Overview

*"Saving the world, just normal teenage things."*

- Tagline

**Eddie** is a 2011 computer 3D animated comedy film that was created and produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios. It was distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures. It is the 51st Animated film in the Disney Animated Canon.

The film tells the story about a 14 year old teenage boy named Eddie Quezada who is dealing with the normal, everyday struggles of being in middle school. Growing up without ever meeting his father and living with a single struggling mother, he hasn't had the best life. However, his life becomes even more upside down when Sonic the Hedgehog comes to his world and into Eddie's life. Pleading with him to help him return home, he along with best friend Sergio, and crush Alyssa, agree to return Sonic home all the while learning about a devastating monster set to destroy the world.

*Eddie* premiered at the El Capitan Theatre on October 28th, 2011, and had its wide release on November 4th, 2011. The film went on to receive financial and critical praise and even won Best Animated Feature. The short animated film, Line, was released alongside *Eddie* in theaters and won best animated short film that year.

A sequel was falsely leaked on May 5th, 2015. An actual confirmation of a sequel wasn't officially confirmed until November 8th, 2015. The sequel, *Eddie 2* was released in North America on August 4th, 2017.

A third sequel was officially announced alongside sequels to Zootopia, Frozen, and Toy Story.

## **Plot**

On a moonlit night on the gate borders of Cosmotopolis, a swift shadow darts across night guards on duty. They all begin to clamor and realize it is trying to enter the gates and they try and shut it but it is too late, the creature is able to enter the city gates. It goes into a shrubbed part of a nearby forest and is chased by a nearby guard. The guard shoots at the creature, injuring it but also angering it in the process. It pounces on the guard, it raises its claw and the screen goes black, presumably hinting it killed the guard.

Fast forward 14 years into the future, Eddie Quezada is called into the principal’s office for the 7th time in a row and is put on academic probation as a result. His mom, Julie,  gives him a ride home though not without a lengthy talk. While in his room, Eddie suddenly starts to hear rustling outside and goes to investigate but finds nothing. However, when he is told to take out the trash later that evening, he finds the entire trash can as a pigsty. He makes many attempts to clean the trash area but comes back to find it the same way it was before: a complete mess. Completely full of anger, he decides to leave the area but not without a small bear trap and it surprisingly works, catching the creature responsible for the mess and allowing Eddie to see a glimpse of its shadow.

The next morning, Eddie is reasonably shaken up and decides to confide in his best friend Sergio about what happened. Sergio suggests they have a stakeout but then Alyssa Burton, who just so happens to be Eddie’s crush, asks both Eddie and Sergio if they’d like to work with her for the class project. Eddie quickly dismisses any suggestion about the stakeout and instead wants to help out Alyssa with the project.

That night, the trio are at Eddie’s house working on the project when the same rustling Eddie heard the night before happens again, this time audibly clear to both Sergio and Alyssa. Eddie continuously denies something is outside while Alyssa is curious and decides to look for herself. Eddie does not like that idea and pleads with her to not go through with it but she does anyway, to her dismay however, there is nothing. Suddenly, a large creature jumps behind her startling her and both Eddie and Sergio. It then jumps away on a nearby building. Alyssa wants to chase after it and realizing he isn’t going to be able to stop her, Eddie reluctantly goes as well. They all hop on a nearby motorcycle and zoom across the city, atop monorail roofs, cars on the highway, and through a football game crowd. They finally end up crashing in a junkyard where the creature becomes invested in them. It suddenly pounces on Eddie but just before it can do anything, the sunrise occurs and reveals the creature to be Sonic the Hedgehog. He collapses on Eddie who also faints.

Back at Eddie’s house, Sonic explains that he was whisked away from his world and suddenly appeared on Earth. The trio try to understand the situation all the while introducing themselves but are still visibly shaken. Eddie overhears a news anchor on a nearby tv say that a creature was spotted last night and local enforcements are now on the hunt for it. Realizing the creature is sonic, the team suddenly becomes quickly aware of the dire situation. Sonic pleads with the team to help return him home but now they must be undercover from the authorities. The trio decide to help Sonic return home and head to the museum to learn more about multidimensional portals.

Meanwhile, a local protest rally is happening at the town hall where Mayor Berkely is having trouble garnering votes for his political campaign. Julie arrives and offers to help calm the crowd but is quickly dismissed due to her status as a businesswoman.

The team arrives at the museum which is closed due to the protests. Frustrated, Eddie starts to leave until Sergio reveals a hidden passageway behind a bush. They head down hole which leads them to a hidden, dusty, library full of books. The team starts to rummage through the books, Sonic ends up tripping over a large book on the floor. Alyssa quickly points out that it’s about theories revolving around the multiverse. Suddenly, an old man appears and startles the group. Turns out it is Mr. Kam, a local kook who is often frowned upon due to his obsession with conspiracies. They ask him about the multiverse to which he becomes excited and tells them that there is substantial evidence that it does indeed exist. It is here where they decide to reveal Sonic to him and he becomes even more excited, essentially proving him right about the multiverse. Suddenly, rustling is heard outside and the team decides to book it. Unfortunately, a group of law enforcement catch Mr. Kam but he buys them enough time to escape.

The team decide to seek refuge in the nearby woods where they set up camp near a cabin. Eddie and Alyssa head up onto a hill on the request of Alyssa wanting to get a better view of the city skyline. It's here where she reveals that she lost her mother in a car accident and has since been taken under the care of her step-dad, saying she is originally from California but says it was her mother's idea to move since she wanted them all to experience a fresh new start in Cosmotopolis, a tourist location marketed as a place of pure enjoyment and life changes. She goes on to explain that every night she would take her onto that same hill to look at the stars and over the city. Eddie resonates with her, saying he lost a parent too and that she doesn't have to experience that kind of loss alone. While Eddie and Alyssa talk, Sonic and Sergio discuss how even though Sonic is far from home, he will still find a way back. That night, Sonic has a scary nightmare where he is standing on the north tip of earth while a monstrous, giant beast stands over him. Before it is able to kill him, he awakes.

The next morning, Sergio awakes to find Sonic missing, He scouts the area for him but finds him near a river acting strangely. Sonic looks back revealing soul sucked eyes and his claws are out along with him drooling heavily. Before he could attack Sergio, the sun rises and puts an end to the curse for the night. Eddie and Alyssa awake to see Sonic standing over Sergio and ask what happened. Before either one of them could say anything, a pack of wolves finds them and leads them on a chase through the woods. They eventually lose them and Sergio is able to explain what happened. Sonic says that he doesn’t remember a thing but mentions the nightmare he had explaining what it was. They decide to consult in the book and read about a malevolent entity called Dark Gaia, whose mission is to purely cause chaos and bring darkness to the world, but his counterpart Light Gaia stops him every 100,000 years. However, there was a prophecy that said that in one of these annual battles, Light Gaia will not be there to save the world, so instead an individual from another world will be chosen to defeat Dark Gaia. The team takes in the information and decides to take a stroll back up to the cabin.

Back at city hall, Mayor Berkely calls Julie and they have a discussion on whether her work there is contributing to anything. She does her best giving him the best advice she can but is only met with snarky remarks and condescending advice.

Back at the cabin, the team decides to play a game of tag with Sonic winning every time. They begin to bond more and more as the day progresses eventually leading into nightfall. Realizing that they are all hungry, Eddie decides to go into town to get some food with Alyssa and Sergio joining. After the situation at the museum, they decide to tell Sonic that it is perhaps for the best that he stays hidden inside the cabin rather than in public again. While the team is away, Sonic’s curiosity gets the best of him and he quickly speeds off to look at a nearby mall, clearly too quick for people to see him with a good look. Sonic ends up getting invested in a nearby gym, even getting on a treadmill and ends up burning it out of juice with his intense speed. Sonic suddenly finds himself at a newspaper filled area of the mall and ends up seeing obituaries. Realizing that they’re people who have passed, one catches his eye and decides to read it thoroughly. Unfortunately for him, Sonic is in for a sad reality as he is reading the obituary of the man he killed 14 years ago, who just so happens to be the father of Eddie! The realization of this leads Sonic to a shocked state and he quickly darts back to the cabin but is seen by a security guard who reports suspicious activity. They chase after Sonic who is unable to run away due to his current state of mind, which leads him restricted to the average human speed. He makes it out of the mall but is seen multiple times and his cover is blown entirely. He is finally able to run back to the cabin.

Eddie and Sergio decide to have a talk on whether Eddie should ask Alyssa out, considering they have been through quite a bit as of late and have been getting to know each other. Sergio urges him to do so and while Eddie is trying to find the right words to ask her out, he ends up seeing sonic on a nearby TV at the store. They all run for it back to the cabin to find him completely fine but is clearly shaken. Eddie confronts him on why he left but Sonic decides to finally let his past get shed into light. He tearfully tells Eddie that he is the beast that killed his Dad, to which Eddie refuses to believe what he is being told but ends up blowing up on Sonic. Not realizing that nightfall is approaching, he continues to yell at him while Sonic tries to tell him the current situation. Sonic then ends up raging out of control and turns into the werehog while Eddie looks on in horror behind his shadow. Sonic pounces on Eddie and gives him a big gash on his cheek. Unable to control himself, he horrifyingly plans to kill Eddie but is luckily thwarted by Alyssa who throws a chair at him. Sonic switches his attention towards her but they luckily escape the cabin. Sonic leads them on a wild chase down the mountain towards the nearby airport. They end up on the runway and quickly dart across it but Sergio trips while an airplane is about to land. Eddie and Alyssa look on in horror and just as the airplane lands, Sergio vanishes. Confused, the duo yell out his name in hopes of finding him but end up finding Sonic holding him and gently puts him down across the runway. Sonic zips away, leaving the trio alone without a word. Feeling hopeless and more down than ever, Eddie tells Alyssa and Sergio to just go home but they are quickly apprehended by the Mayor and his men.

Julie leaves the city hall quite steamed while Mayor Berkely continues to make passive aggressive comments, totally unaware that Eddie is inside the office. She arrives home to find it empty and communicates with Sergio's mother who says that he is also not home, they decide to create a search team for the trio along with Alyssa's search team.

Meanwhile, at an abandoned warehouse, Sonic zooms through it full of anger and guilt surrounding him. He ends up landing back in the cabin. Realizing he made an entire circle, he becomes more angry and punches a wall, waking up Mr. Kam. Surprised, Mr. Kam reveals he is actually the owner of the cabin but only uses it as a getaway from society when he sees fit. Sonic decides to consult with him on what just happened to which he suggests that while he shouldn’t expect Eddie to forgive him right away, it isn’t his fault as it is just in his nature to do such awful things. Sonic notices that the book was also left behind and decides to look more into the history behind Dark Gaia. He makes the shocking revelation that the time they are in is actually the exact time Dark Gaia is set to return. Sonic then has a vision and realizes the being who was chosen to defeat him on this fateful day was none other than him, which would explain why he was taken from his world to earth. Sonic acts quickly and darts to Eddie’s house with Mr. Kam leaving him with a bit more wary advice.

Sonic arrives at Eddie's house but does not find him**,** instead he is called upon by the ring that he left with Eddie which draws him to city hall. While there, he finds Eddie who does not say anything to him, still heartbroken. Sonic tearfully apologizes to him and says that he needs his help to save his world. Eddie decides to help him but just before anything could happen, a violent earthquake occurs and the entire city begins to shake with the roads opening up. Realizing Dark Gaia is awakening, Sonic grabs Eddie and they make their way to the other two while avoiding falling debris. Sonic frees Sergio and Alyssa and they head outside. Sonic grants them the ability to breathe under harsh conditions but they are temporary and would have to quickly defeat Dark Gaia as they will soon burn to death. Eddie says a tearful goodbye to his mom while she painfully lets him go into the core of the earth to save the world.

Beneath the world, they find Dark Gaia, a monstrous, giant creature with 8 massive eyeballs. However, Dark Gaia begins to take away sonic’s curse leaving him particularly vulnerable to harm. Eddie decides to take a stand and suddenly is granted a superpower like ability from one of the chaos gems sonic obtained. Alyssa and Sergio also obtain some of the powers with Sonic joining in. They battle it out with Dark Gaia, dodging attacks and dealing huge blows to his center big eye. Dark Gaia then has a giant transformation and becomes even more powerful leaving the team less and less strong. Eddie soon realizes that since he was the first one to be given the gem energy, he is able to take out Dark Gaia with all the gems. Sonic pleads with him that his human body would not be able to take such power and would evidently kill him in the process. Eddie confides with Sonic and decides to take this as a chance to say that he forgives him. They all share a hug while Dark Gaia is left in a vulnerable state. Eddie powers up all the gems and heads straight towards Dark Gaia, piercing straight through him, instantly killing him. Dark Gaia falls to the magma below and dissolves away. The team quickly head to Eddie’s lifeless body and begin to tear up over him. Sergio and Alyssa’s temporary breathing power begins to deteriorate and they realize they must head back up to the surface. They set Eddie on the ground while nearby medical staff try to revive him. Julie breaks down hoping for Eddie to reawaken. Suddenly, he begins to float in the air, being surrounded by a yellow aura. He reawakens to the pride and joy of everyone around him. Sonic tries to figure out what happened and turns out that it was all thanks to the healing gem hidden in Eddie’s heart, as it was the only one that managed to not shatter during the final blow. The city begins to rebuild and Eddie is given a medal of honor while the mayor is rightfully booted out of office with Julie set to take over. Since Dark Gaia is now sealed away for good as the one chosen to defeat him didn’t end up defeating him at all, Sonic begins to fade away as it begins to have him return home. The team share a tearful goodbye and hug before sonic disappears. They all decide to go home leaving behind an adventure they will surely never forget.

## **Development**

The earliest idea for the film can be traced as far back as 2001 and was much more different than the final product. The film was originally going to focus on a teenager having a secret power nobody else could found out he had or the world would be put in danger. The film was originally going to be titled *Gifted* and was actually already given a release date before storyboards or a proper voice cast was even made. The release date was going to be December 15, 2006 but production was halted and actually scrapped due to the rising conflicts between the acquisition of Disney and Pixar at the time. Coincidentally, Meet the Robinsons then took that date but was also pushed back due to the same exact reason.

But that wasn't the end for *Eddie.* After a complete overhaul in the production development, the idea of bringing a video game character into the movie was introduced. This video game character was Sonic the Hedgehog, and with negotiations between SEGA, a deal was made and the movie was greenlit for production. Another movie that was also in production at the time was Wreck it Ralph, which also dealt with video game themes and was strictly made to not mimic this film due to a major video game character being one of the main characters. The film also broke ground on some fancy new technology for Disney at the time with introducing a new 3D software that can make facial expressions much more expressive and lifelike. Also, the crew ended up traveling to big cities around the world such as Tokyo, Los Angeles, and New York to name a few for the inspiration behind the fictional city in the film: Cosmotopolis, in order to understand how a big city would function in an animated film realistically.

## **Marketing**

The teaser trailer premiered in theaters with *Rio* and was released online days later. General interest in the movie sparked once word came out that Disney was planning on making a movie revolving around the popular video game character: *Sonic the Hedgehog*. The official trailer premiered alongside movies such as *Kung Fu Panda 2,* *Cars 2, Captain America: The First Avenger* and *The Smurfs*.

## **Release**

The fiinished new film was scheduled to be released in 2011 but was never actually given a date until 3 days before the first teaser even dropped in theaters with *Rio.* Unfortunately for Dreamworks Animation SKG's *Puss in Boots*, which was pushed ahead in theaters on Halloween weekend to avoid the big November rush, had to go head to head with *Eddie* in theaters only one week later. With its theatrical run played *Line,* which ended up winning Best Animated Short Film that year.

*Eddie* was released on DVD and blu ray(2D and 3D) on March 13th, 2012. The film was also digitally released on select platforms on February 22nd. It debuted on the #1 spot across all platforms digitally and physically.

## **Reception**

The film was praised, receiving very postive reviews from critics and audiences alike with some claiming it was one of Disney's Best Animated Films yet. Rotten Tomatoes ended up giving it a fresh 91% while audiences gave it a 90%. The consensus reads, *"It may not be the most original story to exist, but Eddie delivers a story that is both entertaining and emotional that Disney always has the pleasure of delivering."* Metacritic has the film on a solid 8.3/10, IMDB at 7.7/10 and an "A" from audiences on CinemaScore.

## **Trivia**

* The first film of the 2010's to be a non-musical film in the Disney Animated canon followed by Wreck it Ralph, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, Ralph Breaks the Internet, and Raya and the Last Dragon.
* Sergio was originally not even going to be in the film, but was added later on as the creators felt that Eddie needed someone to tell his emotions with as he didn't really try with his mother.
* Alyssa Burton is actually based on producer Edward Quezada's real life crush when he was in middle school.
* There is a rumor that one of the producers actually wanted to feature a lesbian couple in the film but the idea was rejected by Disney, however, this rumor has yet to be officially confirmed.
* In a deleted scene, there was actually set to be another character named Dwayne who Eddie would have met when in the woods with the group. It would have played out with Eddie hearing something in the woods and following it to find Dwayne, he was supposed to be one of his father's old work partners and knows the truth behind Sonic killing his dad, but this scene and the character was scrapped due to plot conflicts.
* This film is loosely based on the Sonic video game, *Sonic Unleashed,* but instead of making it into a movie, it only borrowed some elements from the game and implemented them into an entirely original product with permission from SEGA and *Sonic Team.*
* There was actually an incident that occurred during one of the screenings for the film in Knoxville that occurred on November 18th, 2011 when a man with a rifle attempted to barge into the theater but was luckily stopped and apprehended before anyone could get hurt, however, one person did injure their ankle when a crowd rushed out of the theater, the injury was not serious.
* Sonic appears many times throughout the next Disney animated film, *Wreck it Ralph*
* A poster of Sonic running can be seen in a teaser promo for *Big Hero 6*
* Dark Gaia was used as the main villain just like the video game that inspired some elements of the film: *Sonic Unleashed*
* While in the game, there is also a Light Gaia, the character was not used in the film but instead only mentioned
* It took one full week to just animate the final battle sequence alone
* The side character at the mall, Molly, who interacted with Sonic for a brief moment appears in the final battle in *Big Hero 6*
* Penny from Bolt appears during the airport scene
* A poster for Flynn Ryder can be seen at the police station when all the criminal record documents are pushed over by Sonic
* This film appears at the famous Zootopia scene where it shows many of Disney's animated films but with animals, this film's version is shown as *BATEddie*
* This film was created in 2:35 ratio which is used in many Disney animated films today

## Eddie

### Premiere date

October 28th, 2011 (El Capitan Theatre)November 4th, 2011

### Rating

PG for rude humor, mild action, and peril

### Written by

Byron HowardStephen Anderson

Don Hall