At the end of 2010, the Sonic fandom was caught up in the hype of the Sonic fan film. Not just Eddie Lebron’s recent release, but the concept in general. In very quick succession, three different Sonic films with very different goals in mind were announced, and those who had always wished for a version of the blue blur to hit the big screen became very excited. Sure, it might not have been Hollywood releasing it, but these films were being made by fans. They had no restrictions, no fear to please stockholders. They could avoid making the next Street Fighter: The Movie.
On New Years Day 2011, the first of those three hyped films came out, Jim Sass’ fully live-action Return To Little Planet 2. The next month, Richard Kuta’s animated fan film put out what content had been completed, not that long after announcing the cancellation of the project. For those who might not remember, I did write reviews for both those films, not to mention a dissection of Kuta’s script on Retro’s message board. While those two crashed and burned in spectacular fashion, there was a lot of hope for Eddie Lebron’s take on the franchise. After the release of his first fan film Mega Man, people knew that he was, at the very least, a capable filmmaker. While that movie was certainly not perfect, it raised awareness to the existence of Mr. Lebron, so that when his half live-action, half CG production Sonic was first teased, a group of people flocked to help him out. A fully realized cast and crew, working for little or no pay, motivated by their love of Sonic the Hedgehog. It wasn’t meant to be a fly-by-night project, an ambitious task set out even if it was announced to be only a short feature and not the 90 minutes Mega Man was.
After a false start, the completed short was released to the masses on January 10th, 2013, nearly two years after Return To Little Planet 2 graced our computer screens. Now that the fan film trilogy of 2010 has been completed, how does Eddie Lebron’s film stand up?