Wreck It Ralph

Here are two things that I love a lot: animated movies and video games. To me, animated movies have the great gift of telling incredible, friendly, and deeply compelling stories for all ages that many live action films just can't pull off. So when I saw the first trailer for "Wreck It Ralph" I got really excited. In the trailer I saw a super fun story arc based around vintage arcade games such as Pac Man, Sonic The Hedgehog, and Turbo Time. Not only was the story based around video games, but the characters are  video game icons who have actual lives inside their games. With Disney at the helm, I was sure that this would be a hit, and I wasn't wrong.

Wreck It Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) has been doing the same thing in his game for years. He breaks a building only to be thrown off the roof when Fix It Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer) comes and saves the day. So after years and years of being laughed at and hated on...Ralph decides that he doesn't want to be the bad guy anymore. But when he decides to run away from his game to finally be  a good guy, everything goes crazy as the other characters go on a wild goose chase to find him across the different video games of the arcade. And if they can't find him in time, then the whole game will be shut down.

The greatest asset to "Wreck It Ralph" is the superb creativity that the writers and directors poured into this film, starting with a clever setting. Here is how the movie works, the different video game characters come out and play their roles (almost like putting on a show) for each kid that plays the game. Then at night, when the arcade closes they all head to Game Central Station (located in the electric socket) where they can interact with the different characters; it's almost like "Toy Story" with video games.

Then there are the different games that the characters wonder though that bring vastly unique environments along with them. This was one of my favorite parts about the movie, the digital set design of these games. The majority of the film takes places in a game called Sugar Rush (think of a racing game inside the board game).

It is in this game that the film's cleverness really comes out, primarily in the inhabitants. For example, the spectators of the races are large groups of jolly ranchers and jaw breakers, the "police force" is made up of walking doughnuts, and the centerpiece of the "game map" is a mountain of bottled diet coke that erupts every time a mento drops into it.

But the animation is also a shining point for "Wreck It Ralph." A smaller portion of the film takes place in a game called Hero's Duty (a futuristic take on the popular "Call of Duty" franchise).There is a moment in this part of the movie where thousands of robotic bugs are swarming through the air and attack the weapon-laden soldiers as the fire back in defense. The angles go back and forth, zoom in and out, and go all around the action. It was done so well that it at times could pass for a live action CGI sequence. Plus there is an awesome character that is basically a carbon copy of Jane Lynch, wisecracks, crazy metaphors, and all...oh yeah and the character is voiced by none other than Jane Lynch.

I also loved how they animated the characters in Ralph's game to move in quick, clunky, robotic movements to resemble the movements of old 8-bit characters such as Dig-Dug and Mario.
I was so impressed with everything about "Wreck It Ralph," it exceeded my expectations. And make no mistake this movie is for everyone. If you aren't a video game player (which is a strong possibility) this will still be very entertaining for you, it won't be confusing and there won't be tons of jokes that totally fly over your head. "Wreck It Ralph" is for kids, adults, gamers, and non-gamers, and it is the best animated film to grace the silver screen in the last couple years (and as a bonus, there is a beautiful short film preceding it). I give it four stars out of four.

"Wreck It Ralph" has a running time of 92 minutes and is rated PG for some rude humor and mild action/violence.