I'll give Disney one thing: they know how to make a movie (forgetting, of course, Mars Needs Moms). They have probably the best animated writers of any company attempting to make a "family" film. They don't fall into the traps of other studios where one franchise succeeds and ten sequels later it finally fades away (I'm looking at you Shrek and Ice Age). They work well because they know the definition of family. It doesn't mean overt obvious fart jokes to get infants to giggle for a few seconds and then finish with an obscure ending inevitably leading towards more film opportunities. They can tell a great story and finish with dignity. I say this now but in two years when Wreck-It Ralph 2 is being released you all two of you readers can laugh in my face.
Ralph, voiced by John C. Reilly, is the villain of the popular arcade game Fix-It Felix. His entire life purpose is to bash up a large building as quickly as possible while the gamer uses Felix to fix the wreckage. At the end of the level, Felix is given a medal and Ralph is thrown off the building and into the mud. After the arcade closes, Ralph solemnly gets up from his mud bath and goes to sleep in the dump under a pile of bricks. Not necessarily the ideal lifestyle. All Ralph wants is to be the hero... to win the medal, just once. So, in an attempt to prove to himself that he's not just a bad guy, he game jumps into another video game and inserts himself into a sugary race track in order to win the coveted medal. There he meets Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) a small child also wrestling with her own personal demons.
It's great because these two seemingly simple-minded, as well as pre-programmed characters have a lot more going on than what appears on the outside. On the outside Ralph is a hulk-like giant who can't help but destroy elements in his path. Vanellope is an obnoxious child who has the same goals and ideals as Ralph-- to win just one race and be accepted by her peers. The two form an unlikely bond in order to help one another achieve greatness. In the hands of a lesser production company this movie could've come and gone to theaters without so much as a consideration. But, because Disney is so apt at telling a magical story, it's one of the better animated movies of the year.
There is plenty in the film for both children and adults. Children get to empathize with the gentle giant and Vanellope as they band together to defeat the forces holding them back. Adults get the enjoyment of that ride as well, but they also get nostalgia from the older arcade references from Pac-Man to even Cubert, two characters children today, I'm sure, aren't even aware of (Do kids even know what an arcade even is?). The jokes also range from immature childish banter, to some clever word play. There's something for everyone.
I also have to give major props to Disney for knowing how to create conflict. My God do they know how to stack together plot elements on top of one another to create moments of conflict after conflict after conflict. Then, when you think everything will work out... they drop another bomb on you to create more conflict and chaos, but every solution to each problem has been pre-thought out and set up all the way to the beginning. This is Disney's strong suit. Animated movies like Hotel Transylvania and Madagasgar 7 have lost this edge. This is why Disney, and more specifically Pixar will always have the monopoly over the great animated movies of the year.
And, let's be honest, Wreck-It Ralph is as close to a Pixar movie as you can get without actually being Pixar. This year's entry, Brave, while still powerful and beautiful filmmaking, felt more along the lines of a Dreamworks film. Pixar is generally a fun and high-spirited set of films. Movies about monsters in closets, talking toys, amnesiac fish, little robots. And Brave strayed a bit from the colorfulness and happy-go-lucky staple they'd abided by for years and went more for the darker more adventurous movie. While this is fine, Wreck-It Ralph had more of a Pixar feel to it. Which is, by no means, a bad thing in the slightest.
The film did, however, fall a bit short of the Pixar standard. The first thirty minutes feel like your typical obnoxious, run of the mill animated movie, but once the reveals begin to unfold, and the characters are explored in depth even more is when the magic truly starts to shine. If you have a kid, or even if you don't, you're not going to find a better animated movie again until next year when Pixar returns to present us with its next animated gem.
B
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