I'm pretty sure it's not exactly a secret here, but I am quite the gamer. Gaming has always been a passion of mine, and I in fact, want to be a game developer in the future. I love games, I love Sony, I love Nintendo, and I love Microsoft. So imagine how I reacted to the first trailer for Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, a movie that appeared to be a love letter to the gaming crowd. Needless to say, I was pumped. So now, Wreck-It Ralph is out in theaters. It's certainly filled to the brim with gaming related material, but is there a good movie at its core? I've seen it, and here's my review.
Keep in mind that this is MY review. Your opinion may very well differ from mine.
Story
The movie follows Wreck-It Ralph, the antagonist of the game Fix-It Felix Jr., a Donkey Kong style arcade game. Through every game session, the player controls Felix, fixes Ralph's wave of destruction, and Felix is the hero. There's only one problem: Ralph is actually a pretty good person, and hates being treated like the villain all the time. So Ralph decides to go game jumping, hopping from one game world to another, to earn a Hero Medal in order to gain the respect from his peers that he desires so badly. This, however, ends up creating a mess that will not only threaten Ralph's game, but every game in his arcade.
Now, for anyone who is an avid gamer, this will make you start to fanboy / fangirl. Probably multiple times. There are so many characters from so many games, and plenty more references, in not just gaming, but movies and general media as well. Disney really did their homework with this movie, and it shows. There were so many references I picked up and had me laughing hard, especially one particular scene that genuinely caught me off guard in a "how did they get away with that" moment (*cough*Kano*cough*). Any future video game movie adaptations, take notes from Disney. They know what gamers like.
Now as for the story itself, it's a pretty standard Disney animated plot without a ton of surprises thrown in. While the idea of a video game character that doesn't want to be bad and starts traveling across games is CERTAINLY not something I've seen before, at its core, you'll probably know what you're getting in terms of plot structure. But that being said, the amount of passion and work that was put into this movie is clear, and those subtle jokes and references that some might miss really brightened my experience. And the characters are actually pretty strong. Ralph is, despite being a villain, a really nice guy, and you don't like seeing him feeling low. And the movie's other main lead, Vanellope of the Mario Kart style racing game Sugar Rush, is a character that, while annoying at first, really grows on you and you find yourself really caring about.
Acting
Now whether a celebrity is playing a voice over character or it's someone obscure, I really don't care. What matters to me is that they actually do a good job, because like a bad performance, a bad voice acting job can kill a movie. Well luckily, the acting is solid all around. John C. Reilly (a.k.a that other guy in Step Brothers) does a good job as the lead role, carrying most of the movie on his shoulders, and Sarah Silverman brings a lot of life to the character Vanellope. The rest of the cast does a good job, but I'd say the stand out role is Jane Lynch as hardened military commando Calhoun in the Halo / Alien style shooter Hero's Duty. Jane Lynch is a terrific actress, and with this movie, proves she is a terrific voice actress as well.
Presentation
Disney truly nailed the style of this movie. The standard, Pixar-like animation is bright, colourful, smooth, and is really well done, but where the movie really shines is in its game style as well. Some characters act like old style arcade characters, performing flat-out 90 degree turns and hopping without any jump animations. Sometimes when a character gets hit by something, they will perform a death animation and respawn a second later. Things like these really add to the movie, and add to the sense that Disney really did their homework. The soundtrack is nothing outstanding, but it certainly does its job, so no complaints there.
Verdict
So in the end, I thought that Wreck-It Ralph was:
Great!!
It has some great animation to back it up, characters you care about, the voice acting is solid, and it truly is a love letter to gamers and the gaming community in every way, and excels at that in a way I've never seen before. However, at its core, the movie doesn't really hold any surprises in terms of the plot, and for anyone who isn't a gamer, a lot of the references might fly over your head and weaken the experience. However, speaking as a passionate fan of gaming, this was a great movie that I recommend to anyone if you've ever enjoyed games at some point in your life. It's not just a great movie, but it's a love letter to anyone who has ever picked up a controller and taken control of their favourite video game characters.
So, have you seen Wreck-It Ralph? What did you think? Was I too harsh or too lenient? Did I miss anything? Let me know.
I'm pretty sure it's not exactly a secret here, but I am quite the gamer. Gaming has always been a passion of mine, and I in fact, want to be a game developer in the future. I love games, I love Sony, I love Nintendo, and I love Microsoft. So imagine how I reacted to the first trailer for Disney's Wreck-It Ralph, a movie that appeared to be a love letter to the gaming crowd. Needless to say, I was pumped. So now, Wreck-It Ralph is out in theaters. It's certainly filled to the brim with gaming related material, but is there a good movie at its core? I've seen it, and here's my review.
Keep in mind that this is MY review. Your opinion may very well differ from mine.
Story
The movie follows Wreck-It Ralph, the antagonist of the game Fix-It Felix Jr., a Donkey Kong style arcade game. Through every game session, the player controls Felix, fixes Ralph's wave of destruction, and Felix is the hero. There's only one problem: Ralph is actually a pretty good person, and hates being treated like the villain all the time. So Ralph decides to go game jumping, hopping from one game world to another, to earn a Hero Medal in order to gain the respect from his peers that he desires so badly. This, however, ends up creating a mess that will not only threaten Ralph's game, but every game in his arcade.
Now, for anyone who is an avid gamer, this will make you start to fanboy / fangirl. Probably multiple times. There are so many characters from so many games, and plenty more references, in not just gaming, but movies and general media as well. Disney really did their homework with this movie, and it shows. There were so many references I picked up and had me laughing hard, especially one particular scene that genuinely caught me off guard in a "how did they get away with that" moment (*cough*Kano*cough*). Any future video game movie adaptations, take notes from Disney. They know what gamers like.
Now as for the story itself, it's a pretty standard Disney animated plot without a ton of surprises thrown in. While the idea of a video game character that doesn't want to be bad and starts traveling across games is CERTAINLY not something I've seen before, at its core, you'll probably know what you're getting in terms of plot structure. But that being said, the amount of passion and work that was put into this movie is clear, and those subtle jokes and references that some might miss really brightened my experience. And the characters are actually pretty strong. Ralph is, despite being a villain, a really nice guy, and you don't like seeing him feeling low. And the movie's other main lead, Vanellope of the Mario Kart style racing game Sugar Rush, is a character that, while annoying at first, really grows on you and you find yourself really caring about.
Acting
Now whether a celebrity is playing a voice over character or it's someone obscure, I really don't care. What matters to me is that they actually do a good job, because like a bad performance, a bad voice acting job can kill a movie. Well luckily, the acting is solid all around. John C. Reilly (a.k.a that other guy in Step Brothers) does a good job as the lead role, carrying most of the movie on his shoulders, and Sarah Silverman brings a lot of life to the character Vanellope. The rest of the cast does a good job, but I'd say the stand out role is Jane Lynch as hardened military commando Calhoun in the Halo / Alien style shooter Hero's Duty. Jane Lynch is a terrific actress, and with this movie, proves she is a terrific voice actress as well.
Presentation
Disney truly nailed the style of this movie. The standard, Pixar-like animation is bright, colourful, smooth, and is really well done, but where the movie really shines is in its game style as well. Some characters act like old style arcade characters, performing flat-out 90 degree turns and hopping without any jump animations. Sometimes when a character gets hit by something, they will perform a death animation and respawn a second later. Things like these really add to the movie, and add to the sense that Disney really did their homework. The soundtrack is nothing outstanding, but it certainly does its job, so no complaints there.
Verdict
So in the end, I thought that Wreck-It Ralph was:
Great!!
It has some great animation to back it up, characters you care about, the voice acting is solid, and it truly is a love letter to gamers and the gaming community in every way, and excels at that in a way I've never seen before. However, at its core, the movie doesn't really hold any surprises in terms of the plot, and for anyone who isn't a gamer, a lot of the references might fly over your head and weaken the experience. However, speaking as a passionate fan of gaming, this was a great movie that I recommend to anyone if you've ever enjoyed games at some point in your life. It's not just a great movie, but it's a love letter to anyone who has ever picked up a controller and taken control of their favourite video game characters.
So, have you seen Wreck-It Ralph? What did you think? Was I too harsh or too lenient? Did I miss anything? Let me know.
baylaust out.