Review of Wreck-It Ralph (2012) by Jack F — 11 Oct 2013

The relationship between movies and video games has always been rather tenuous. With few exceptions ("Hitman" and "Prince of Persia" come to mind), most movies based on video games are pretty lousy. Now video games based on movies have fared a bit better, but there are still more than a few clunkers in that group. Considering this, it wouldn't be shocking to approach "Wreck-It Ralph" with a bit of hesitation. Happily, I can report that this film is a delight. It's not based on an existing video game, and its main players are all original characters...characters who know they're video game characters.

You see, the story's premise is that, during the day, the playable characters in video arcade games are just that: playable characters. A gamer puts in a few coins and the character does whatever the gamer makes him/her do. But after hours, when the arcade has closed, we learn that the characters are actually alive, and performing in the game is like their everyday job. Once the day is over, they can actually visit other arcade consoles and hang out and converse with other characters. It's an interesting new take on the movie/video game subgenre, and there're echoes of the "Toy Story" formula here.

Wreck-It Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is one such character, and he happens to be the villain in his game. With his massive girth, wildly unkempt hair, and abnormally sized hands, he certainly looks the part. His role is to destroy an apartment building, while the gamer-controlled hero of the game, Fix-It Felix, Jr. (voiced by Jack McBrayer) attempts to clean up after him. The ultimate goal of the game, should the gamer make it that far, is to repair all of Ralph's damage and then toss him off the roof of the building. Things have been going on this way for 30 years, and the game is still a popular attraction in the arcade. However, as it turns out, Ralph is not exactly content with the status quo. Sure, he's admittedly very good at destruction, but his role as "the bad guy" has really kind of made him an outcast in his game.

When we're first introduced to Ralph, he's at a sort of "Bad Guys Anonymous" support group meeting. (Other attendees include Bowser from the Super Mario franchise, Clyde the ghost from Pac-Man, and Dr. Eggman Robotnik, from the Sonic the Hedgehog series.) While opening up to his fellow villains, he confesses that he'd like to see how it feels to be a hero. Despite their advice to just let it go--their creed includes the lines, "I'm bad, and that's good...I will never be good, and that's not bad..."--Ralph sets out to see if he could succeed as a good guy. In doing so, he meets another gaming misfit: Vanellope (voiced by Sarah Silverman), a wannabe speed racer who just wants to be accepted in her own racing game (called "Sugar Rush"), despite her tendency to "glitch up." The two eventually realize that, in order to help themselves, they need to help each other.

There've been other movies in the past that asked audiences to root for the bad guy, but few have a main character as sympathetic as this one. Ralph is really only a "bad guy" as a job; it's hard not to feel sorry for the big lug. He's really not that far-removed from Shrek, Mike Myers' overly gruff ogre who secretly possessed a heart of gold. Above all, Ralph just wants to feel liked and appreciated, and who can't relate to that? But in his quest to find a heroic medal, he finds something even more valuable: a friend.

The "learning to accept who you are" trope is common in animated fare such as this, but the movie's unique characters and setting make up for that. Additionally, there are a lot of clever winks and in-jokes to the older audience members, like references to games ranging from "Tapper" to "Metal Gear Solid." Even the characters themselves are quite similar to popular gaming icons. Fix-It Felix is an obvious stand-in for Mario, while Ralph has more than a few similarities with Donkey Kong (the old school version, that is). And then there's the tough-as-nails Calhoun (voiced by Jane Lynch), whose game "Hero's Duty" seems to be kind of a hybrid of numerous first-person shooters, like "Halo," "Doom," and "Call of Duty.".

The voice-work is also superb. Reilly is perfectly cast as Ralph, striking a comfortable balance between sweet and amiable sad-sack and darkly aggressive "bad guy." And Silverman is just as good, creating one of those characters that you think is going to be irritating and ends up being downright lovable. I hear that actual video game consoles of "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Sugar Rush" have been created due to the movie's success, and that's not surprising. These characters are just too appealing to be confined to a one-off film.

"Wreck-It Ralph" is by no means a great movie. It doesn't transcend the boundaries of the animated genre the way the best of the Pixar films do. But it's vibrant and colorful and more than a little fun. Unlike many films that are actually based on video games, it has respect for the gaming medium and appreciates it as an art form of its own. As something of a gamer myself, it gives me hope that this could be ushering in a new era of good video-game-movies.

"I'm bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that' s not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me.".