Minecraft director wants to avoid an "Ugly Sonic situation" and I'm sure its animators do too

Jared Hess, director of the upcoming Minecraft movie, is apparently quite keen to avoid an "'Ugly Sonic' situation." Remember Ugly Sonic? Course you do, he was that version of the live-action Sonic movie from the very first trailer that everyone instantly hated and you could tell was a result of executives demanding changes that no one under the sun would ever like! That Ugly Sonic! The same one that caused such a stir that the film had to be delayed by three months just so the animators could crunch on a new design all for our satisfaction. When you lay it all like that, you can probably understand why anyone would want to avoid a similar scenario. And in a recent interview with The Salt Lake Tribune, Hess spoke about his fear of repeating such an incident, and trying to avoid disappointing 10-year-olds. "I think anybody that does any IP, they just want to avoid an 'Ugly Sonic' situation," Hess said. "I just can't disappoint the 10-year-olds, or they're going to murder us." This includes his own children too, apparently, as they also play Minecraft "endlessly" just like the rest of us. It does feel like there's only so wrong you can go with making CG blocky people, but stranger things have happened I suppose. Simple designs didn't mean it was an easy process figuring out the film, though, as Hess explained that "trying to adapt something that doesn't have a story - it's an open sandbox game... I like the challenge. There's got to be a fun, ridiculous movie here. And there is." Read more