The Sonic the Hedgehog Movie



Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie is a 2008 American live-action CGI animated hybrid action film directed by James Cameron and Spike Lee with a screenplay by James L. Brooks and Cameron. The film is based off the Sonic the Hedgehog video game franchise by Sega. The film stars Michael Cera as Jeff Balkiry, a 17 year old high-school student who find out about the existence of Sonic the Hedgehog, including using the six Chaos Emeralds and end the war between him and Dr. Ivo Robotnik, who plans to use his scientific creations known as Badniks to dominate the world. The film also stars Bruce Willis as Robotnik, and Denzel Washington, Danny DeVito, and Christina Ricci. Robert Pattinson stars as Sonic and Shadow the Hedgehog as well as Tim Curry as the main antagonist, Metal Sonic.

Ideas for Sonic movies were planned before like Sonic: Wonders of the World and Sonic Apocalypse but they were cancelled. Spike Lee approached Sega in 2004 to produce a Sonic movie but was decided on for months. Lee bought James Cameron onto the project and had James L. Brooks write a screenplay and presented it to Sega. The executives hesitated but decided to give it a go. Production was started a few months later, where casting was announced. Cameron eventually had to leave the project to direct Avatar where Lee took his place, but was still credited as director. A teaser was shown at San Diego Comic-Con in December 2007.

Sonic the Hedgehog the Movie was released on June 23, 2008 for Sonic's 17th birthday. It received positive reviews from critics, praising the performances, animation, and characters but criticized the runtime and screenplay. The film grossed $644 million on a budget of $207 million, deeming it a box-office success. A sequel titled Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble was released in 2010.

Also, The Film was Distributed by 20th Century Studios and Produced by 20th Century Animation, Sega and WaldenMedia

Plot
In a flashback, Dr. Ivo Robotnik (Bruce Willis) finds a race of species, on West Side Island called Mobians. Among those Mobians are Sonic (Robert Pattinson), Tails (Anna Faris), Knuckles (Idris Elba), Amy (Emma Stone), and Shadow (Pattinson). Robotnik forms an alliance with them, but his more mechanical creations cause him to go downhill and pollute the island, creating self-conscious robots called badniks. Among these badniks he creates an metal copy of Sonic, Metal Sonic (Tim Curry). Robotnik pollutes the island more and more until it becomes a barren waste land. The group evacuate as Robotnik reveals his plans to dominate the world.

Meanwhile, Jeff Balkiry (Michael Cera) is constantly bullied by other students in his school, being described as a class nerd. Afterschool, he is called to his grandpa Edward Balkiry (Danny DeVito)'s lab under his house. Edward explains to Jeff that he found a species off the side of the Pacific Ocean, scanning footprints and fingerprints, showing that they could be an alien species. Jeff dismisses this and calls his grandpa crazy. His grandpa tries to call him one last time, saying he found three shiny glowing emeralds, pink, red, and green. Jeff's parents (Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Saunders) have separated from Edward and decide not to talk to him as they think he is a bad influence on Jeff.

Meanwhile, Thomas Mackerel (Denzel Washington) is a military general who works at Area 51. A ship crash lands out the site. Inside it, are 8 feet tall robots shaped as crabs and ladybugs, covered in dust and mold. After killing the robots, they scan the robots and find it as property of Dr. Ivo Robotnik. Thomas launches a search investigation for Robotnik and try to arrest him, putting him on the FBI's most wanted list. After looking further in the ship, they find Metal Sonic in there. His assistant Chloe Sanchez (Christina Ricci) finds Metal and brings it to the lab for testing. To be safe, they temporarily trap Metal in a glass container.

On their ship, the Tornado, Sonic and the others are attacked by Robotnik's badnik drones. And they are knocked into the ocean. Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow all hang onto a piece of wood while Sonic is no where to be seen. With the permission of his parents, Jeff goes onto the beach to meet up with someone he likes. This goes wrong and Jeff goes home. Before going home, on the beach, he finds a blue quill in the water and a white hand stick out. Jeff tries to save it, not knowing what it is, if it is drowning or not. That thing was Sonic, being saved from drowning by Jeff. Jeff takes Sonic to a private location on the beach, and manages to snap him back conscious again.

He introduces himself and he runs into Tails, Amy, Knuckles, and Shadow. He takes them to his grandpa's lab, where they tell him about the six chaos emeralds and how when Robotnik took over West Side Island and lost the Chaos emeralds, as well as Metal Sonic. They find that Jeff's grandpa has three of the six emeralds. To stay in hiding from the government, Jeff allows them to stay in his home attic, while hiding them from his parents. Robotnik, in a search for Metal Sonic and the emeralds, releases his badniks worldwide to look for them. This goes wrong and ends up killing several people as well as going into Jeff's neighboorhood.

This being in his neighboorhood, Sonic, Tails, Knuckles, Amy, and Shadow go out, risking being seen to destroy all the badniks. Shadow gets injured in the process, but they manage to defeat the badniks, but find out that there are several more worldwide. President Stevenson Earle (John Goodman), having hearing about Dr. Robotnik and the badniks killing people, declares war on Dr. Robotnik.

Back at Area 51, Mackerel and Sanchez find discovery of three emeralds: blue, yellow, and white. Sanchez orders the team to do research on the emeralds while on war with Robotnik. Mackerel finds radiation coming from a house in Jeff's neighboorhood. They invade the house with FBI and its Jeff's grandpa's house. They find out all the experiments his grandpa has been doing and goes after Jeff's house too. They arrest Jeff, his parents, and even Tails, Knuckles, and Amy. Sonic and Shadow fortunately manages to get away with his speed and agility and tries to free the others.

They are taken to Area 51 where they are asked for questioning, and Tails, Knuckles, and Amy are experimented on.

Cast

 * Michael Cera as Jeff Balkiry, a 17 year old high school student who meets Sonic and his friends.
 * Bruce Willis as Dr. Robotnik, an evil scientific genius with a plan to rule the world.
 * Denzel Washington as Thomas Mackerel, a military general in Area 51.
 * Danny DeVito as Edward Balkiry, Jeff's grandpa who works on scientific stuff in his underground lab.
 * Christina Ricci as Chloe Sanchez, Thomas' personal assistant.
 * Dakota Johnson as Stacy, a girl Jeff likes but gets rejected by.
 * Alec Baldwin and Jennifer Saunders as Martin and Judith Balkiry, Jeff's parents.
 * John Goodman as President Earle, the president who declares war on Robotnik and his badniks.
 * Skyler Gisondo as Timothy, Jeff's neighbor.
 * John Travolta as Mayor West, the mayor.
 * Michael Learner as Uncle Mike, Jeff's uncle.

Yuji Naka, Sonic's co-creator makes an appearance as a store salesman.

Voices

 * Robert Pattinson as Sonic the Hedgehog: A anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who can run very fast.
 * Pattinson also voices Shadow the Hedgehog: A black hedgehog who looks like Sonic and is the ultimate life form.
 * Anna Faris as Miles "Tails" Prower: A genius fox boy who invents gadgets.
 * Idris Elba as Knuckles the Echidna: A red strong echidna with boxing gloves, and guardered the Chaos Emeralds until they were stolen by Robotnik.
 * Emma Stone as Amy Rose: A pink hedgehog with her piko-piko hammer, who is the love interest for Sonic.
 * Frank Welker, Gary A. Hecker, and Dee Bradley Baker provide the vocals of the badniks, Robotnik's evil inventions.