Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Disney Animated Classic Number 52
Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch & Alan Tudyk
Directed by: Rich Moore
Rating: ★★★★½
It’s been a long time coming, but Disney has finally released a new original Animated Classic: and I can ecstatically report to all my readers that it’s excellent.
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| Wreck-It Ralph with Fix-It Felix in the game Felix-It Felix Jr. |
Wreck-It Ralph is about an arcade where the various computer game characters come to life and visit one another’s machine environments. Ralph (Reilly), the villain of the videogame Fix-It Felix Jr., decides that he no longer wants to be the ‘bad guy’ and so leaves his game to prove to himself and to everyone else that anyone can be a hero. He breaks into Hero’s Duty, a first person shooter, to steal a medal, and then accidentally finds himself in Sugar Rush, a racing game, where he bumps into Vanellope von Schweetz (Silverman), who takes his medal and uses it to gain entry to a race against all of the racers in the Candy Kingdom, including King Candy himself (Tudyk). Because Ralph has ‘game jumped’, it means that Fix-It Felix Jr. and it’s residents are at risk of being sent to the scrap heap, so Felix (McBrayer) and Sergeant Calhoun (Lynch) set out to find Ralph and bring him back to his own game.
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| Ralph thinks that by winning a medal he will automatically become a hero.... |
Wreck-It Ralph is funny, exciting, involving and thoroughly enjoyable. Although it is a very original concept for Disney, it still manages to stay true to its Disney roots without being too different. This is mainly due to the strong central characters, who are likeable and endearing.
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| Fix-It Felix assists in saving the day... |
Ralph himself is excellent, and we are on his side from the beginning. Felix, as a campy comic relief is also an incredibly strong supporting character, and his interactions with Sergeant Calhoun are amusing and sometimes charming. Sergeant Calhoun is a very unique character in the Disney canon, as she is a tough as nails woman who can fend for herself. King Candy is also well executed.
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| King Candy with scene stealing Sour Bill |
My only bugbear with Wreck-It Ralph is Vanellope. She’s meant to be a child, but her voice actress is a woman imitating a child, and this is grating and irritating. Silverman clearly isn’t an actress, and so she isn’t very good at making you warm to Vanellope, especially when the character is annoying to begin with. Unlike Boo from Monsters Inc., Vanellope isn’t sweet and cute, which in some ways is a good thing, as she too becomes tough and strong and ends up fending for herself and proving herself to be as much as a hero as Ralph, and that was something that I really liked. It’s about time Disney had some better female characters, and unlike the James Bondseries, Disney is actually moving with the time and creating women who are equal to their male counterparts.
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| Don't you just want to slap her?? |
Saying this though, I did eventually warm to Vanellope, and in the end want her to succeed, so she wasn’t that bad after all.
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| Vanellope is awkward and annoying... but in the end she's okay... |
The cameos from various computer game characters are really awesome- seeing Dr Robotnic from Sonic the Hedgehog and Snake from Snakeis pretty cool, and there’s plenty for young and old gamers to enjoy. I also loved the sour ball character and various other supporting characters who had minor but sometimes hilarious walk-ons.
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| Ralph may be a villain in his game, but his character |
The plot is very well executed and is, on the whole, excellent. There is plenty for both children and adults to enjoy, and even though this is clearly more of a ‘boy’ Disney movie, I think that girls would appreciate it too: especially Vanellope, who is clearly aimed at this demographic.
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| Vanellope and Ralph meet... |
Disney manage to fit in action packed sequences alongside funny comedy moments and moving character development, and all of this combined make Wreck-It Ralphincredibly enjoyable. The world that they have created is truly epic and looks astounding, and there is plenty eye-popping scenery to relish.
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| Sergeant Calhoun in Hero's Duty |
The villain and the final ‘twist’, although clearly signposted, are a good surprise, and the way this is revealed is pretty scary for children. But then it wouldn’t be a good Disney movie if it didn’t give someone nightmares. The ‘monster’ at the end is pretty terrifying, but this moment really stands out as it is a memorable ‘boss battle’ that the audience want to see.
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| Ralph is seen as the outside, and just wants to be a hero... |
I absolutely loved the car chase, the Diet Cola mountain, Hero’s Duty and all of the other quirky moments that remind us adults of our misspent youth playing copious amounts of video games. One of my favourite bits, which a fairly minor but also incredibly hilarious aside, is Sergeant Calhoun’s ‘backstory’, and her reaction to it. It made me laugh.
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| One of the funniest moments is when Sergeant Calhoun relives her 'backstory'... |
Wreck-It Ralph is a thoroughly excellent and enjoyable action adventure that has incredible graphics and a brilliant central premise. The plot is well executed and the characters wonderful. An added bonus is that we get to see the Academy Award winning short animation Papermanbefore the movie starts, which is a powerful and sappy short that will melt most audience members’ hearts.
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| Vanellope and Ralph develop a special friendship |
Gone are the days of the Disney Dip. The future looks bright for Disney, as they are continuing to release movies like the ones that made us fall in love with them in the first place.
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| Ralph just wants to be accepted by the people in his video game... |
It’s a shame that Wreck-It Ralph didn’t win the Oscar for Best Animated Film at this year’s Academy Awards. It should have.
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| We love you Wreck-It Ralph, even if the Academy don't! |
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