Wreck-It Ralph
Go! Smart toon packed with fun.
Computer baddie's quest for rebrand.
Remember the good old days when toys came alive after their owners left the room? Ah yes - November 1995, when you were listening to Robson and Jerome, wearing turtlenecks with dungarees, playing Sonic the Hedgehog and watching Pixar's Toy Story; fascinated by the use of computer graphics for film animation. Zip forward 17 years (yup, you are old AF), and the computer-generated cartoon genre has cemented itself as a brilliant source of entertainment for children and adults alike. Wreck-it Ralph, from the sparkly castle of Disney (rather than the pristine palace of Pixar) is the most recent experiment in giving life to pixels and graphic rendering.
The film is a kind of tongue-in-cheek, wikih-wah remix of Toy Story for the computer game generation. It tracks Ralph, excellently voiced by John C. Reilly (Step Brothers), the grumpy but misunderstood baddie of a blocky, 80s arcade game, titled "Fix it Felix". Tired of being reviled within his game by the residents of Niceland in favour of cheery repair man and arbitrary nemesis Felix (voiced by Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock), Ralph decides to travel into other games in search of a medal, to prove his worth to the Nicelanders. This is a tremendously fertile premise for clever jokes and snappy lines, particularly for material directed at those adults with a nostalgia for Street Fighter, Q*Bert and Pac Man (presumably a collection of words that the bed-wetters of today won't have any idea about, along with "video cassette", "pencil", and "final-salary pensions").
The film is a kind of tongue-in-cheek, wikih-wah remix of Toy Story for the computer game generation. It tracks Ralph, excellently voiced by John C. Reilly (Step Brothers), the grumpy but misunderstood baddie of a blocky, 80s arcade game, titled "Fix it Felix". Tired of being reviled within his game by the residents of Niceland in favour of cheery repair man and arbitrary nemesis Felix (voiced by Jack McBrayer, 30 Rock), Ralph decides to travel into other games in search of a medal, to prove his worth to the Nicelanders. This is a tremendously fertile premise for clever jokes and snappy lines, particularly for material directed at those adults with a nostalgia for Street Fighter, Q*Bert and Pac Man (presumably a collection of words that the bed-wetters of today won't have any idea about, along with "video cassette", "pencil", and "final-salary pensions").
All of the voice work is brilliantly cast and brilliantly delivered - not unexpected from what is a stellar collection of comedy actors and some excellent lines for them to crow. Sprinkling the sweet sugar-strands on this well-decorated cupcake of a movie is Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a cheeky character glitch from a homage to Mario Kart called "Sugar Rush". Adding the cinnamon spice is the disconcertingly attractive Sergeant Jean Calhoun (Jane Lynch (40 Year Old Virgin)) from "Hero's Duty" - a modern shoot-em-up with alien bugs.
Furthermore, the animation is beautiful, particularly in 3D, with the mix between historic and modern games blending together for an artistic 108-minutes. The in-jokes are all there, and anyone that played a computer between 1980 and 1998 will struggle to suppress a heap of smiles and warm amusement. The world in which the film is set is well thought out and seems to make complete sense - much in the way that Toy Story seemed to, despite being so fantastical.
Furthermore, the animation is beautiful, particularly in 3D, with the mix between historic and modern games blending together for an artistic 108-minutes. The in-jokes are all there, and anyone that played a computer between 1980 and 1998 will struggle to suppress a heap of smiles and warm amusement. The world in which the film is set is well thought out and seems to make complete sense - much in the way that Toy Story seemed to, despite being so fantastical.
The one thing that keeps the film from the lofty heights of Pixar magnificence is the lack of emotional depth that made Finding Nemo, Wall-E and Monster's Inc. so appealing. There are a couple of moments towards the end that will gently pluck on your heart-strings, but the "bring-grown-men-to-tears", scriptless power of Up is not quite there. Nonetheless, this is still an extremely smart and well-crafted film, which offers adults perhaps even more stimulation than it does children (hooray!).
Putting Wreck-it Ralph to one side for a moment, one reason over all others to see this movie is the delightful five minute overture that precedes it - Paperman, winner of the Academy Award for best Animated Short. It is an elegant, wordless, pleasured sigh for love, fate and the traditional drawing that made Disney famous. If Wreck-It Ralph is missing emotion, you will find all you need and more in Paperman. It may only be 7 minutes long, but it is very nearly worth the price of the ticket on its own.
So go - see an Oscar winning film and a fun movie afterwards. Take kids if you've got them, and if not, it is good enough that no excuses are needed to go it alone.
Putting Wreck-it Ralph to one side for a moment, one reason over all others to see this movie is the delightful five minute overture that precedes it - Paperman, winner of the Academy Award for best Animated Short. It is an elegant, wordless, pleasured sigh for love, fate and the traditional drawing that made Disney famous. If Wreck-It Ralph is missing emotion, you will find all you need and more in Paperman. It may only be 7 minutes long, but it is very nearly worth the price of the ticket on its own.
So go - see an Oscar winning film and a fun movie afterwards. Take kids if you've got them, and if not, it is good enough that no excuses are needed to go it alone.
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