Sonic The Hedgehog: The Movie

Original Title: ソニック ザ ヘッジホッグ
Romanized: Sonic The Hedgehog
Literal:

Plot Synopsis

While relaxing at home, Sonic and Tails are given a message by Ojisan (Old Man) to go to the President's house for an urgent message. They discover that Dr. Eggman (Robotnik) has held the President and his daughter, Sarah, hostage. It seems he doesn't want to cause trouble, but wants to employ Sonic's help. Apparently Black Eggman (Metal Robotnik) has taken over Eggman's home base, Eggmanland (Robotropolis) in the inner world. He's overloaded the generator and if it's not turned off it will explode, destroying the outer world. Sonic and Tails reluctantly decide to help. However, after facing the infamous Black Eggman and turning off the generator the duo find out this was an elusive trap so Eggman could gain data on Sonic for his latest creation, Hyper Metal Sonic. Now joined by Knuckles, can these three stop Eggman and Hyper Metal Sonic from destroying the Planet Freedom?

Quick Review

Rating: 3.5 / 5
Reviewer: Legion
Review Date: 2000-09-15

The kiddies ate this up and the anime community chewed it up and spat it out, but I really liked it. When it comes down to it, this is just a really fun show, plain and simple. There's not much story and the drama could've been capitalized on better. However, I find no fault in the humour, which pokes fun at the anime and Sonic games themselves. It still took itself seriously, it just didn't take itself too seriously and the jokes were thrown in at the right moment to remind us of that. The characters are plenty of fun, and both they and the setting feel true to the games. The dub is badly cast and acted flatly, but the Japanese version is right on and acceptably acted.

Sonic the Hedgehog is a fun anime. It had a lot of potential to be a memorable TV Series or longer running OAV but this is still really fun, plain and simple.

US DVD Review

ADV advertised this DVD as often as possible and with good reason. It's their second DVD and it's rather good. The video is very good, with a sharp picture and bright colours. It's not perfect, but definitely not bad. The sound is English and Japanese 2.0 Dolby tracks with optional subtitles in Spanish or English (and unlike their first DVD, Tekken, these are subtitles not dubtitles). While not the best, it's, again, not the worst. Probably the greatest thing about this disc is the menus. ADV is really a cut above the rest when it comes to menus and this is no exception. They're very interactive and play a different piece of music on each page. The way they switch from page to page was also pretty neat. There aren't many extras on this disc. Or at least not many exciting ones. There's instant scene access, a slideshow, Web Connect, and 12 ADV previews (since ADV does good previews this can be looked on as a plus).

Content Guide

Suitable for most viewers.

Violence: 1 - Even though it's Sonic, some punches and kicks are exchanged.

Nudity: 1 - Sarah's outfits (all two of them) are pretty skimpy and Sarah is a rather Human-like character.

Sex/Mature Themes: 1 - There's a couple of somewhat mature comments/jokes.

Language: 1 - In the sub, the characters say pretty mild stuff, and it isn't even subtitled correctly.

Notes and Trivia

Though billed as a "movie," this is just two OAV episodes strung together without any end credits separating the two shows.

Availability

Was available in the US from AD Vision on bilingual DVD or dubbed VHS, both out of print as of this writing.

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