Game On: ‘Sonic the Hedgehog 2’ film proves game adaptations can be great

With “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” grossing an impressive $71 million at the U.S. box office on its opening weekend, it seems the video game movie archetype is here to stay. That’s not to say there weren’t loads of previous films inspired by video games in the past, but it would be a stretch to call them successful or even good.

The first attempts that come to my mind are the adaptations of “Mortal Kombat,” “Doom” and especially the tragic “Super Mario Bros.” “Mortal Kombat” and its sequel “Annihilation” were campy and rife with terrible acting, but at least they stayed true to the story. “Doom” was met with overwhelmingly negative reviews, especially for its nauseating first-person segment. “Super Mario Bros.” had almost no relation to its source material beyond names and costumes.

There’s been little victories here and there in recent years – the “Uncharted” adaptation grossed $383.5 million total, “Detective Pikachu” strayed from its roots but still made for a fun movie, the latest “Mortal Kombat” film fared much better than its predecessors, and “Arcane,” a League of Legends tie-in series, was lavished with praise by almost all audiences.

Then there’s “Sonic the Hedgehog 2.” Paramount’s president of domestic distribution, Chris Aronson, said, “This film did such a great job in service of the fans while not excluding general audiences” – he couldn’t be more right. The first movie took many liberties with the Sonic lore, but given how many conflicting stories there already were in Sonic games and comics, fans weren’t too upset because at least it was reasonably well done.

But the sequel is far more confident in being Sonic instead of being simply another “what if a wacky cartoon character infiltrated the real world” trope a la Woody Woodpecker, Alvin and the Chipmunks and so on. Because for those unaware, humans were already present in most Sonic stories, which feature bizarre mythos blending science fiction with fantasy – antagonists are just as likely to be lab experiments as they are to be ancient evils.

While the overall Sonic canon is a mess, it leaves behind a plethora of fun bits and pieces to grab. And “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” has done just that, pulling plots and little details to make a cohesive storyline that entertains general audiences while also pleasing diehard fans. Between this and Paramount delaying the first game to reanimate Sonic following universally negative reception to his initial design, the film giant is proving itself to be surprisingly receptive to feedback.

As of writing, the movie is sitting at just 67% on Rotten Tomatoes based on critic scores, but the audience score is an impressive 97%. Both scores are a modest improvement over its predecessor, which holds a 63% from critics and a 93% from audience reviews.

The overall takeaway should be that everyone appreciates it when video game adaptations include more source material rather than just slapping a game character onto a generic action movie. Why this took the film industry so long to figure out after previously discovering the same thing with book adaptations is beyond me.

Paramount was so confident in “Sonic the Hedgehog 2” that it announced an impending third film and a spinoff series on Paramount+ featuring Knuckles before it was even released. Given it’s already grossed well over its budget, I’d say that confidence wasn’t unfounded. One weekend in the U.S. combined with two weekends internationally has netted it around $142 million worldwide compared to its $90 million budget.

In contrast, I’m far less optimistic about the as-of-yet-untitled Mario film projected to hit screens later this year. There’s no reason the eclectic cast of the Mario franchise can’t make for a fun movie, but when they’ve chosen some of the most obnoxious comedic actors of this generation to voice its characters – Jack Black as Bowser, Seth Rogen as Donkey Kong and Charlie Day as Luigi – I’m already fearing the worst.

Whether you’re measuring sales or quality, the “Mario vs. Sonic” playground argument died after the 1990s – Mario’s the clear winner. But I’m already predicting the opposite will be true with the movies. Only time will tell for sure.

Riordan Zentler can be reached at riordanzentler@gmail.com.