It'd be one thing if this was an original character in and original movie, but this is a preexisting character getting a movie adaptation. The whole point is to get preexisting fans excited enough to convince general audiences to go see the movie. Both fans and nonfans agree that the design was horrendous. It's far from the only issue, but it's the one that was easiest to point out. I'm of the opinion that the entire foundation of it is at fault. Watching the trailer made me feel like they got whoever to make it and didn't really care if it was any good or not because they'd just use the brand name to fill seats and call it good. The problem is the brand itself has been a hot mess for a long time now, with games ranging from okay to terrible. The best Sonic game we've had in a long time was made by long time fans. Sega itself doesn't understand what it is people like about Sonic. Honestly, I was not surprised in the least that they gave the okay for a movie that has gotten such a negative reaction from the fans when they've been doing the exact same thing with the games. I don't think a redesign is going to help this movie very much if at all. It'll be like putting a Hello Kitty band-aid on a on a severed limb.

Carrey isn't entirely wrong, but he's definitely looking at this from the wrong perspective. You don't make an adaptation for something like this trying to take ownership of it. You do so to celebrate what it means to the people who love it. Like I said before, if this was something entirely original and not an adaptation then this wouldn't be a big deal. But it's not original, so it has fan expectations to live up to. I'm sure there are a decent number of people getting on the hate bandwagon, but for me this is a character that I grew up with. I didn't start with Nintendo, I started with a Sega Genesis and the Sega Six Pack. I spent years collecting the games, comic books, and watching the cartoons. When I say the movie looks terrible it's coming from someone who wants to see Sonic make a comeback, not someone who doesn't care or actively wants to see him fail. If the people making the movie care more about "ownership" than about the source material I feel like it'll end up turning into a blame game later trying to pin the blame the result on anyone but themselves.