Wreck-It Ralph – Review
Walt Disney Animation Studio presents its 52nd animated feature, Wreck-It Ralph, the first 3D film from Disney since 2010’s Tangled.
The entire film takes place in a single small-town arcade, but explores the world within the world that exists on the other side of an arcade console’s screen. Ralph is the villain of a classic game called Fix-It Felix, clearly a mixture of several nostalgic 8-bit titles from the 1980’s of the real world. In the game he is evicted from the land where he lives in order for the other characters to erect an apartment building. Furious at being kicked out of his home, Ralph proclaims “I’m gonna wreck it!” at the start of the game and as Felix, the hero, the player must fix the damage and send Ralph crashing from the top of the building to the ground in a very Donkey Kong style fashion.
Video games of the early 80’s had very little storyline to speak of, so producing heartfelt characters from such limited plot is an achievement. Ralph tires of being the bad guy and simply wants recognition (in the form of a medal like Felix earns when a player beats Fix-It Felix). Ralph sets out in search of a coveted medal by leaving his own game via the plug and entering a new game from “Game Central Station,” the surge protector that links all the games of the arcade.
Acquiring the medal itself proves to be a rather easy feat for him, but holding ON to that medal is where things get tricky. After a self-inflicted accident, Ralph ends up in a different game, called Sugar Rush. In this super-sweet world he meets a small girl named Vanellope von Schweetz. She steals his medal in order to enter the daily race to be part of the active roster of Sugar Rush once the arcade opens. As a glitch, Vanellope is forbidden from entering, and the story becomes she and Ralph teaming up to get her a win in the race so that Ralph can get his medal back.
The characters of Wreck-It Ralph prove once again that when it comes to appeal Disney knows exactly what it’s doing. The art ascetic and compositions are brilliantly rendered, bringing 2D pixelized characters into full three dimensions while losing none of the pixel art charm. The animation is spot on, with no noticeable drops except when parodying some video game character’s tendencies to have only a few frames of animation. In those cases it is handled with amusement, though the effect can become a bit overdone especially during more dramatic scenes.
Wreck-It Ralph does a commendable job of making reasonable sense both in terms of the video-game universe and our own real world. Characters can travel to other games, but certain downsides apply. Since they leave with only “part of their code” if they perish in a different game they cannot be resurrected (as explained by Sonic the Hedgehog in a brief video-only cameo). Likewise code governs what they can and cannot do to some degree. For the most part it builds a cohesive world that makes sense.
As far as non-original characters go, the film is a treat for long-time video game fans. You find classic characters like Qbert and Dig-dug, as well as slightly more current cast members like Chun-Li and the most recent design of Sonic. While it feels like the world is indeed populated by our world’s well known characters, it does become a bit strange not to see the biggest names. They mention Mario at one point, but he is no where to be seen. Having a film that brings together video game worlds and not having possibly the single most recognized character in history is a bit like having an animation-based universe and leaving out Mickey Mouse. (While he didn’t play a big role in Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for example, he was still there.) It’s a bit disappointing that Disney didn’t shell out the cash to get Mario and Luigi or a few other major characters for cameos.
All in all Wreck-It Ralph is a complete experience than will please fans of all ages, and particularly those who also claim video games as a hobby. For anyone who hasn’t every picked up a game pad, though, there’s still plenty of heart and development to keep you watching.
Wreck-It Ralph debuts in the UK February of 2013, which is still a ways off but you won’t want to miss it when it hits theatres.