Sonic Unleashed (film)

Sonic Unleashed: Gaia Manuscripts - Part 1 is a 2018 American 3D CG computer-animated action-adventure drama fantasy science fiction film, it is the first of two cinematic parts based on a video game of the same name. The film is directed by John Kahrs and written by Kiyoko Yoshimura. Jason Giffith, Anthony Salerno, Mike Pollock, Dan Green, Kate Higgins and Lisa Ortiz reprise their characters from the video game.

The story follows Sonic the Hedgehog and his human friends as they attempt to restore the world to normal after Sonic's nemesis, Dr. Eggman, splits the world's continents into pieces with a powerful new ray weapon and the power of the Chaos Emeralds to harness the power of Dark Gaia, as well as his struggles with his new beast form generated by Dark Gaia's energies, Sonic the Werehog. It is followed by concluding entry, Sonic Unleashed: Gaia Manuscripts - Part 2. The movie is to take place after Kingdom Hearts: Guardians of Light.

Sonic Unleashed is scheduled to be released on June 15, 2018, and will include an IMAX 3D version.

Plot
At the beginning of the story, where a man named Yomi attacks a shrine to retrieve the spirit of Dark Gaia, a gargantuan creature who attempted to destroy the planet that spawned it. Since he is lacking a body, Yomi offers his as a temporary substitute until they can retrieve Dark Gaia's original one. The only threat to Dark Gaia's plan is a priestess named known as Shion, and the counterpart of Light Gaia, those who have the ability to seal his spirit away once more and two legendary heroes those who killed Naga and ending the Highbreed Conspiracy/ Conflict on Earth. He raises a stone army from their slumber to attack the rest of the world while his four subordinates go to eliminate Shion, Light Gaia, Theodore Detweiler and Marcus Simpson. They are given special chakra creatures to enhance their strength. Sonic is confronting his nemesis, Dr. Eggman, on Eggman's flagship. Eggman then activated the ships defence systems, activating the cannons and bringing forth a horde of Egg Fighters. After seeing the obstacles, Sonic boosted forward and began dodging the batteries fired from the cannons. bounding across the flagship, Eggman brought forth his Mech and unleashed a flurry of machine gun fire. After running across the ceiling while dodging missiles, Sonic ran through the Flagship's hallway. Eggman fired his Mech's grappling hook-like arm and grabbed Sonic. After being pulled to Eggman in the Mech's grasp, Sonic summoned the Chaos Emeralds from within himself and became Super Sonic in order to stop him, destroying Eggman's mech, Eggman fled in his Egg Mobile and fled from his Flagship. After chasing Eggman through space and destroying half of his fleet, they finally arrived at Eggman's Research Facility and knocking Eggman himself to the ground. As a trap, Eggman pretends to plead for mercy. When Sonic is close enough, he activates the Chaos Energy Cannon, which traps Sonic in the centre and begins drawing the Chaos energy out of Sonic and the Emeralds in a fashion that is clearly extremely painful for him. After the weapon is charged, Eggman fires a laser at the Earth to wake a monster known as Dark Gaia, splitting the planet. The dark energy of the Emeralds is brought out by the ray, transforming Sonic into a monstrous version of himself and rendering the Chaos Emeralds gray and powerless. Eggman then opens an airlock which sucks Sonic and the drained Emeralds out into space and down to Earth. While Sonic is saved from a fatal landing due to an unknown energy source, he still ends up taking a heavy fall. After pulling himself out of the dirt, Sonic encounters a flying dog-like creature. Sonic then asks the creature what his name was and the creature couldn't remember his own name or history (which Sonic thinks he landed on him, causing the memory loss). Sonic agrees to help Chip restore his memory during their journey. Concurrently, Hiroshi Sato arrives at A.I.M. Headquarters, where Mag Mel is holding a meeting with his members. Hiroshi informs Mag Mel of the date and time of the teen heroes are graduate from high schools.

While discussing their plans, Mag Mel declares to his members that he alone must be the one to kill the teens but that he requires new power to accomplish the deed, as his and Marcus's are of the same core and so any fight involving them will end in stalemate. Mag Mel chooses Mr White in punishment for his recent failures, also spitefully breaking the snake-head decoration off the wand after taking it Mag Mel desires the Yang Key from Marcus even more now. He also mentions that Razenoid will soon awaken (where he is inside some sort of cocoon) and he will soon become fully whole. Mag Mel then sends Anubias and Sellon to retrieve it. As Sellon desires to look good in front of Mag Mel, Anubias desires to kill Marcus. In Africa, Vilgax (still recovering from wounds suffered) meets with his lieutenants Warmonga and Warhok. Upon learning that the S.H.I.E.L.D. have recovered the Gaia Manuscripts, Vilgax orders Warhok and Laserbeak to terminate their "loose ends" and capture the man named Professor Pickle. After the graduation ceremony, the teens are preparing to have a nice normal summer as they decide to retire for their superhero careers except for Theodore, he meets Cally at the ceremony just in time to receive his certificate, where the two share a kiss in front of everyone. However, later in the evening, Theodore tells her about the visions he's been having and insists that he needs to keep his promise, albeit they stay friends.

Goofy reminds Pete of how fast the children have grown up but Pete says that the raising of children is a nuisance. Meanwhile, Dexter Riley has trouble finding a job until he finally finds a position as a mail carrier at a telecommunication company named Accuretta Systems. From his colleague, Jerry Wang, he learns about a conspiracy by humans who collaborate with the A.I.M. Before he can tell Dex more, however, he is killed by Laserbeak. After exploring the city of Santorini, Greece, Sonic names the creature Chip and the two run into Tails at night. Tails immediately recognize Sonic even though he is in his Werehog form and reveals that Professor Pickle of Spagonia University in Paris,  France may be able to help them on their adventure. Once they reach Paris, they discover Dr. Eggman has kidnapped Professor Pickle for his knowledge of Dark Gaia. Locked out of participating in the investigation by Mearing, they turn to The Dude for help. Dudikoff, who has become a millionaire as a writer, and his aide, Dutch, help them find out that the Soviets have taken photos of Mag Mel, Hiroshi and Yomi stole the Gaia Manuscripts from the university. They conclude that the Mag Mel, Hiroshi and Yomi open a portal for Eggman into the world on purpose, knowing that only Eggman uses the power of Super Sonic to break the planet into pieces and awaken Dark Gaia. During the rain in Hong Kong, there is a shadow of a weakened Sellon hobbling. She has a flashback of when Mag Mel created her and Anubias. Spyron then comes to hunt her down to bring her back to Mag Mel but is luckily saved by Chris and Soon. Evening, several members of S.H.I.E.L.D. arrive at Queens' to move the teens to the Burrow. Dex is able to them in time so they can protect the teens from Dark Gaia's Minions attack and escort then to Paris. Vince alerts them to Chris and Soon arriving with Sellon. Soon and Chris explain what happened but they say that she can't be trusted. Theodore arrives to harshly say to ditch her but then, she suddenly turns into her true form reveals that she doesn't want to leave because of her inspiration coming from her students. Prior to leaving with Hank aboard his motorbike. They were ambushed by A.I.M. during the flight to Devon, with the deaths of Mad-Eye Moody taking place. Mag Mel duels with Marcus, but Marcus succeeds in overpowering him and Malfoy's wand, which is destroyed and manages to crack Mag Mel's mask, revealing Kuroda. Upon arriving there, Marcus then arrives to see Sellon lying on the ground. however, Dryoid betrays them, revealing that he made a deal with Vilgax to create a dark world and as Marcus comes to help, she reveals that she tricked them and turns into her true form. She knocks Marcus to the wall and takes the Yang Key. Suddenly, Vince arrives and the pursuing battle begins. Sellon says they are alike but that makes Vince very angry then defeats her. Sellon then flies away and tries teleports back to Mag Mel. Vince tries to stop her but is held back by Chris and Soon. Sellon thanks them and starts revealing Mag Mel's true plan, which ends up having Soon and Chris betrayed once again. She goes through a Dimensional Gate. After killing Rubanoid and most of the S.H.I.E.L.D. soldiers, Dryoid claims the remaining pillars and escapes. After their betrayal, it is revealed that George's ear has been cursed off by Yomi, then Marcus wakes up with his friends and the others in front of him. He tells them where he is and who Mag Mel is leaving all of them shocked. Mag Mel is pleased that he finally has the key. He then absorbs Sellon's energy despite her success, her pleading and resulting in her death. Marcus is angry that he had been duped as Anubias looks from far off on building, then jumps off. After travelling to Africa and freeing Professor Pickle, he explains the nature of Dark Gaia and reveals that restoring power to the Chaos Emeralds via the Gaia Temples would help the planet return to normal. Sonic and the others then set out to the seven Gaia Temples to restore the Emeralds and reassemble the planet. To accommodate the mission, Theodore is given a special clock held only by the S.H.I.E.L.D., which apparently counts down the time till doomsday. After years of being away from the city for boarding school, Menlo returns as a businessman and talks with his father, who is in very poor health. He explains to his son that the illness is genetic and that Menlo is at the age where it will begin to show. Before he dies, he gives Menlo a small device which he claims contains his life's work. Sometime later, Kenya was invaded by Dr. Eggman and a horde of his Egg Fighters. There, the policemen formed a defensive line to protect as Eggman threatened them to tell him the location of the local Gaia Temple. A child refused to say anything though and hit Eggman with a rock. Before Eggman could retaliate, Sonic arrives with Chip and destroyed all the Egg Fighters, making Eggman escape to find the Gaia Temple. After making sure everyone was okay, Sonic left Kenya with Chip to pursue Eggman as they through Savannah Citadel. The next day, it is reported that he has passed away, making Menlo CEO of Inventco. Labs. Upon hearing the news, Peter Parker visits Harry and the two are revealed to have been childhood friends. Eventually, Sonic and Chip found and defeated Eggman, they found the Gaia Temple, where Chip accidentally made a pedestal appear with an innate ability. Realizing that the Chaos Emeralds fit into it, Sonic placed the powerless green Chaos Emerald there, resulting in the Emerald regaining its power and Africa's continent moving back into place. Tails soon after arrived at the Temple and showed them the good news on his Miles Electric. With their plan to restore the planet working, Sonic saw this adventure as a great opportunity to see the world.

Voice Cast

 * Jason Giffith as Sonic the Hedgehog/Werehog
 * Anthony Salerno as Chip (Light Gaia)
 * Bryton James as Marcus Simpson
 * Andrew Lawrence as Theodore Detweiler
 * Rickey D'shon Collins as Vince LaSalle
 * Kate Higgins as Miles "Tails" Prower
 * Dan Green as Professor Pickle
 * Lisa Ortiz as Amy Rose
 * Mike Pillock as Dr. Eggman

Development
The film was developed to fit the modern times. Examining the contents of the game disc reveals what some of the regions intended names were before they were swapped for their current names. It seems some of them were named after actual locations on Earth, it was decided to put the continents look similar to the real Earth as a perfect match. This adaptation was mostly faithful to the game's plot, with the Japanese version even being a word-for-word adaptation at some points. However, parts were written in for characters that did not appear in Sonic Unleashed such as Marcus Simpson and Kuroda. The film could not be finished in time, so it was split into two. It was originally set to be released as one, but Paramount Pictures divided the film into two parts due to financial and creative reasons.

Music
John Debney began work on it in April 2016.

Release
The film premiered in the US on June 15, 2018.