Why should we like a character that has it all and has no struggles? Surely we like people who deserve their fame and good fortune?
Wreck-It Ralph follows the titular Ralph (John C. Reilly) who is disliked by the rest of the people in his game, including Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer), because he is the villain. However, Ralph is only a villain by name, because deep down he wants to be seen as the hero. When the arcade shuts down for the night, all the video game characters get to travel between games through Game Central Station (the multi-plug sockets), in a move which makes Wreck-It Ralph slightly similar to Toy Story (but the similarities end there really). When Ralph leaves his game to earn a medal and prove that he is a hero, he releases a dangerous bug from Calhoun's (Jane Lynch) shoot-em-up game and puts Candy Rush and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) in serious danger. Can Ralph save the day and prove he is a hero? Of course he can...
The major strength of Wreck-It Ralph is that it follows previous successes (such as Toy Story) but still manages to be different enough so it feels like a fresh and new story. While the game characters take their positions in their respective games when the children are present, as soon as the doors to the arcade are locked, that's when they come to life. There is also the moral story behind the film, ready to inspire and educate the young 'uns - in this case, you shouldn't judge people by what they look like. And of course, the bright garish colours - expecially in Candy Rush - that should capture the really young 'un's imagination. For a kids film, it's pretty much all there and paint by the numbers. But, for some reason, it doesn't feel like a bad thing at all.
For the most part, it's all down to the sheer love and affection for video games that you can feel the filmmakers had when making Wreck-It Ralph. The simple game graphics of Wreck-It Ralph (considering it's one of the oldest games in the arcade) compared to the gloriously lavish world in the brand new first-person shooter game where Ralph encounters Sergeant Calhoun. Then there's the simplistic moves that the characters only can do in Ralph's game and then Ralph encountering Vanellope the 'glitch' in Candy Rush. It's all there for game lovers and it's a serious love letter to all arcade aficionados.
The only real major downfall for Wreck-It Ralph is that certain scenes seem to drag, especially when Ralph gets to Candy Rush. The film feels like it gets stuck to a certain extent focussing heavily on the budding relationship between Ralph and Vanellope and almost forgetting about Felix and Calhoun, the impending doom from the bug and the trouble that Ralph left the rest of his own game in (he leaves it with an 'Out of Order' sign and a threat that it will be removed from the arcade. The film almost drains all the tension it has built up and loses any urgency.
However, it's not drastically bad as the characters of Ralph and Vanellope are certainly engaging enough for us to have a fun time watching them and wanting them to succeed. I find Wreck-It Ralph one of the most difficult films that I have had to review so far, because it does well in being a children's film, but not a lot more. It doesn't do a lot for the adults who are going to be dragged along to see it, but it's not too schmaltzy and child-like either.
Let's just leave it at saying that it's a pretty solid effort by Disney...
***½ / *****
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