The Sonic the Hedgehog franchise has grown through multiple identifiable generations, marked by hugely important creative choices for better and for worse. One era in the franchise is remembered for a variety of comical moves in the desperate battle to be cool, some of which are so lame that they become iconic.
Sonic the Hedgehoghas immediately grown from a beloved video game film adaptation to afull-blown cinematic universe. The films won’t adapt the games directly, but will clearly take elements from the source material. Though there is an unquestioned golden age of theSonicgames, there are a few creative choices, which aren’t good choices but are somehow linked to the character.
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The firstSonic the Hedgehogfilm has a soundtrack, and that’s about all the average viewer would be prepared to recall about it. It’s pretty good, it even briefly includes a couple of moments of reference to the source material. The score iscomposed by Junkie XL, who has been hugely prolific. His work scores films fromGodzilla vs. Kong, toMad Max: Fury Road.Sonic’s soundtrack, however, would be tough to pick out from any randomly selected competing action movie, especially when compared to the rest of Junkie XL’s work. Movie soundtracks rarely breakthrough or become hits in their own right these days, beyond theoccasional superhero theme song. However, the Sonic franchise might just have the secret weapon that would make its soundtrack more memorable, by making it worse.
It’s fair to say that the early Sonic games feature some of the best music of the 16-bit era and beyond. The franchise ispacked with outstanding compositionsand stellar theme tunes that stick in the mind of gamers for decades. The modern incarnation of the game occasionally returns to that format, like in the outstandingSonic Mania, with its incredible music. There is, however, a gap in the memories of most fans of Sonic music, because the franchise’s conversion to 3D graphics came along with a shift in aesthetics. The late 90s and beyond were dominated by Crush 40 and their peers, creating the often hilarious but alwaysgenuine “butt rock” eraof Sonic music, which deserves some representation in the films.
Sonic Adventureand its sequel were the earliest Sonic games to adopt Crush 40’s unique brand of squealing guitars and grungy growling for their main themes. “Open Your Heart”, “Live and Learn”, “What I’m Made Of…”, “I Am… All of Me”, “Never Turn Back”, and many more incredible tracks that scored some of the most memorable moments of the franchise. Crush 40 was far from the only band to record these iconic anthems. TheSonic Adventuregames featured English-language themes for each character along with the big boss fight tracks. Those gamescame with orchestral soundtracks, but the ones that stick out and become iconic are the ones that feature laughable lyrics over epic hard rock music. Leaning into that history could do a lot for theSonic the Hedgehogfilms.
Both films have reached out to popular current musicians for tie-in tracks, and that’s fine, but it doesn’t capture what people love about Sonic.Sonic is a stronger character, a stronger brand, and a stronger franchise for its idiosyncrasies. The flaws give it its unique popularity, the strange bumps along its history are as key as their successes. Trying to turn the franchise into another cool blockbuster movement fails to capture what is so special about it. Returning to the well with acts like Crush 40, or even just including some old standards would help the score stand out while tying in some fans' favorite moments. Even when those butt rock classics weren’t good, they were iconic and perfectly connected to the source.
The true thing that unites every piece of Sonic media isn’t any unified stylistic vision, it’s the overwhelming atmosphere of something trying to be cool. Sometimes they succeed, one way or another, but it’s the distinct feel of alien-like absurdity that comes from Sonic Team’s swipes at coolness. Missing the mark is asintegral to the Sonic historyas hitting it. The films have been willing to embrace the weird aspects of the canon from time to time so far, but usually as simple jokes. The films should lean into the sillier aspects of their source material. It’ll make hardcore fans happier and keep Sonic as strange as he’s always been.
Where the first Sonic film falls flat, It’s where it treads too close to generic blockbuster fare released on all sides of it. As one film evolves into an entire universe, the franchise should lean into the imperfect elements and weird idiosyncrasies of Sonic’s history. Crush 40 and their peers represent the best and the worst of the video game franchise.Sonicshould make its soundtrack worse to make it better.
