Sonic the Hedgehog 2 director Jeff Fowler opens up about how he sought to break the video game movie curse in his approach with the sequel. Fowler got his rise in the film industry in the field of animation, having worked as an animator for the 2003 short film Rockfish and writing and directing the Oscar-nominated short Gopher Broke. He would make his feature debut working as the animation research and development on Spike Jonze's adaptation of Where the Wild Things Are before going on to make his feature directorial debut with 2020's Sonic the Hedgehog, his second project with the SEGA franchise after working on the CG movie production for 2005's Shadow the Hedgehog.
The upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog 2 will pick up sometime after the events of its predecessor as Dr. Eggman returns from the mushroom planet with the help of Knuckles the Echidna searching for the powerful Master Emerald, requiring the titular speedster to team up with new friend Tails to stop them. Ben Schwartz once again leads the cast as Sonic alongside Jim Carrey as Eggman, Idris Elba as Knuckles, Colleen O'Shaughnessey as Tails, James Marsden, Tika Sumpter, Natasha Rothwell, Adam Pally, Lee Madjoub and Shemar Moore. Sonic the Hedgehog 2 has received mixed-to-positive reviews akin to its predecessor and one of the creatives behind the film is opening up about how he is able to rise above many other similar genre efforts.
Ahead of the film's release, Fandom caught up with director Jeff Fowler to discus Sonic the Hedgehog 2. Fowler opened up about how he sought to break the video game movie curse with both outings, citing his desire to approach the character and story first before looking towards the source material. See what Fowler explained below:
"I think the trick to making movies based off of video games is to completely forget that you’re making a movie based off a video game. Because I think all movies are about character no matter where they come from. Whether it's a comic book, a video game, a novel, or whatever, I think you really have to approach it like, 'What's a great story, what's a great character story?' If someone is sitting in that theater and knows nothing about the video game, are they still going to have a great time, are they still going to be invested in this character and this story? That was our approach."
The video game movie curse goes all the way back to the first ever live-action adaptation of a game in the form of Super Mario Bros., which was a critical and commercial bomb upon its 1993 release. The genre has seen mostly negative reviews in the years since, with most films being criticized for their poor screenplays, casting choices or lack of originality, though has seen a handful of financial successes over the years, some of which include the Milla Jovovich-led Resident Evil franchise, Angelina Jolie's Tomb Raider movies and Timothy Olyphant's Hitman. The video game movie genre has started to see more positive reviews in recent years, including Ryan Reynolds' Detective Pikachu, Josh Ruben's Werewolves Within and the first Sonic the Hedgehog movie.
Though Sonic the Hedgehog 2's current Rotten Tomatoes score sits slightly below its predecessor's, its close proximity to a "Fresh" rating on the review aggregate does point towards director Jeff Fowler having a solid understanding of delivering a competent film as much as an entertaining video game adaptation. His success with the first two films has not only cemented Paramount's confidence in the future of the Sonic the Hedgehog franchise with a third movie and Knuckles spinoff show, but also netted Fowler the directing job of a Pink Panther reboot. Only time will tell if audiences feel Fowler struck gold once again when Sonic the Hedgehog 2 hits theaters on April 8.
Source: Fandom
