Film Review: Wreck-It Ralph!

Insert quarters here!

I had been looking forward to this movie since last year's D23 Expo! I remember the presentation and was blown away by what I saw! They only showed a rough pencil sketch segment of the segment where all the video game villans were in a bad guys anonymous meeting called Bad Anon. The humor level plus all of the great cameos from some of the most well-known video game bad guys had me intrigued from the get go! I wanted to scream - Shut Up and Take My Quarters!

But before I get into my review of Wreck-It Ralph, let me review the short in front of it, Paperman! This is another project I have been following. It combines hand drawn animation with computer generated animation in a seamless way. The result is a short full of heart and so endearing that it is my new favorite short. By far the most beautiful looking and heartwarming animated short I have seen from Disney in a long time!

Now onto my review of Wreck-It Ralph! I had been following every step of this movie and got more and more excited as each month passed! Well, today was the day of (w)reckoning! Would Wreck-It Ralph hold up to my level of hype? Not only did it do that but it exceeded all of my expectations!

I was hooked by the idea that video game characters are alive much like the toys in Toy Story. I loved the idea of how Game Central Station is where all the characters went to meet their friends from other games. They did a brilliant job of creating the world! And that's one of the keys to good movie making, having a believable world!

We meet Ralph who has been doing the same job for the last 30 years without one bit of recognition for doing his job everyday. Truly his was a thankless job. Even when they throw a party for Fix-It Felix Jr., no one invites Ralph! Needless to say Ralph isn't too pleased with this.

The party is what sets Ralph off on a quest to become a hero! He believes this will give him the same level of respect and admiration that Felix gets! So, Ralph leaves his game to figure out how to become a hero!

Ralph enters the world of Hero's Duty! He quickly discovers that games have become more violent over the years. The world is infected by Cy-Bugs and as Ralph earns a medal he is launched from Hero's Duty into Sugar Rush Speedway with a Cy-Bug!

The Cy-Bug could lead to the destruction of Sugar Rush Speedway and to the entire arcade! But Ralph thinks that the Cy-Bug is gone and then meets a sarcastic young girl named Vanellope!

Their relationship doesn't start on a good note but as time goes on they develop a big brother-little sister relationship! The two characters are very similar in that they are both outcasts in their own world. As they continue to spend time together they see that they understand what the other is going through.

I don't want to spoil some really great surprises in this movie! You need to go see this one for yourself! From all the great retro video game characters as well as some great gamer gags, to some fun music (especially the fact that the guys that wrote Pac-Man Fever wrote a song for this movie), incredible visuals, but most importantly a lot of heart, makes Wreck-It Ralph my favorite animated movie of the year!

With Tangled, Winnie The Pooh and now Wreck-It Ralph, it does feel that the Third Golden Age of Disney Animation is here!

Review Over!

I'm Gonna Watch It Again!