Wreck it Ralph

Video games and movies have had a notorious relationship. Usually the movie industry will use video game properties in the worst ways possible. Weather it be a blatant cash in piece of crap (Hitman, In the Name of the King) or an "In name only" movie that has very little to do with the original source material ( Resident Evil, Alone in the Dark). The common idea that most if not all video game movies suck is certainly not unjustified however there have been a few bright spots along the way though the company that seems to want to actually try and make good video game movies is the Disney company. Their first attempt was the admirable but very flawed "Prince of Persia" movie, an Indiana Jones movie with a Romancing the Stone complex. While not very good it did show that Disney is certainly willing to put effort and talent behind it's video game productions (I mean for fucks sake it had Mike Newell directing with Jake Gyllenhaal starring). And now we have Wreck it Ralph, a movie that has been claimed to be the Toy Story of video games. While Wreck it Ralph is certainly not as good as any of the Toy Story movies, it is certainly an enjoyable film for both kids and adults.



STORY

In Litwaks Arcade there's a game called Fix it Felix. Our main character Ralph (John C. Reilly) happens to be the bad guy character of the game. For 30 years he's done the same thing, demolish a building, get defeated by the titular Felix (Jack Mcbrayer) and then get thrown off a roof. After so many years of doing the same thing and getting no recognition for it, Ralph has had enough and has decided to venture into other games in the arcade in order to find a way to show everyone that even a bad guy can be a hero.
The story is honestly very cliche but it's very enjoyable and heart felt as well. Many of the plot elements can be called almost from the word go or half way through the film, though a twist near the end (while I did see coming) was certainly at least decently pulled off. I feel the biggest strength of this movie is just how heart felt it is. This doesn't feel like a slap dashed effort from Disney to capitalize on gamers. It's a very heart felt story that exudes emotion and passion from the creators.
The emotions in the story really carry through in many scenes where they slow down and take their time to really get their emotional point across. There's a scene near the end of the second act between Ralph and a character named Venelope Von Schweetz (Sara Silverman, also I really need to use that as my tag name in Call of Duty someday) which is very cliche and once it came up i pretty much check marked it off my mental list of cliche children movie plot points. Though the difference with this one is that they take quite a while to get past the scene. It's only about a minuet and a half segment but they really stretch it out. and that's what's so good about it they drive emotion home and really make you feel for both the characters involved.
The only real negative I have with the story is that it may move at too fast a pace. One minuet we are listening to Ralph talk to the bartender in "Tapper" and the next minuet he's stealing a Space Marines armor to sneak into Heroes Duty. But really this didn't detract much from my overall enjoyment of the story.
While it is a cliched story and a bit rushed, it's still delivered in such a way that makes you really feel for the characters and what they go through.

PRODUCTION

First of all this movie looks beautiful  The environments first off are masterfully detailed, from the simple look of the "Fix it Felix" arcade game to the grim and dark world of "Hero's Duty" to the OTT color pallet that is found in the Mario Cart esc game "Sugar Rush" this movie just exudes it's own personality and style. One thing that I very much appreciate this movie for is it's willingness to use such a plentiful color pallet. It puts in so many different and vibrant colors that I almost got whiplash realizing that their last animated movie was Frankenweenie (Another excellent animated movie from this year). I haven't seen this beautiful of a color pallet since I first saw Pixars "Up" in theaters.
On the audio side of things the music for the movie is very well done. It really is able to capture the very different audio styles used in some of these games. There are of course lots of references to video games in the music as well including Ralph's theme sounding awfully familiar. There is a bad side however and it's that the game "Suger Rush" actually has a theme song, that sucks by a band that sucks. The band is called AKB48 and it's a Japanese band that is very loud and it's a very annoying song that doesn't seem to fit in with the world that is in the movie. It drags you kicking and screaming out of the moment and wont let you get back into the movie until the song ends. Luckily the song never shows up again after the first instance until later in the credits when you will be long gone and thank jebus for that.
Lastly the voice actors are all perfectly cast. John C. Reilly does a great job as Ralph, he infuses him with liability, charm, and loneliness but he never becomes grating. He never becomes too much of a sad sack to the point where it becomes annoying. Though if one person shines through a little bit brighter then Reilly, it has to be Sarah Silverman as Venelope. I know Sarah Silverman, she's one of the funniest woman stand up acts I have ever seen. However she is anything but child friendly, so to see her go from jokes about how Martin Luther King farts in the car to torture his family to playing a little girl who's only dream is to race, is kinda like telling me that Gilbert Godfreid is going to be playing Elmo on Sesame Street. Though she really nails her role, this is easily a character that could have gotten very grating or annoying but she infuses this character with spunk and personality and a just under the surface sadness to her character. And when she's feels sadness you will also feel sadness for her. It's a great performance that could have gone wrong in so many ways.
Last up for the main characters is Jack Mcbrayer as Fix it Felix and Jane Lynch as Sergent Calhoon (who I swear her origin story is a Kill Bill reference). They do do a fine job in their roles however they are pretty much playing who they always play. Mcbrayer is the lovable , kinda air headed, wide eyed nice guy who just darn it is always having a swell day. and Jane Lynch is playing the bad ass who's really quite sensitive below the surface if only someone could chisel away that tough exterior. They do do a fine job in the film however they don't stand out to much in the film.
The rest of the supporting cast does a fine job as well however special mention has to go out to Alan Tudyk of Firefly fame playing a character I honestly have never thought I would ever see him in.
All around, the production of this movie is very solid with well done acting roles, a masterfully detailed world and music that fit's with the movie, for the most part. I didn't even get to the Video game references that are in this movie because I don't really want to spoil any of them for you people. Just know that while the first part of the movie is filled with them they kinda just disappear through the rest of the movie so that it doesn't become weighed down by them and make the story drag by stopping just to marvel at another reference. The production values are very strong and really are able to carry the story.

CONCLUSION
"Wreck it Ralph" has been stated by many to be the "Toy Story" of video games. And honestly I don't believe that's a fair comparison to judge the movie on. "Toy Story" was made by a group of people who loved animation. They loved what animation could do, what it could say, and how it could be used. However they noticed that it might not have been being used to it's full extent. And set out to make a trilogy of movies that would teach kids about such things as Jealousy and replacement, the fear of being abandoned and the inevitability of what's to come, coming to the realization that your childhood will end at some point and that there is no magic button that's going to make it go back to the way it was. "Wreck it Ralph" is in many ways like "Toy Story" in that it is delivering a very important message about finding out how to be happy where you are and being yourself, however it does it in such a way that is much more by the book these days. It hits most of the notes that are in most modern day children's films and creates many characters that are very recognizable to anyone who's seen a Tim Burton movie in the last 5 years.
However this doesn't stop "Wreck it Ralph" from being one of the best animated movies of the year. While it does have those cliche elements, it embraces them and twists them to work in it's favor by creating a charming and endearing world. It creates strong likable characters that both kids and adults can latch onto, a fun plot through interesting locations, and it fills itself with such a passion from the film makers that it's almost impossible not to notice. While I hesitate to call "Wreck it Ralph" the best animated movie of the year considering Paranorman and Frankenweenie came out only a few months ago, I can say that it easily is up there with both of them and is one of the most enjoyable theater going experiences I have had in a long time.

MY RATING: BIG SCREEN!

BONUS CATEGORY: PAPER MAN!

In addition to "Wreck it Ralph" we were actually treated to a short animated film called "The Paperman". The short is an incredible work of animation, mixing both 2D and 3D animation seamlessly. It's also a very heartfelt short too. While the premise is a little silly seeing as the two main characters have known each other for a grand total of 5 minuets (While waiting for the train no less) it's very sweetly told and you will be rooting for the Paper man the entire way through. The only problem I really had with it was when the fantastical elements were introduced in the last half of the short, it kinda took me out of moment and left me confused on what was going on. But that doesn't stop this from being a short that even Pixar would marvel at.

RANDOM THOUGHTS OF THE MOVIE!
"Why the hell is Skrillix in a video game arcade cabinet from 30 years ago?"
"I wonder if they wanted to get Urkel back to voice Sonic again "Dying outside your game is no good!"
"I would have loved it at the Climax of the movie Ralph screamed out "MENTOS: THE DEAD MAKER!"