Video Game Movies

A topic I've brought up a few times, but it seems like a good time to talk about 'em again, with the recent release of Detective Pikachu and the upcoming travesty that is Sonic the Hedgehog.

Why are movies based on video games often so bad? What's the worst offender you've seen to date? Were there any you actually quite enjoyed? Is making a good video game movie a hopeless endeavor, or are they just constantly being done by people who don't understand the source material?

Do you think they can save Sonic with the redesign? If you've seen Detective Pikachu, did you think they did a pretty good job with it (I certainly thought it was fun!)?

Note that this thread is more for general discussions of video game movies, if you want to talk more in-depth about Detective Pikachu specifically, head on over to this thread in Pokémon General!
https://www.pokecommunity.com/showthread.php?t=420486

A lack of respect for the source material by Hollywood and whoever they put in charge of the adaptation is usually to blame. Budget and time constraints can hurt an adaptation too even if everyone behind the project have the best intentions. We've seen this happen to anime adaptations more and more in recent years. To be fair to video game adaptations though, a lot of the settings, premises and characters can be hard to pull off "irl" lol. Off the top of my head I really liked the first live action Mortal Kombat movie as a kid. I don't know how I'd feel rewatching it now. It was good campy fun and had a cool soundtrack if nothing else. As for the worst, probably the first Silent Hill movie. The second is supposedly trash too and I refuse to watch it. I thought the first movie was garbage even before having the games to compare it to. In fact the movie scared me away from the games for years because I thought they'd just be a generic horror experience with a lot of gore. The first three games were anything but generic horror.

Sonic will probably be trash regardless of what Sonic looks like. The trailer for it was tone-deaf (Gangster's Paradise, really?) and almost every line of dialogue was cringe. I liked some of the 2D games but I've never been a huge Sonic fan so I'm not even holding the movie to a high standard when I say this. Haven't seen Detective Pikachu yet but I've heard good things.

I haven't seen many video game movies and the ones I can think of are usually decently done. I have heard good things about Detective Pikachu as well but I can't go watch it because of money issues with the family at the moment. I'm kind of clinging onto some hope that the Sonic one will be decent, but it probably won't and I won't be surprised if it is bad.
As of who to blame.. I usually blame Hollywood and the people in charge, as they are either tryhard or money hungry. Plus I just.. don't really like Hollywood. Maybe it's because I've seen them butcher what movies they make that would possibly be really good?
I don't really know much about movie making but I usually stick to the whole 'give them as much time as they need, quality over rushed content'.
A movie I'm looking forward to is the Sly Cooper movie, this
It suffered the same fate as the Sonic movie with the 'characters looking different/ugly' but I was more excited that it might give my favorite game series some more popularity. I'm sad it's stuck in development limbo though, it might never come out..

I've always said that there were only two good video game movies, the first Mortal Kombat and the first Resident Evil. I've since put Detective Pikachu on the list, making it three.

As for the worst, I'm just going to mention the atrocity that was Doom. Under no circumstances should anyone watch this film.

its really a great fun.

I've seen Detective Pikachu and I have my 2 cents on video game movies, they're a mixed bag and incredibly difficult to do. First, the elephant in the room with the yellow rat ears.... Or pikachu ears.

The Detective Pikachu movie was disappointing in terms of the story, they could not write or tell a good mystery; in-fact I was able to figure out the mystery and piece together everything about the first leg in and the detective isn't really a good detective, it or he can make a lot of good guesses but the answers are delivered to them on a silver platter and this misdirection is too easy to figure out. The video game based on this makes better mysteries than this! The mystery flopped hard; if you want to write a better mystery, look to Scooby-Doo from the 80's or the Batman movie The Mask of the Phantasm for inspiration or how to.

THE FLIP-SIDE, How the world is in the movie? It is gorgeous and makes me, literally, believe that they CAN make a live-action pokemon movie. Granted when I saw the Pikachu artwork for the first time, I said no way, but seeing how the character moves, how all of the pokemon move and operate and the level of detail, balancing between realism and fantasy they did with the art direction; if they did it again with a different movie premise, then I believe they can do it and I mean really do it. Even pokemon battles performed in the middle of the3 movie are pretty well done and not dis-jarred by a trainer calling out a move in that side panel in the anime... I guess to put bluntly, if they wanted to do a live-action Pokemon movie, they can do it and this movie proves they can pull it off.

---

Video game movies are just as hard to grasp as video games based on movies, but in reverse order. Where game designers have to expand the content of a movie to fill their video game, such as more missions, stories or mini-games that make it feel pointless and less like a game; Movie developers have to explore and condense on the world building and expanding on characters....

I guess, a prime example is Super Mario and the Super Mario movie that came out a ways back. Eliminating what you do in the game, what is the basic story of Super Mario? Save the Princess Toadstool/Peach from Bowser using jumping and hammers. Mostly the first. Ok, how can you write that to a live action script to start? Do you pull off what they did with Page Master or leave it as full live action? If the former, how do they cross from the live action world to a video game world with already designated characters? Are there any weaknesses and fears you can exploit or changes the characters can explore to become stronger from or wiser? If the latter, how do you add Blocks, Super Shrooms, Bomb-Bomb's and Goomba's? How can you keep a surreal story straight to understand instead of being all over the place? This is the difficult challenge that's harder and harder to tackle the more you ask questions like this. Some questions are easier to answer.

Others? Not really. Mario is already seen as a hero to more children jumping into this world of polygon and pixels that he's already confident, he has no weaknesses and not really more character to develop, throwing out the 'GAME THEORIES' and everyone's hardcore speculation and leaving this as an Ockham's Razor, the simplest answer being the best for the time being... If I had to place it, you can think of Mario as the Boy's version of a Disney Princess, a flawless hero who doesn't give up... Which is fine, that's how he's created and his attempts to save the woman or princess he loves. The guy getting the girl, happily ever after until a new Mario comes out.

Does this mean I think video game movies are impossible? No, I believe they can be done well, TV Series even.
The first Tomb Raider movie did this and they did it about perfectly. Lara Croft being a Billionaire, Raiding Tombs, constant and daily training on her estate. They however evolved her as a character in interesting ways. Such as she and the antagonist sharing their same interests to a point where they could be lovers at one point, but still remain indifferent on their goals for a treasure they are seeking, trying to beat each other to a certain treasure but needing each other's help to attain it.

Then the Mario anime or OVA and even the Mario comics Nintendo published do a far better job at describing the characters, filling in blanks a film maker can even use to create a Super Mario movie. The OVA being surreal enough that it deserves a western release. The Mario Comics? Published by Nintendo Power and re-released again that you can probably them on a digital comic retailer today, they give more life and ideas where you can take Mario despite what he is or does.

I just heard about two or three video games which turn into the movie a long time ago there is an arcade game called Streetfighter this one was I think the first movie and later on, i just watch resident evil, mortal combat and need for speed these games are amazing

Why are movies based on video games often so bad?

Most of the time they just don't care about the source material, or the fans of the original. They prefer to use the brand to create a formulaic movie from what they know they can already make, and so what you get is some shoddy alternate version of whatever video game it was supposed to be.

What's the worst offender you've seen to date?

Pretty sure the original Super Mario Bros. movie takes the cake, even if I've never seen it in full. I'm saving myself from that hot pile of garbage. I'm sure everyone who worked on the movie did what they could, and I have nothing against them, but it just ruined video game movies for such a long time.

Were there any you actually quite enjoyed? Is making a good video game movie a hopeless endeavor, or are they just constantly being done by people who don't understand the source material?

Pokémon Detective Pikachu was great. They struck a balance between appeasing fans of the original and any newcomers who are just curious to see Ryan Reynolds' latest thing. I think they can do this with other video game franchises. As long as they do their research, and maybe start with 3D animation instead of live-action, there's great potential in games like the first Kingdom Hearts and Mother 3.

Do you think they can save Sonic with the redesign? If you've seen Detective Pikachu, did you think they did a pretty good job with it (I certainly thought it was fun!)?

I think they can. The writing of the movie leaves much to be desired based on the trailer, though. On the flipside, DePika was great. I want more of it, and I want it now.

In the defence of bad video game movies.

I don't think movies like Super Mario Bros would be as popular, or discussed to this date if it weren't for how bad it was.
It would just be forgotten as an ok attempt of the 90's.

But, that's not me saying all video game movies should try to be bad, because that's what's most discussed these days.

Why are movies based on video games often so bad?

Big shot hollywood people hearing of something people like to play, and wanting to make it into a movie after only seeing it from the surface, and not diving in and playing for a while.
Like, just play some games for a year or so, then make a movie out of one of those games. You'd most likely do a lot better.

What's the worst offender you've seen to date?

While I've never seen it, I've heard Super Mario Bros. is the worst offender.

Were there any you actually quite enjoyed? Is making a good video game movie a hopeless endeavor, or are they just constantly being done by people who don't understand the source material?
DePika is superb, apart from the plot twists. They were glaringly obvious to me.

And as for making good movies from video games.
I feel it's a market that needs filling, but there's currently no one suitable to fill said market.
We need a film company who are well tuned, and into video games to know what they're doing.

Do you think they can save Sonic with the redesign? If you've seen Detective Pikachu, did you think they did a pretty good job with it (I certainly thought it was fun!)?

Personally, I don't see too much wrong with Sonic's design. Every generation has a new Sonic, and I had no problem with this being our "Live-Action Movie" Sonic. Everyone distasted the Sonic Boom designs, yet claim that cartoon is a hoot and a blast.
But, eh, I guess a redesign will be cool, I feel sorry for all the Graphic Artists, Designers, and Producers who'll have to work overtime (probably unpaid) to fix it.

As for DePika, it was a great movie, I loved it.
But, I also didn't not like any of the plot twists. They were glaringly obvious, and made me almost "Tsk" when they were revealed.

I actually enjoyed every single Resident Evil movie that was released. I am waiting for Detective Pikachu to be released on blu-ray before I watch it as I love Pokemon and I know I'll watch it multiple times.

I am going to skip the Sonic Movie as I'm not a Sonic fan.

This is the thing, you stick to a few bad examples and then suddenly realise that for every bad there is a good and maybe even then some! All the Resi films were great, the Final Fantasy film was a great film, even though it didn't tie into the series much and hey, DOOM had the right idea in its film too! One thing we need is a Dead Space film (and no not Event Horizon as much as it influenced the games)

I do agree for a large portion of these, it is that the people producing the movies have no love or understanding of the source material and just want to cash in on a popular trend, but I think another aspect of it is the source material is usually just too large and expansive to really adapt adequately into a 2-3 hour film. The end result, even with enough research and dedication, is usually a rushed and poorly told story that the viewer would need to already have knowledge of the in-game universe to understand, and already be invested in certain characters to care about their story. That's why even the "good" video game films are only seen as good from a fan of the game/franchise's perspective, and people who just go in expecting a decent movie usually do not enjoy them.

Kingsman said:

the Final Fantasy film was a great film, even though it didn't tie into the series much

Click to expand...

Advent Children or Spirits Within? I personally enjoyed both, but while Advent Children is like watchable for a lot of people even if they weren't fans of FFVII, most really hated Spirits Within, haha.