"Wreck-it Ralph" - Film Review

Wreck-It-Ralph has an initial premise that sounds really cool. It’s Who Framed Roger Rabbit meets Toy Story. When the customers are away from the arcade, the video game characters have their own lives. Each game is interconnected so that characters can leave their own game and go to therapy in Pac-Man or get a drink at Tappers. The film gets a lot of mileage out of the many in-film references to various video games, both from the arcade era but also about more modern games such as Call of Duty and Gears of War.

While this intriguing premise is part of the film’s charm, what really sells it are the more original elements thrown in. There’s a surprisingly touching story about misfits and finding your place. I was just pleased to see an animated Disney movie that didn’t have anything to do with a princess. The film’s central relationship is about Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz. The two of them are both unwanted in their games and attempting to do things to earn their place in their respective games. This relationship ends up becoming the heart of the film. 

This is a case of the animation and the voice acting complimenting one another. There’s some wonderfully luscious, rounded animation that’s warm and inviting. The film really gives each video game world we enter a distinct feel. The animators have fun playing around with the fact that we are inside videogames. In the more retro games, characters move in stilted and clunky movements when they attempt to do different actions. The newer games are more fluid and, as Fix-It-Felix puts it, HD. This animation is brought to life by an impeccable cast. John C. Reilly is perfectly suited for Ralph, providing a real soft spot to the lug. Sarah Silverman is also well-chosen for Vanellope, providing the right amount of lisped, cutesy enthusiasm to all her lines but not so much that it becomes annoying.   

Ralph is tired of being the “bad guy” of the game he’s in, Fix-It Felix. He decides that if he gets a medal, it’ll be proof that he’s just as good as the “good guys”. So he sets out to earn a medal. His first stop is in a big shoot-em’- up.  He eventually gets the medal but in the process releases one of the bug monsters from the game, and outside their own game these creatures start to wreak havoc. 

He then finds himself in a racing game set in a candy-based world. Here he meets, who is a glitch that wasn’t meant to be part of the game. Ralph immediately sympathizes with her outcast status and tries to help her achieve her dream of winning the race.

After Ralph leaves, kids stop playing the game assuming the game is broken. The arcade owner puts an “out of order” sign on the game and plans to have the game removed. Felix (Jack McBrayer) scrambles to find ralph and save the game from going on the trash heap. 

The stakes are raised due to the fact that if a character dies outside their own game, they die for real. A problem exacerbated by the alien bugs and a meddling candy king who’s obsessed with maintaining his power, and also may not be all he seems to be.

The film works as well it does because it isn’t just a handful of amusing, randomly strung together jokes about video games. There’s a really well told, original story. Though the story has lot of familiarity to it, no one ever said a good film had to reinvent the wheel. The film’s ability to build up whole new worlds that feel rich and detailed adds to the viewing experience. Above all else though, this is a really fun movie. It’s funny, heartwarming, and filled with tons of great visuals. 

Grade: A-