I’m bad…. and that’s good.
Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 animated Disney film taking place within the world of arcade games; that is, literally inside the games. Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the antagonist of the arcade game Fix-It Felix, Jr., and after 30 years he’s grown disillusioned with being the bad guy. He wants to be the hero. He wants some pie. Traveling between videogames, he’s trying to become a hero; as per his name though, he wrecks his chance and brings trouble to a sweet arcade racing game where he encounters Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman). She’s a glitch trying to make it as a racer. It’s up to Ralph not only to help Vanellope make it, but save the entire arcade from a threat he unknowingly created.
Mattie: This movies succeeds in a lot of ways. I had fun watching it, the voice acting is good, lots of little gaming references (in the beginning at least). But at the end of the movie, I feel like it could have been more. The movie is solid, but when you have such a limitless world at your disposal, it should to be used! There are no rules like in live action films or even other animated films.
The world created for this film is such a great idea but it’s never really fleshed out. We see a decent amount of the games themselves, especially Sugar Rush — I felt like the entire second half of the movie took place just in that world, which disappointed me a little — but it’s the places in between that could be the most interesting. There’s a lot of untapped potential for Game Central Station, the hub that connects all the games together.
Aside from this, I felt some of the subplots were introduced or carried out a little awkwardly. The main storyline revolves around an interesting idea, a bad guy wanting to be good, and it’s well-written if a little predictable (of course, it’s hard not to be). There are flashes of brilliance, though, like the opening scene in Bad-Anon, the bad guys anonymous support group. All-in-all, the movie is good but not great, and most of the issues stem from under-utilizing the world the movie-makers created. I give it a 6.9 out of 10.
Ok… Now Mikey wants a turn.
Mikey: Wreck-It Ralph is a kid’s movie for the gaming parent. Let’s keep in mind right away that one of the missions of the most successful kid’s movies is to have a great movie for kids that parents also are entertained by. Wreck-It Ralph pulls that off. The story line allows for different types of characters and environments that wouldn’t work in a normal movies style guides. It is very successful.
The voice acting is solid. A negative with using well known actors that don’t change up their voice much is it can take you out of the moment. I found that to be the case a couple of times in the movie. I will say that Sarah Silverman as Vanellope won the movie for me. The perfect voice for that character.
I will say I wish this movie was made for me. The mid 20 guy who will watch CGI without thinking that is has to be for kids. I wanted more nostalgia, more gaming jokes and I also wanted to know more about the video game universe that was created but not fully shown. I guess it isn’t a bad thing to be left wanting more. 7 out of 10 for me.
