User Reviews

With a mix of "Alien," "Toy Story" and a bit of originality, Walt Disney Studios has created a wonderfully fun and nostalgic effort sure to put a smile on the faces of young and old, alike.

And while a bit long in the tooth for an animated film (108 minutes), "Wreck-It Ralph" nevertheless is one of the better productions of this genre in 2012, at least.

For those who grew up in the video game world, say post 1978, the sights and sounds of this movie will no doubt have many viewers pointing at the screen in recognition of the many, many classic arcade characters and machines (and even some of the newer systems, as well).

Much of the charm of "Wreck-It Ralph" is based upon these recollections as characters from Street Fighter, Q-Bert, Sonic, Frogger, Dig-Dug, Donkey Kong, Super Mario Brothers, Halo, Mortal Kombat, Ms. Pac-Man, among many others abound in their own world when the neighborhood arcade closes for the night.

Plotwise, the hulking but sensitive title character (voiced by John C. Reilly, "Step Brothers") has been destroying the same apartment building for more than 30 years in an older than old school game entitled "Fix-It Felix, Jr.," but all he has to show for it is constantly being thrown off a roof and living a lonely, depressing life in a huge pile of bricks.

The game's perpetually perky hero, Felix, Jr. (voiced by Jack McBrayer, "30 Rock"), however, is forever honored with shiny medals and feted by the structure's residents for repairing Ralph's damage with his magic golden hammer.

Having had enough, Ralph confesses the desire to be a good guy — for a change — to members of his bad guy support group. Here, various villains led by a ghost from Pac-Man spout AA and Narcano platitudes, such as "Good is not bad, Ralph, and bad is good," but he is determined to be the hero and win a medal for himself — even just once.

And so his adventure through the games of Litwik's Fun Center begins.

First, after removing the armor-plating of an inebriated soldier, Ralph enters the world of "Hero's Duty" to kill bugs and climb buildings. Although petrified and frustrated, he still manages to swipe a huge medal by trickery and brute force.

Then, upon escaping in a space pod (with a virus bug stowaway), he crash lands in the sickeningly sweet world of "Sugar Rush," where cute-as-a-button racers drive home-baked go-karts in a land ruled by King Candy (voice of Alan Tudyk, "Transformers: Dark of the Moon," doing his best Ed Wynn).

Here, Ralph also meets the pixilated "glitch" Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman, "The School of Rock"), who steals his unearned medal as an entry fee for the race she is never allowed to participate in. The two form a reluctant alliance based upon the fact the winner will get a medal. She promises to win and he wrecks a bakery to make her a candy-coated race car.

Meanwhile, Felix, Jr. and the leader from "Hero's Duty," Calhoun (Jane Lynch, "The 40-Year Old Virgin," "Glee"), are frantically searching for the AWOL Ralph. If they cannot find him, "Fix-It Felix, Jr." will be disconnected and the characters forced to live on the streets of Game Central Station.

The duo are also trying to fight off an invasion of huge deadly bugs who are trying to take over "Sugar Rush," as well. There's a lot of gunfire, explosions, last-minute rescues, a big auto race and derring-do. There is also a little romance and even a lot of heart in this story of trying to improve oneselves all the while attempting to maintain one's core personality and individualism.

Things are not always as they seem, but the overall look and feel of Wreck-It Ralph is a bright, splashing, colorful world that draws laughs and "Ohhhs" from parents as well as their children.

Although do be warned, very young children may be frightened by some of the darker moments — the movie is rated PG for a reason.

Gamers, teens, twenty-somethings and many others will also enjoy most of this film, although it tends to sag a bit in the middle and could have used a bit more judicious editing (maybe 10 minutes could have been shorn).

Nonetheless, director Rich Moore (some "Futurama" and "Drawn Together" episodes) exhibits a deft hand in his animated lexicon and "Wreck-It Ralph" certainly showcases that ability.

When I have heard that Disney was going to make a new movie this time about a video game arcade with some of the 80s greatest video games ever made, I was really excited and wanted to see this with lots of expectations. I started to like the premise: A bad-guy named Ralph from a video game called "Fix-It Felix" who wants to be a hero instead of being the villain all the time and goes to both games to receive a medal. So, he goes to Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush where there he meets a girl named Vannellope and makes a friendship with her as she tries to win a race so she can become a racer before they make a deal to win and give Ralph a medal. It's kind of like Toy Story but instead of toys, it takes place in a video game arcade.

With that said, I saw this on the opening weekend starting from last night and was blown away. It succeeded what it had set out to do and delivered what the trailers had promised. Before I can get to the redeeming qualities, there is one flaw that I would like to point out. There is some nice messaging, but there are some really dark moments that could frighten kids ages 8-10 especially the tragic back-story of Calhoun, one of the characters of the movie.

Flaw aside, everything else exceeded my expectations towards this wonderful movie. The story is very original with some really happy moments, some sad moments, and like I said before, some dark moments that I've already stated and has a very nice concept that would not only remind the adults of the 80s video game references (especially some nice cameos including: Bowser, Dr. Eggman, the ghost from Pac-Man, some Mortal Kombat and Street Fighter characters, and Sonic), but will entertain them as well as the kids young and old. The characters, like the story, are also original with lots of help from a great voice cast including John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Dennis Haysbert, and Alan Tudyk. Wreck-It Ralph is a determined protagonist who changes his life and tries to achieve it be becoming what he wants to be and his development between him and Vanellope, an adorable girl from Sugar Rush who wants to become the best race-car driver, is well-thought out. Some of the characters like, Fix-It Felix, Calhoun, whose tragic back-story made me felt sorry for her, and several of the video game characters are also likable, but the most memorable character goes to the main villain, King Candy. He reminds me of Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland except he's not only menacing, but unbelievably over-the-top it's hard not to forget this villain.

The pacing for this movie is very brisk and moves along very nicely and I like the music from Henry Jackman. It has some nice 80s video game music and the orchestra for several moments of the movie is beautifully well-made. The strongest aspect, however, goes to the animation and boy was it so amazing. The character animation on the Wreck-It Ralph and several of the video game characters are creative and look exactly like the ones from the 80s video games, but what stands out most about the animation is it's visuals. Everything you see in just blows you away. The bright colors, the set ups and the environments of the video games which makes it look completely gorgeous especially the Game Central Station and it's some of the greatest visuals I've ever seen in an animated feature film since Dreamwork's "How To Train Your Dragon", "Kung Fu Panda" and several of Pixar's films including the "Toy Story" trilogy, "Finding Nemo", "The Incredibles", and "Cars".

Overall, Wreck-It Ralph delivered what it had promised: an emotional story, lots of great nostalgic references, and nice development from the characters which makes this, in my opinion, one of the best movies of the year and the most anticipated movie next to "The Hunger Games" and "John Carter" My advice: Go see it! It is really *that* good!

The trailer alone, garnered much buzz for Disney's latest 3D adventure. Seeing some of'the great video game villains of all time assembled in one room was just too good to be true. The hype was elevated to even greater heights given its ubiquitous presence at San Diego Comic Con. In the back of mind I kept thinking, "THEY'RE GONNA WRECK IT!"

Thankfully, the movie succeeds in creating a heartfelt tribute to the golden era of the 80's arcade, decorated here and there with familiar cameos that are both nostalgic and laugh out loud hilarious. The actual video game characters and their respective worlds don't play as big a role in the movie as I imagined. My wishful, nerdy brain hoped Ralph would be jumping through pipes in Mushroom Kingdom, riding horseback through Hyrule and blasting away at baddies alongside Mega Man and who knows who else. This didn't happen, and may have to do with the price of buying the rights to some of these iconic images. But the new world Disney Animation Studios created is rich with surprises, and rivals that of Monstropolis, Toy Story, and the Kingdom of Far and Far Away.

Wreck-It Ralph (voiced by the incomparable John C. Reilly) is the Donkey Kong to Fix-It Felix, Jr.'s Mario in a fictional 80's arcade game. The game itself is believable enough to have existed during the era. Ralph, along with other villains in various games throughout the ages, share the same plight of feeling under-appreciated by gamers and other citizens of the video game world.

The breaking point for Ralph was the 30th Anniversary for the "Fix-it Felix, Jr." arcade. To commemorate the event, Felix throws a party in the penthouse of the game's high-rise apartment complex, a party that Ralph wasn't invited to. (The DJ of this party offered another cameo I really wasn't expecting and left me in awe of this tribute to electronic art.)

What sets Ralph apart from all the other villains is that he is determined to actually do something about the unfortunate role of "Bad Guy" he was programmed to assume. He intends to jump to different arcades in order to become a hero in another game. This act of invading a game other than your own is mysteriously referred to as "Going Turbo" by the other inhabitants of the video game world. It's considered taboo, especially since it runs the risk of permanent death: dying outside your own game makes it impossible to regenerate.

After a series of unfortunate events, Ralph eventually crash lands into Sugar Rush, a cross between the worlds of Candy Land and Mario Kart. There he befriends the adorable Vanellope (voiced by the lovely Sarah Silverman), who like Ralph is seen as an outcast in her game. In her case, she is considered a freak due to her tendency to glitch out. To Vanellope, racing runs deep within her code, but the only thing stopping her is the candy land's ruler the Candy King, who is adamant on keeping her out of the race.

Ralph's spontaneous hero's journey spells trouble for the rest of the video game world. Due to Ralph's disappearance, the "Fix-it Felix, Jr." game is in danger of being unplugged, leaving Felix with the hefty responsibility of retrieving his clumsy counterpart. Ralph's brief stint in a Halo-esque game called "Hero's Duty" is also a big nuisance to the foxy Sgt. Calhoun (Jane Lynch). She must now track down and exterminate a Cybug that Ralph mistakenly helped escape from the game. If the bug goes viral, it could destroy every game in Mr. Litwak's entire arcade for good.

The video game setting offers awesome moments of creativity for the Disney animators, from the way the characters are drawn and animated, to the way their lives are portrayed outside of their own game. The voice talent is also really impressive across the board. While the movie isn't the all-out Smash Brothers brawl many were expecting, the movie comes with loads of surprises that are sure to delight and entertain a wide audience, gamers and non-gamers alike.

The movie could not have come at a better time. People who grew up during the era of the arcade are now starting to have families of their own, and are very likely to laugh along with the children they bring to the theaters. This same video game generation also witnessed the Disney Renaissance of the early 90's: The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, and the Lion King. With Wreck-It Ralph destined to be an instant classic, following the success of the equally impressive Tangled, we are in for a new Disney Renaissance for a whole new generation.

Note: Get there early enough for an excellent animated short, and stay to watch the credits roll if you haven't yet satisfied your nerdy gamer fix.

Cute movie with some decent voice acting by the leads. I thought Jane Lynch did not hit the right note, but everyone else was fantastic. I was expecting to hate SIlverman, but was extremely surprised by how much she put into the role. I was also super surprised to see that Alan Tudyk was in the movie at all and did a fantastic job as the "King". was I would not say that the movie is top of the line, but it I thoroughly enjoyed it. I loved the set design and the world building was pretty well done. The biggest issue I had with the movie was Ralph's motivation kind of lame and drove much of the story. As his motivations changed the story was much more relatable and engaging.

My favorite part of the movie would be the idea of what it means to be a good person. It definitely has a really good message that I would recommend kids engage with. Overall it was an enjoyable film, but there was nothing that really caught me. I would watch again and recommend it kids.

When my friend and I came out of the cinema having just watched this, neither of us knew where to start to make sense of what we'd just been put through. Both being long-time video game fans, I'd recommended that we go and see it on the strength of the trailer. But beyond the visual references to various games of the past thirty years, there's really nothing here to hold the interest of older gamers like us. There's actually very little to hold the interest of *anyone*, so confused is this mish-mash of seemingly good ideas.

The film starts out well enough, with the Fix-it Felix Jr. game rendered faithfully as though it were a real coin-op from the 80s, and the initial look into Game Central colourful and awe-inspiring. But after Ralph decides to get himself a hero's medal to prove to everyone in the Fix-it Felix game that he's not just a badguy, things take a turn for the worse. The Hero's Duty game environment is that of a generic sci-fi-inspired modern first-person shooter, and feels like it was put in the movie to appease the fans of such games, rather than because it was beneficial to the plot.

Nevertheless, Ralph gets his coveted medal, but ends up accidentally activating one of the deadly and voracious robotic bugs from that game, and stumbles into an escape pod that eventually takes him to the kart-racing game known as Sugar Rush. It's here that the plot flits and meanders between so many different plot points that it becomes almost impossible to follow (Ralph wants to get his medal back/Vanellope is a glitch/wants to be a real kart racer but doesn't know how to drive/Ralph isn't in his own game so it's declared out of order and might be taken away/King Candy has his own dastardly plans, as he is actually an embittered game character from years ago whose back story is thrown in at the eleventh hour/As Vanellope is a glitch, she needs to cross the finish line in a race, otherwise she can't leave the game/Bug from Hero's Duty has multiplied exponentially and poses serious threat to Sugar Rush world).

It ends up trying to cover too many characters and needing to tie up too many loose ends. That these are seemingly neatly tied up at the end doesn't vindicate it. Also, the fact that the entire second half of the film is set in the Sugar Rush game is a big weakness. With its retina-searing colours and endless depictions of sweet-like landscapes, it doesn't feel game-like in any way, and it's here that the movie lapses into bog-standard CGI animation territory. I was very interested to learn that the production had been in development hell for so long, as it has the feel of having been cobbled together with bits and pieces from various writers who've come and gone over a long period of time.

But the thing that really struck me was the terrible characters. Ralph and Felix are fairly likable, and their voice actors' respective performances suit the characters perfectly, but the film is ruined entirely by the two main female characters. Sergeant Calhoun has obviously been shoehorned in to provide relief from the ubiquitous and generic male space marine type, but is utterly objectionable. Bitter and sadistic, she freely smashes Ralph and Felix with her helmet/rifle butt/fists multiple times and fires on sight at Felix the first time they meet. There's even a particularly uncomfortable scene where Felix begs her to hit him so that they'll be saved from quicksand by some candy-vines that find the violence funny(???) and her inflicting injuries on him is seen as OK, as he can heal himself with his magic hammer. Honestly, what madman came up with that?! There's an attempt at back story and explaining why she's so callous, but she's devoid of any redeeming qualities, so it all falls flat. There's also a complete mismatch between her face and her voice; she looks like a girl in her twenties, but sounds like a middle-aged woman.

Then there's Vanellope. In the scene in which she first appears, she steals Ralph's medal and uses it for her own ends. Then, after witnessing her getting bullied by her peers, Ralph agrees to help her to get back what she stole from him(!). There's a 'cute' scene where Vanellope makes a replacement medal for him out of sweets, but she never apologises for stealing it in the first place. Yet she makes Ralph repeatedly apologise and demean himself for smashing her kart and stopping her entering the race, even though he did it on the knowledge that it might save her life! These are not the actions of a protagonist. She is irritating, brattish, selfish and entitled, yet when she's feeling depressed or being picked on, the viewer is supposed to feel sorry for her. She deserves nothing, yet ends up with everything, her disability becoming a super-power and the denizens of candy land suddenly remembering that she used to be their princess.

Modern films are full of characters like this, and this particular film left me once again lamenting Hollywood's fundamental inability to come up with characters that the audience cares about. Without such characters, no amount of rainbow-coloured gloss will make any movie anything other than ultimately worthless.

So the movie fails on all counts. Video game fans will inevitably be left disappointed, as beyond the visual cues to games past and present, there's very little to keep them interested. It's too convoluted for younger viewers, and not well written or funny enough for older audiences. What a shame.