Wreck-It Ralph

Disney animation is back in excellent form with Wreck-It Ralph, thanks to Pixar alumnus John Lasseter acting as Executive producer and the Pixar brain trust who were clearly involved in the heart felt story of a video game villain who decides he has had enough of being unappreciated.  

Ralph is lonely and bored, and the apartment dwellers in his video game world treat him like he’s the enemy, which he is, but he doesn’t feel like a bad person and he wants some appreciation and recognition from his tenants who run screaming for the super, Fix-It Felix, when they see him coming. So he goes out in search of a more rewarding career where people will actually value his talents and award him with a nice shiny medal. That’ll show them that he can also be a hero. But where or when has the bad guy ever won a medal? 

Like the Toy Story (1995) concept of toys living a secret life when people are not around, in Wreck-It Ralph, when the video arcade lights go out, and the doors close after everyone has left, the game characters come to life and live in a secret world of their own where characters can freely travel from their own game into other arcade games via the electrical wires and the surge protected power bar that connects everything together. The power bar acts as a sort of central station through which everyone must travel to get to the video game world you want to visit. 

There are three visually distinct and uniquely fun gaming worlds that we get to travel around in. Ralph’s home game world, called ‘Fix-It Felix’ is an older wholesome game but is considered to be cool and still popular with many younger kids. Representing the newer, darker, edgier high definition, violent first person shooter games, is ‘Hero’ s Duty’, which has an infestation of creepy flying bugs to shoot at and a cold dark blue neon Tron style visual look, not to mention a curvaceous armor wearing, laser gun toting heroine. 

Without their villain, the people of the Fix-It Felix game now have nothing to do and their game quickly becomes in danger of being shut down.  Meanwhile Ralph decides to check out ‘Hero’s Duty’ where he learns of the glorious medal he’s been dreaming of that will gain him respect back at home, if he can get his gamer to the top level in the extremely difficult game which he has no experience in. 

Then there’s the candy land racing game of ‘Sugar Rush’ that looks like the inside of Charlie’s Chocolate factory, and is run by a King who looks like a munchkin from The Wizard of Oz.  This is where Ralph meets the spunky glitch girl Vanellope, played by Sara Silverman. When Vanellope started glitching, she was banished and now lives in the code of her electronic game where no one can find her as she tries to figure out a way to regain her rightful standing in the game. 

Don’t underestimate the power of Wreck-It Ralph. There are many things in the film that will resonate with those who are unsatisfied with their current job and desire a new career or have had to reinvent themselves to stay relevant in today’s challenging economy.  It’s also a visual treat to watch for children and adults. 

Following in the tradition started by Pixar of playing an original short animated film before each of its feature films, Wreck-It Ralph has adopted that tradition by playing a short film called Paperman before it starts. It’s a sweet boy meets girl fateful romantic encounter, boy loses girl and then finds her again after many comic and anxious mishaps. 

JP