Sometimes an idea comes along that is so obvious and yet so brilliant that you can only bow and take your hat off to whoever came up with it. I can therefore only hope that whoever had the idea “what if we did something like Toy Story with video game characters?” is currently enjoying a nice fizzy drink on a private island somewhere.
Really, the premise alone might have been enough to carry Wreck-It Ralph, at least for game-fans: the video-game characters of an arcade have lives outside their games and can visit each other’s games after hours. They arrive at the ‘Game Central Station’ (a power-strip), where their checked-over by a surge protector and the graffiti on the walls says things like “Aerith lives.” If the movie was nothing but video-game characters hanging out and getting drinks at Tapper, it still probably would’ve been worth seeing.
But there is a plot, and a good one at that: Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain of a classic 80s-era arcade game called Fix-It Felix Jr. Every day he dutifully wrecks the apartment building that the egg-shaped Nicelanders inhabit, allowing the hero, Fix-It Felix (Jack McBayer) to fix it and, eventually, vanquish Ralph by throwing him off the roof.
After 30 years of this, Ralph is bored and depressed. Every day he has to watch as Felix gets all the glory, the pies, and the medals all for defeating him, Ralph, who never gets any praise or appreciation or pies. “It sure must be nice being the good guy,” he sighs to the ‘Bad-Annon’ support group for villains.
Ralph’s jealously and depression comes to a head at the game’s 30th Anniversary Party, which he isn’t invited to. He talks Felix into letting him in, but soon loses his temper at the Nicelanders and storms out. Drowning his sorrows at Tapper (the bartending game), he runs into a soldier from the arcade’s new first-person shooter, Hero’s Duty. Seeing this as his chance to play the good-guy for once, he steals the guy’s armor and sneaks into the other game, which is headed by the formidable Sgt. Calhoun (Jane Lynch).
Through a series of unexpected events, Ralph ends up more-or-less stuck in a candy-themed racing game called Sugar Rush, where he eventually befriends a ‘glitch’ (a character who was never fully integrated into the game) named Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), whom he reluctantly ends up helping to become a playable character.
Meanwhile, with Ralph a no-show, Fix-It Felix Jr. has been marked ‘out-of-order’ and scheduled to be unplugged. In response, Felix teams up with Calhoun (who thinks Ralph may have unleashed a dangerous game-play element from Hero’s Duty into the arcade at large) to try to find Ralph and bring him home.
The first thing that becomes clear about this movie is that the makers loved video games. There are so many little details, so many clever conceits that trying to list them all would easily outweigh the film’s actual script. Consider the “Bad-Annon” meeting: every single character, apart from Ralph, is from an actual game: there’s Bowser, Dr. Robotnik (from the Sonic games), Zangief and M. Bison (from Street Fighter), Kano and Smoke (from Mortal-Kombat: Kano even performs his famous ‘finisher’ move on one of the other characters!), a Zombie from Hosue of the Dead, a bunch of others I didn't recognize (though I'm sure Wikipedia will be able to identify them soon), and the whole meeting is overseen by Clyde, the orange ghost from Pac-Man (indeed, the whole meeting turns out to be set in a Pac-Man map). Later Sonic and Pac-Man have cameos, as do Frogger, Dig-Dug, the aforementioned Tapper, and Q-Bert (who, together with his supporting cast, is out-of-work due to his game being unplugged: Ralph kind-heartedly gives them a cherry “fresh from Pac-Man”).
Beyond cameos, though, there are also brilliant conceits such as the different ways the film incorporates the game-screen. In Ralph’s game, it hangs in the sky like an enormous sun. In Hero’s Duty, it’s attached to a small robot equipped with a rifle (which turns out to have a personality of its own). I also love the creativity that went into the world of Sugar Rush, which is like something from Willy Wonka’s subconscious: towering candy-cane forests, chocolate rivers, a volcano made out of coke and menthols, and hundreds upon hundreds of sugary subjects ruled over by King Candy (Alan Tudyk).
But though the visuals are often striking and the video game world spot-on, it’s the story and the characters that make this film what it is. In particular, the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope serves as the emotional heart of the movie. The way these two misfits come to trust and rely on each other is both touching and believable, with many heartwarming (and heartbreaking) moments along the way. It’s these two that give the movie its soul.
Ralph and Vanellope are the most important relationship, but they’re not the only one. There’s also Ralph’s sweet friendship/brotherhood with Felix, his heroic counterpart and pretty much the only character from his own game to treat him with any kind of decency. Felix in general is a delightful character: so sweet and innocent, and yet so earnest and, yes, heroic that you just can’t help loving the little guy.
Felix and Calhoun also develop a charmingly unexpected relationship, where the unassumingly genuine old-school hero disarms the tough, cynical FPS heroine. They don’t have as many scenes together as I might like, but their relationship is delightful and ultimately pays off in a big way.
The writing is sharp, witty, and intelligent. Video game jokes abound, of course (When the surge protector asks Ralph’s name, he sarcastically answers “Lara Croft”), but there are also some clever references to classic film and even a few satirical jabs at things like customs inspectors and 12-stepping groups. And I must admit, the film surprised me a few times. There were a few twists and turns that I genuinely did not see coming. In particular, a major plot point is set up mid-way through, but is integrated so well that when it pays off it’s genuinely surprising (all the more so because the way it’s established implies that what ultimately happens couldn’t happen). On the other hand, a climactic gambit is telegraphed pretty early on, though the way it plays out is unexpected and satisfying.
The cast is absolutely spot-on: John C. Reilly projects the perfect blend of weariness, self-pity, and good-heartedness as Ralph. His deep, loud voice is equally adept at being villainous and heroic, making him ideal for the villain-hero. Sarah Silverman brings all her trademark energy and craziness to Vanellope, but also does great in the more emotional scenes (her emotionally-charged scenes are often truly heartbreaking and probably the best acting in the film). Jack McBrayer, of course, can do the wide-eyed innocent better than anyone, and Jane Lynch has one of toughest female voices in modern Hollywood, and I enjoyed the nuance with which they played their respective characters.
I was a little worried at first that Alan Tudyk’s King Candy might turn out to be simply a camp stereotype, but all such fears were soon dismissed as I got swept up in his exuberant, scene-stealing performance (he’s like a cross between Cesar Romero’s Joker, Roald Dahl’s Willy Wonka, and…I don’t know, a sugar-addicted schizophrenic or something). I also have to give shout outs to Kevin Deters as the very gentle and patient Clyde and director Rich Moore as the diminutive, aptly-named Sour Bill: King Candy’s joyless, monotone minion.
The animation is simply gorgeous. There’s the worlds of Fix-It Felix Jr. and other games: perfectly rendered in 8-bit from the outside, smoother but still cartoonish on the inside. There’s the dark, gritty FPS world of Hero’s Duty, the huge, brightly-lit Game-Central Station with its hundreds and hundreds of characters milling around (including dozens of real game characters). And, most of all, the candy-coated Sugar Rush with its perfectly rendered sugar, chocolate, and incredible attention to detail (look closely at Vanellope’s hoodie: the strings are made of liquorish).
One thing I was surprised at was that this movie tackles some very interesting and comparatively rare themes: things like the need for adversity and sacrifice on the path to being a hero, the ill-advisedness of trying to take short-cuts (appropriately for a film about games, the movie posits dire consequences for people who try to ‘cheat’), or even the need to sometimes humbly accept unpleasant circumstances and the dangers of trying to force our way out of them. I can’t really adequately explore the film’s take on these issues without spoilers (I might do so in a later post, once I’ve had the chance to see it again), but suffice to say that Ralph’s attempts to snatch at the results of something without the necessary effort comes back to bite him hard, and that both Ralph and another character court disaster by their inability to accept their circumstances.
There is also the rather tired theme of ‘don’t bully people who are different’ (I am getting really sick of the ‘outcast-bullied-by-narrow-minded-locals’ scenario), though it’s tempered by the fact that Ralph’s reaction to his mistreatment ends up being much worse for everyone than the mistreatment itself, as well as the implication that it was, at least partially, due more to a lack of awareness than out-right cruelty or snobbishness (likewise, the treatment that Vanellope suffers turns out to have something far more twisted than mere snobbery behind it…).
Then there’re the sly commentaries on the nature of the gaming world, with things like Q-Bert being out of work, the tragedy of unfinished characters and levels (as well as the pride players have in discovering them), the way unplanned elements often spark unexpected reactions from the audience, and, of course, the changing nature of the game world itself with slick, graphically-powerful First-Person Shooters superseding the more light-hearted, simplistic platformers (like Q-Bert). The nature of the threat Ralph inadvertently unleashes serves as a rather wry (and alarming) symbol of the way shooters have effectively taken over the gaming world, overwhelming the more innocent games and all-too-often giving the medium a dark, monotonous feeling.
Of course, there’s nothing inherently wrong with FPS’s, and the film doesn’t pretend it (Calhoun is one of the main heroes), but there’s definitely an expressed preference and fondness for the more old-school, good-hearted games embodied by Ralph and Felix. At the very least, the filmmakers seem to be making a plea for more balance and appreciation for the classic games.
Video games are often a controversial subject. Those who don’t play them, or who play them casually tend to dismiss them as time-wasters; pointless exercises that kill the imagination and ruin health. Gamers, however, know that they can just as easily be lovable, moving, and soul-filled pieces of entertainment – and yes, even art. The medium is in its infancy, and can indeed by misused or abused into a kind of drug, but when you find the good ones, when you use them correctly, they can be windows into marvelous worlds with beautiful stories and beloved characters. Certain games, like certain books or certain films, seem to have ‘souls:’ gamers find themselves drawn to specific games and characters, whom they come to love and appreciate for their own sake; characters like Mario or Sonic aren’t beloved just because their games are good (Sonic hasn’t had a good game in years): they resonate with people beyond the question of game-play. Wreck-It Ralph is, in some ways, an attempt to demonstrate or celebrate this love and this ‘soulful quality’ that players find in certain games. For those who can’t see the appeal of video games, this movie provides a window into why people love them.
While I think this is one of the best films of the year, it is not without its flaws. In particular, the very problem that incites the plot, Ralph’s relationship with the Nicelanders, never gets a satisfactory payoff. There’s an allusion to a rapprochement and understanding, but there’s never a moment where either Ralph or the Nicelanders actually make amends or ask forgiveness for their actions.
Another issue for me was the fact that, having built this incredible universe of multiple worlds and inventive conceits the film more-or-less confines itself to Sugar Rush for at least half its screen-time. I don’t begrudge the time we spent there, and it could be argued that the movie might otherwise have degenerated into a mere series of references and in-jokes, but it still a little disappointing.
On the other hand, the movie never loses sight of the fact that these are video-game characters, and it keeps throwing clever game ‘tropes’ at us right up until the end (where, yes, we do get what is basically a classic ‘boss battle’).
I went into Wreck-It Ralph with high expectations, and I’m pleased to say it pretty much met all of them. It’s hilarious, heartfelt, witty, intelligent, and the most fun I’ve had at the movies since at least The Avengers. Here was a world I was genuinely sorry to leave, characters I wanted to see again...in short, it is one of those rare films that left me wanting more. One of the best movies of the year.
Final Rating: 4.5/5. For video game fans, a must see. For everyone else, its humor, heart, and gorgeous animation make it highly recommended.
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