Review of Wreck-It Ralph (2012) by Stevenf — 17 Apr 2013

Fear not, there's enough pop culture references and nostalgic homages to go around, for Wreck-It Ralph is a true bow to a culture and time that only now seems to live on in the arcade.

Ralph (John C. Reilly) is fed up of being the villain in the Fix-It Felix game, he has no friends, lives in a dump (literally) and longs of being accepted in the wide world of his video game counterparts. As he makes it his point to get a medal and be accepted, we are introduced to childhood heroes reborn, everyone from the Pac-Man universe to Street Fighter and even a little Metal Gear Solid reference.

There is a whole protocol within each game machine that when the arcade closes, they are free to explore each machine, and the film references on countless occasions just how limited technology was in these games, pixels fill the movement of various characters, showing the comparison between then and now (look at that High Definition, your face; its amazing).

The film attempts to of course paint the sort of Toy Story picture of what do toys do when nobody is around, they live their lives, all the villains of all the games meet up at Pac Mans machine, where Blinky holds a support group for the villains, and this is truly one of the funniest parts of the film.

The story does see Ralph trying his best to get a medal, but unfortunately creates an event which could destroy his own gaming machine for good, as he stumbles into the candy world which unfortunately has the cutest and most loveable glitch in small girl Vanellope, who just wants to race her sweet kart (it is literally made up of sweets). But Ralph must be careful because as Sonic says, if you die in another game, you cannot regenerate, ever.

In regards to visuals, Wreck-It Ralph manages to achieve both the 2-D and 3-D universe seamlessly, which brings past characters to life while also bearing the resemblance of how we remember them.

The story has the perfect voice cast with Reilly joined by Sarah Silverman and Jane Lynch,.

Its the visual gags that really make this film funny, taking cues from Pixar, and this very well could be mistaken for a Pixar film, but Disney have managed to make kids and adults happy alike whether the characters are running through the high-def world of Hero's Duty or indeed the Pac-Man word, Wreck-It Ralph is a wonderfully funny and well written piece that will amuse everyone.