Review: Wreck-It Ralph

Review: Wreck-It Ralph

Disney has experienced a slightly unstable level of quality over the last few years, with efforts such as Cars 2,  Mars Needs Moms, John Carter and Brave failing to overwhelm the critics. 

That's all about to change.

Not since Toy Story 3 has there been an animation with as much wit, heart and colourful nostalgia as Wreck-It Ralph, the motion picture that will go down in history as the best video-game movie of all time. 

It's not surprising that most have mistaken Wreck-It Ralph for a Pixar effort, as both the computer animation and the storyline are superb. Sure, there are nods aplenty to the likes of Mario, Sonic, Pac-Man and Tomb Raider, but at the heart of the movie is a truly brilliant tale of acceptance and friendship - and a good story makes all the difference.

In the world of Wreck-It Ralph, video-game characters have a life outside their games. When the arcade lights go down and the machines are switched off, every protagonist and antagonist comes to life and heads home, rubbing shoulders with the likes of Bowser, Lara Croft and Zangief on their way to "Game Central", a sort of train station where the characters make their way to and from each game. Ralph's job is as a Donkey Kong-style villain in a decades-old arcade game known as "Fix It, Felix!" in which he attempts to destroy a building while his enemy, charming all-round good guy Felix, repairs the damage. 

The problem is, Ralph is actually a nice guy. After 30 years of being repeatedly humiliated and unloved inside his game, he attends "Bad-Anon", a therapy group for gaming bad guys such as Doctor Eggman and Zangief where the antagonists attempt to make sense of a world where being bad is never rewarded.

It's here where most of the gaming cameos come in; the script is smart and doesn't overdo the references, meaning that kids won't feel completely alienated by the consistent nods to retro games. Claiming that "it sure must be nice to be the good guy," Ralph decides that enough is enough and that he wants to prove to his colleagues that baddies can achieve hero status. Unwittingly threatening the existence of the games, Ralph departs his game and embarks on an adventure to obtain a medal - however, he soon finds that he is way out of his depth as he unleashes a cyber bug into the arcade.

The premise of characters coming alive when people leave has been done before (Toy Story), but even then it has never been done as cleverly as this. For example, when Ralph is at "Bad-Anon" it is revealed that the meeting is actually held inside the inky square within the game Pac-Man; later, as Ralph causes chaos within Game Central and accidentally bashes into Sonic the Hedgehog, golden rings are seen scattered around the floor. It's this sort of commitment to gaming references that ensures Wreck-It Ralph will appeal to adults of a certain age, while kids are sure to love the brilliantly performed colourful characters.

Ralph himself is voiced by John C. Reilly, whose effortless comic timing adds a heartfelt subtlety to our villain-turned-hero; on paper, we shouldn't be routing for him as he goes against all the rules, yet at the same time it's impossible not to keep our fingers crossed that he achieves his goal. Equally, Sarah Silverman is surprisingly decent as Vanellope, a character who befriends Ralph in the Mario-Kart inspired racing game "Sugar Rush." She initially comes on a little too strong, but Vanellope's fantastic story (she is a glitch, meaning she is considered a freak inside her own game) manages to give us someone to route for other than Ralph.

Not to be outdone, Jack McBrayer is fantastic as Felix, while Jane Lynch has some fantastic one-liners as Sergeant Calhoun, a commander inside the game "Hero's Duty." It's in this Halo-meets-Mass Effect shoot-em-up where Ralph realises what a mistake he's made in leaving the comfort of his happy, slow 80's game as (in one of the movie's best lines) he runs around screaming "When did video games become so violent and messy?" 

Cleverly, however, the movie doesn't spend much time making its own social commentary on the matters of video-game violence; at its heart, this is a story about acceptance. Ralph just wants to be appreciated because he feels that, quite rightly, the game would be nothing without him and he deserves as much recognition as Felix. Yet, even with the film's conclusion, the message should hopefully resonate with kids and adults alike as the bad guys at "Bad-Anon" repeatedly remind themselves: "there's nobody I'd rather be than me."

Summary

Wreck-It Ralph is a triumph of both film-making and storytelling. Colourful, exciting, brilliantly animated and excellently performed, the movie is perfect for a nostalgic look back at the past while also providing a fantastic tale of friendship and self-affirmation. With cameos aplenty from those 8-bit characters we all know and love, as well as exciting set pieces and a swift pace, Wreck-It Ralph is the ultimate gamers movie - and one of the best animated films of all time. Press Start.

10/10 - Amazing

See it if you liked: Toy Story 3 (2010), Scott Pilgrim vs. The World (2010), Tron: Legacy (2010)