Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Grade: B+
Featuring the Voices Of: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Alan Tudyk
Premise: The villain of an old-fashioned video game decides to try his hand at being a good guy, with disastrous results.
Rated PG for stylized action and some crude humor
I’m pretty everyone has played some sort of video game. Thus, it should intrigue most everyone that the central premise of Wreck-It Ralph is along the lines of the central premise of Toy Story—when the humans are away (in this case, when a certain arcade closes), the video game characters come to life. They have lives, personalities, relationships and even goals. Our titular character is the villain of a simple game called Fix-It Felix, a game in which the Felix of the title is a handyman who uses his magic hammer to repair the damage done to an apartment building by a marauding misanthrope, Ralph (whose in-game slogan is “I’m gonna wreck it!”). Somehow, this simple game has conquered the years and remained popular in arcades despite its aged graphics and basic function, but as it reaches its 30 year anniversary, there’s discontentment brewing. Ogre-sized, big-fisted Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) is tired of being laughed at and hated by people playing the game, tired of living in either a mud patch or a pile of bricks and tired of being ignored and left out by the snooty apartment tenants. His attempts to join Felix (Jack McBrayer) and the others at a 30th anniversary party come to naught, as Felix politely rebuffs him under pressure from the others. As he leaves the apartment, Ralph sees the handsome collection of medals Felix has obtained by winning the game so many times over the years, and he gets it in his head that if he had a medal, the others might like him better.
One night at a next door game’s tavern, Ralph meets a drunken soldier from Hero’s Duty, a Halo-style us-versus-them alien apocalypse. When the soldier hints that winning the first level wins one a medal, Ralph hides the man in a closet, steals his armor and weapon, and joins the game. Luckily, he sneaks in undetected by the tough-cookie commanding officer (Jane Lynch), and though the going is tough, Ralph gets his medal. But when he tries to escape one attacking alien, he falls into an auto-piloted shuttle craft that shoots him back out in the arcade games’ central hub and sends him spiraling into Sugar Rush, a cutesy go-cart-racing game that resembles what Mario Kart might look like if its characters were designed by Strawberry Shortcake and its scenery by Willy Wonka. Despite the game’s gentle nature, Ralph finds his medal almost immediately stolen by a fellow outcast, a glitchy character named Vanellope (Sarah Silverman). Vanellope is too awkward and clumsy to compete with the other girls, and she isn’t allowed to participate in the headlining races because of the game ruler’s (Alan Tudyk) fear that increased popularity in her character might cause her glitch to spread and ruin the game. But the girl won’t give Ralph his medal unless he helps her win a race, and he’s determined to not go through another day as the unwanted numbskull villain.
Like most animated movies these days, Wreck-It Ralph is a visual wonder, though it’s not trying for realistic scenery in the vein of Brave or The Croods. But almost anyone who has ever played video games (from kids who barely ever put now their Nintendo DS systems to college students who OD on Xbox360s to adults who remember old-fashioned arcade games like Pac Man) will recognize different game features, character designs, and visual gags. The pixilated movement style of the apartment patrons in Fix-It is deeply amusing, the all-colors-and-sounds senses onslaught of Hero’s Duty should be easily recognizable for those who play Halo and Call of Duty, and Sugar Rush’s many small visual gags are hilarious. In fact, you’d have to work really hard to not enjoy Wreck-It Ralph, even if it didn’t have an involving story (one of the winning aspects is an odd couple chemistry developed by Fix-It Felix and the tough female commando as they join the search for the missing Ralph). And while that story does have familiar themes about being true to yourself, accepting others, and being okay with being different, it doesn’t overdose on themes, or become preachy like some animated movies do. And it keeps throwing curveballs en route to a satisfying ending.
Bottom Line: With the cleverness and brilliance of its character and background design, plus an engaging story that tickles the funny bone and touches the heart, Wreck-It Ralph is a Toy Story-esque entertainment that will delight the family.
Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Directed by Rich Moore
Written for the screen by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee, based on an idea by John C. Reilly, Sam Levine and Jared Stern
Rated PG
Length: 108 minutes
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