of fierce determination on her face. The twist? She’s also holding up her arms to make an extremely familiar-looking X shape.
Now, as far as photographic evidence goes it’s a gesture Tubman never actually made when she was alive. But it does look an awful lot like the sign immortalized as the national salute of Wakanda in 2018’s “Black Panther.” Here, see for yourself:
Also Read: Wakanda Forever! USDA Website Briefly Listed Black Panther's Home Country as a Trade Partner
OneUnited Bank
If your first thought upon seeing that was “Wakanda Forever,” you’re not alone. A ton of people had the exact same thought after OneUnited Bank tweeted the image out and weren’t shy in sharing it, including “Desus and Mero” star The Kid Mero, who joked “FAM NOT THE WAKANDA SALUTE TOO.”
“Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than Harriet Tubman hitting the Wakanda salute on debit cards,” said author Frederick Joseph.
“Wait they got her in the Wakanda Forever pose too?!?! Fail on fail on fail,” said one user.
“Is this acct handle run secretly by the @TheOnion cause this can be for real can it,” said another.
And that’s not even getting into the dozens of gifs and images expressing derision. Tubman is still an Icon, but the debit card image, as it turns out, notsomuch.
See some reactions below:
FAM NOT THE WAKANDA SALUTE TOO pic.twitter.com/jeQOM1YfjO
— THE KID MERO ???????? (@THEKIDMERO) February 13, 2020
“Bury me in the ocean, with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, because they knew death was better than Harriet Tubman hitting the Wakanda salute on debit cards.” https://t.co/ovOLNtSrlM
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) February 14, 2020
Harriet Tubman running into Frederick Douglass in heaven pic.twitter.com/yjDh7syFNV
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) February 14, 2020
Wait they got her in the Wakanda Forever pose too?!?!
Fail on fail on fail pic.twitter.com/Bci6s1KzCr
— Giver of SideEyes (@UntilIComeForU) February 13, 2020
Is this acct handle run secretly by the @TheOnion cause this can be for real can it ????
— LoverOfPersona (@xenogears1234) February 13, 2020
— L-Dub (@MsWilliamsWorld) February 13, 2020
— Yafae (@Yafaemo) February 13, 2020
— The Exceptional Negro (@ScottLaCoste2) February 13, 2020
Listen, take this down right now. I mean RIGHT NOW pic.twitter.com/eOiO9IFioe
— Mongo Slade (@MongoSlade8) February 13, 2020
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‘A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon’ Review: Aardman’s Wooly Hero Returns for a Hilarious Close Encounter
Woolly hero Shaun the Sheep has bleated through many an adventure over several seasons of his own TV series and an Oscar-nominated film, so finding a new, large-canvas escapade for one of Nick Park’s most cherished creations meant searching beyond the confines of Mossy Bottom Farm, or even the planet, and into outer space.
Hopping back onto the big screen (as well as the small one since, stateside, it’s a Netflix release), the ovine movie star has a close encounter of the third kind in “A Shaun the Sheep Movie: Farmageddon,” a quick-witted and uproarious homage to the sci-fi genre like only the stop-motion geniuses at Aardman Animations could imagine and handcraft.
Everyday sheep-nanigans for Shaun (voiced by bah expert Justin Fletcher) and the flock — including but not limited to pulling wild stunts that upset strict sheep dog Bitzer (John Sparkes provides the barks and grunts) — take a turn for the extraterrestrial when a spaceship lands nearby and a UFO craze possesses locals and tourists. Chaos ensues for our rejoicing.
Also Read: 'Shaun the Sheep' Review: 'Wallace & Gromit' Spin-Off Is Pure, Wordless Entertainment
Mark Burton (co-director of 2015’s “Shaun the Sheep Movie”) reunites with this rowdy bunch of characters as the screenwriter of “Farmageddon” in tandem with fresh collaborator Jon Brown, as a new duo, Will Becher and Richard Phelan, who previously worked in a variety of departments on productions at the studio, make their fluffy feature directorial debut.
Expanding the property to an appropriately larger scale — it’s not a “War of the Worlds” type epic but a comedic Shaun take on easily identifiable tropes — the team scores higher on clever cheekiness than on radical originality. That’s where the brilliance lies, of course: We anticipate most of the broad-stroke story beats but don’t know how these will mutate in the Aardman context. Their superpower is cultivating kids-friendly satire on familiar ground.
Lu-La (Amalia Vitale), the blue, bunny-like alien with an appetite for pizza, candy, and sugary drinks who Shaun unexpectedly befriends, and Agent Red, a misunderstood villain ridiculed as a child for believing in interplanetary beings, are two unique ingredients added here to the tried-and-true equation. Adorable Lu-La, whose talent for mimicking others’ sounds makes for sweet silliness, yearns for home, making her safe return Shaun’s mission, same as Elliot’s in “E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial.”
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To great success, other Aardman movies such as “Chicken Run” or “The Pirates! Band of Misfits” elicit laughter partly from irreverent lines. However, Shaun’s never sheared of his signature slapstick humor, thanks to the filmmakers’ commitment to not relying on intelligible dialogue. There’s just enough text on Farmer John’s newspapers and conspicuously placed signs to advance the plot with clarity.
Sight gags galore, plus a swift cameo from Wallace & Gromit, populate the dynamic landscape that characterizes the company’s style. Not even the most miniscule production design element is left to chance in such a tangible and meticulously conceived technique like stop-motion. Details matter, and comedy often emerges from them combined with great timing. “Farmageddon” is a non-verbal narrative that tells jokes directly to our curious eyes.
This method of deriving hilarity from a combination of what’s on the foreground and the touches that require a closer look carries over to Farmer John’s impromptu theme park, designed to profit from gullible visitors eager for a paranormal sighting — which is closer to an overpriced sideshow — and to the secret base where henchmen in hazmat suits carry out absurd experiments.
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Even more entertaining is keeping track of the copious tributes to classic sci-fi shows and movies, from “Signs” to “Doctor Who,” “The X Files,” and “2001: A Space Odyssey,” the latter honored with a piece of burnt toast near a jar of Roswell jam. Repeated viewings are recommended for full appreciation of the richness in references hidden all over.
CG enhancements to the world feel more prominent than in the previous installment, since giant robots and the spaceship that brings Lu-La to Earth benefit from the blend of the physical with the digital. Far more jarring than any visuals are certain music cues and their sudden placement within scenes, particularly in disheartened moments. It’s a minor flaw, probably in response to a fear of seeming less frantically energetic than other animated products out there. Aardman doesn’t need to fit that model, as their stories aim for timelessness.
Seriousness isn’t part of their brand, but in a post-Brexit United Kingdom and a world nose-diving into isolationist nationalism, the political significance of children’s content showing a countryside sheep becoming pals with a foreign visitor shouldn’t be dismissed as unintentional. Lu-La looks different than anybody Shaun knows, she speaks a different language, and is being hunted down, yet she shares the same intrinsic need for security and closeness. That’s something even rigid Bitzer, a rule-abiding figure, can agree on.
Leave it to Shaun not only to make the Brits (and the rest of us) chuckle but also to reinforce lessons on basic humanity trough the conceit of genre cinema.
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‘Portrait of a Lady on Fire’ Film Review: Ravishing Drama Is a Feminist Tale From a Pre-Feminist World
You don’t need any prior knowledge in order to be wowed by Céline Sciamma’s “Portrait of a Lady on Fire,” a visually ravishing period drama.
Walk in blind and take in all that this piercingly intelligent treatise on art, agency and queer love in the 18th century has to offer. Go in with a touch more context, however, and this already self-reflexive work takes on an entirely new dimension.
The story of a brief but passionate affair between a portrait artist and her subject, the film sets its sight on the gaze. Laced with bittersweet romanticism, the strong prize contender is fundamentally about the act of looking, of watching somebody else with intense yearning and seeing them stare back at you.
We follow talented artist Marianne (Noémie Merlant) from Paris to Brittany, where she is commissioned to paint the pre-wedding portrait of a young noblewoman, Héloïse (Adèle Haenel). But the painting must be done in secret, as the bride-to-be refuses to sit for it in protest of her unwanted marriage. So Marianne accompanies her unknown subject as a companion, taking long cliff-side walks while she studies her in full — and little does she know that Héloïse has been staring right back at her.
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While the women eventually act on their shared desire for one another, the focus is not wholly on their coupling, which comes into fruition surprisingly late into the story. Instead, the tale tracks the creation of art itself and the collaborative process it entails.
Héloïse learns of the portrait, and when she sees the work that’s been done, she chastises the young painter — not for doing the work in secret, but for doing work to please other (read: male) sensibilities rather than her own. As if Sciamma had taken Laura Mulvey’s feminist film theory and used it to deconstruct the costume drama (which seems to be exactly the case!), the narrative then resets. Now the two women will collaborate on a new portrait, one done in the pursuit of authentically feminine (and feminist, though they’re a few centuries too early to have the right words for that) art.
“Portrait of a Lady on Fire” is a film in conversation with itself and with the greater world — a movie made by a female director and a 99% female cast about the need to create authentically representative art that leads the way by doing exactly that.
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Films like “Carol,” “Blue Is the Warmest Color” and “The Handmaiden” have been the talk of the festival in recent Cannes vintages, but all have come from male directors and have had predominantly straight casts. “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” changes that up while offering one meta-textual twist: not only are director Sciamma and lead actress Haenel queer artists, they’re also a former couple.
While it’s normally best to consider a piece of art separate from its creators’ personal lives, this film’s deep self-awareness seems to invite the comparison. As with Spaniards and Pedro Almodovar’s “Pain and Glory,” most who see Sciamma’s film in its native country will come in a step ahead of the curve — Haenel did famously come out of the closet onstage at the Césars, professing her love for Sciamma.
They may no longer be together, but with “Portrait of a Lady on Fire” — the story of a bittersweet romance that enriches the lives of both partners even after it ends — Sciamma returns the affection.
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Samuel L Jackson to Star as Hitman in Thriller From ‘Crazy, Stupid, Love’ Directors
Samuel L. Jackson is set to star as a hitman in an untitled thriller to be directed by John Requa and Glenn Ficarra and written by Matthew Stone.
Endeavor Content will represent worldwide sales for the film at the European Film Market, and it will be produced by John Davis, known for “The Predator” franchise and “Game Night.”
Jackson will play Morris Stokes, a retiree who loves loves golf, his Lexus and ’70s soul music. But the former hitman for mob boss “Easy-A” has got more kills under his belt than he can count. When his nephew, Leslie, makes a stupid mistake, Morris gets a call from his old boss and must negotiate one last job: either help the kid recover the lost money, or put a bullet in him. Morris drags Leslie around town, making him clean up his mess while pontificating on some of life’s lessons along the way.
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Stone is known for his work on “Man of the House” and “Intolerable Cruelty.” Requa and Ficarra are producers and directors on “This Is Us,” and their last feature was 2016’s “Whiskey Tango Foxtrot” starring Tina Fey.
Jackson most recently was seen in “The Last Full Measure” and last summer’s “Spider-Man: Far From Home.” This year he’ll be seen in “The Banker” for Apple TV+, Chris Rock’s “Saw” spinoff movie “Spiral,” and “The Hitman’s Wife’s Bodyguard” alongside Ryan Reynolds.
He’s represented by ICM Partners and Anonymous Content.
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‘No Time to Die': Listen to Billie Eilish’s Theme Song for 25th James Bond Movie Here (Audio)
Billie Eilish has released the title track and theme song to the next James Bond movie, “No Time to Die,” a steamy but delicate and whisper quiet ballad to accompany Daniel Craig’s final turn as 007.
The Grammy-winning artist for 2020’s Album of the Year is the youngest musician to ever write and record the theme song for a James Bond movie, and she wrote the track with her brother Finneas and incorporated the traditional 007 theme, as well as special guests Hans Zimmer and guitarist Johnny Marr on the song.
“Though you’ll never see me cry, there’s just no time to die,” Eilish sings on the title track.
Also Read: 2020 Grammy Awards: Billie Eilish Sweeps Top Categories - Winners List
Finneas produced “No Time to Die” along with Stephen Lipson via Darkroom and Interscope Records, with orchestral arrangements by Zimmer and Matt Dunkley, and guitar from Marr.
Eilish will also perform the song live on Feb. 18 at The Brit Awards in London.
“Billie and Finneas have written an incredibly powerful and moving song for ‘No Time To Die,’ which has been impeccably crafted to work within the emotional story of the film,” producers of the film Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli said in a statement.
“There are a chosen few who record a Bond theme. I am a huge fan of Billie and Finneas. Their creative integrity and talent are second to none, and I cannot wait for audiences to hear what they’ve brought – a fresh new perspective whose vocals will echo for generations to come,” “No Time To Die” director Cary Joji Fukunaga said in a statement.
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“It feels crazy to be a part of this in every way. To be able to score the theme song to a film that is part of such a legendary series is a huge honor. James Bond is the coolest film franchise ever to exist. I’m still in shock,” Eilish said in a statement.
“Writing the theme song for a Bond film is something we’ve been dreaming about doing our entire lives. There is no more iconic pairing of music and cinema than the likes of ‘Goldfinger’ and ‘Live and Let Die.’ We feel so so lucky to play a small role in such a legendary franchise, long live 007,” Finneas said in a statement.
Eilish just performed a cover of The Beatles’ “Yesterday” during the Oscars In Memoriam segment on Sunday, which you can be listening to here. She also kicks off a North American tour, the “Where Do We Go?” tour, on Mar. 9.
“No Time To Die” opens in theaters in the U.S. on April 10. Listen to the track above.
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Conservative Radio Host Dennis Prager Complains ‘the Left Has Made It Impossible to Say the N-Word’
Conservative radio host Dennis Prager said he finds it “disgusting” that “the left has made it impossible to say the N-word any longer.”
In a clip first flagged by Media Matters for America’s Jason Campbell on Thursday, Prager responds to a caller who asks why he will say an anti-Semitic slur — that the caller himself also says in full — but not “the N-word.”
“Why didn’t I say ‘K-word?’ Because the left has made it impossible to say the N-word any longer,” Prager replied. “That’s disgusting. It’s a farce. It’s the only word that you can’t say in the English language.”
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He went on to say “the left doesn’t give a damn” about the anti-Semitic slur: “The left runs the country in the culture. The Republicans have the Senate and the presidency and that’s very important, but the culture… And the more the left controls, the more totalitarian it is. That is not an attack. It’s a statement of fact, like ‘two plus two equals four.’ It is idiotic that you cannot say the N-word. Idiotic.”
“Of course, you should never call anybody the N-word,” he continued. “That’s despicable.”
On Wednesday’s “Full Frontal,” comedian Samantha Bee roasted Prager’s media outlet, calling the Prager U website “as much of a real college as Monsters University.”
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“If your aim is just to scare people, at least one of them offers an actual diploma,” she said.
For the record, the Prager U (short for “university”) website has a disclaimer that says it “is not an accredited academic institution… but it is a place where you are free to learn.”
Bee said that unlike Fox — which she said “continues it’s lifelong quest to scare your grandparents into hoarding Franklinmint coins” — Prager U’s target audiences is the children and teens that make up Gen Z. Some of the Prager U videos she used to highlight her stance on the site included ones with messages like, “If sex isn’t real, why would any woman feel violated by an uninvited touch?” and “The left is destroying the Boy Scouts.”
Prager spent much of his show Thursday discussing the TBS segment.
A representative for Salem Radio did not respond to a request for comment.
Dennis Prager complains “the Left has made it impossible to say the N-word any longer,” adding “It is idiotic you cannot say the N-word. Idiotic” pic.twitter.com/Gd012Dw2ZD
– Jason Campbell (@JasonSCampbell) February 13, 2020
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‘The Batman': First Look at Robert Pattinson as The Dark Knight (Video)
Warner Bros has revealed the first look of Robert Pattinson as the Dark Knight in the upcoming film “The Batman” from Matt Reeves.
Check out the video above of Pattinson’s camera test, released Thursday by WB.
Production is currently underway in the United Kingdom.
The cast includes Zoe Kravitz as Selina Kyle, a.k.a. Catwoman, Paul Dano as Edward Nashton, also known as the Riddler and John Turturro is playing Carmine Falcone. TheWrap previously reported that Andy Serkis is in talks to play Alfred Pennyworth and that Colin Farrell is in talks to star as The Penguin. Jeffrey Wright is playing Commissioner Gordon, Peter Saarsgard is playing the role of Wasserman, while Jayme Lawson is set to star as well.
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Reeves has described his film as a “defining” and “very personal” story about the Dark Knight, rather than an origin story in the vein of Frank Miller’s beloved “Year One” series. According to insiders with knowledge of the project, Reeves’ film will explore Bruce Wayne’s second year as the Dark Knight detective.
“The Batman” will be released on June 25, 2021.
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‘Sonic the Hedgehog’ Film Review: Video Game Adaptation Surprises With Charm and Delight
Count me as one of the chorus of people who, when the “Sonic the Hedgehog” movie was announced, rolled my eyes and exclaimed, “No one asked for this!”
And yet, here I sit completely eating my words, because that movie with the weird VFX re-do that inspired some rather harsh memes turns out to be a complete delight, offering some really great family-friendly fun.
Sonic (voiced by Ben Schwartz) lands on Earth as a child after escaping his home planet, where he was chased by evil creatures who wanted to use his abilities for themselves. Using one of the golden rings given to him by his pseudo-mother, Long Claw, he lands in Green Hills, Montana. There he grows up, enjoying the simple things — reading his favorite comic books (“The Flash”), playing ping-pong with himself, listening to music, and observing the townspeople, while staying completely hidden. His favorite people to watch are the “Donut Lord” aka town sheriff Tom (James Marsden) and his wife, the “Pretzel Lady,” local vet, Maddie (Tika Sumpter).
Watch Video: 'Sonic the Hedgehog' Gets a Digital Makeover in New Trailer
Tom spends most of his days sitting at a speed trap, waiting for anything, anything at all, to happen. And when he gets home, something does: He’s been offered a chance to join San Francisco’s police department, where he feels he might actually get to save a life or do something more than just escort a family of ducks across the street. That same evening, Sonic — having just watched a Little League game he yearned to be part of — literally tries to outrun his loneliness and creates a power outage so massive that the U.S. government becomes suspicious.
They hire Dr. Robotnik (Jim Carrey), the smartest man in the world, who has an army of technologically advanced gizmos he created himself. Soon, Robotnik discovers Sonic’s abilities, and Tom and Sonic head out on a road trip both to escape Robotnik and to find Sonic’s rings, so he can be safe once more by leaving the planet he has fallen in love with.
When that infamous first “Sonic the Hedgehog” trailer dropped, the VFX was definitely questionable, but there’s not a trace of that earlier awkward look in the final product. The effects, while maintaining fidelity to the popular video game, turned out stellar. Sonic and his homeworld were exactly as I would have pictured them back when I couldn’t put my Sega controller down.
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Making his feature film debut, director Jeff Fowler stays true to what fans presumably want to see in a Sonic film. The worlds were believable, and Fowler seems really in-tune to what families would enjoy in a film about an insanely fast, laid-back alien creature. Wisely, he just makes it fun.
The script itself is very light-hearted, even with undercurrents about being an outsider and the loneliness that comes with it. Co-writers Pat Casey and Josh Miller (Blumhouse’s YouTube series “12 Deadly Days”) never let the heaviness dwell too long. Kids who might be venturing to a new school or a new city will definitely identify with that aspect, and I appreciated that not once in the film is Sonic asked to change who he is; in fact, it’s by being himself that he finally finds the community he’s longed for.
Also Read: 'Sonic the Hedgehog' Expected to Spin Dash to $45 Million Opening at Box Office
The entire cast knows what film they’re in, providing the perfect blend of energy and charm needed to sell this wacky story about a little blue alien hedgehog. But I couldn’t contain my glee at watching Jim Carrey operate in peak early-’90s form. Robotnik is definitely a villain, but you can spot elements of “Ace Ventura” and “The Mask” whipped into this tech-savvy, egotistical, psychopath. There’s a dance sequence to “Where Evil Grows” that shows off Carrey’s genius.
(Props to cartoon vet Ben Schwartz for voicing a sweetness into a character that could have easily gotten lost in the oddities that surround it, all the while matching Carrey’s energy and comedic timing beat for beat.)
“Sonic the Hedgehog” might not become a kid-movie classic, but it makes for a great little getaway to enjoy with the whole family. That, in itself, earns a golden ring.
Related stories from TheWrap:
Something Is VERY Different With Conan's 'New & Improved' Sonic the Hedgehog (Video)
New 'Sonic the Hedgehog' Design Wins Over Rebellious Fans: 'All Is Forgiven'
Jim Carrey on 'Sonic' Redesign Forced by Fans: 'It's Either Going to Be a Good Thing or a Bad Thing'
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