Wreck-It Ralph

"My name is Ralph and I'm a bad guy."

Rating: ★★★★

Perhaps the most unrealistic detail about Disney's Wreck-It Ralph is that it shows arcades as places that are buzzing with activity from tykes with quarters ready to be used as turns in a video game. Arcades are not a dying breed, but a dead breed, and the only ones that exist now exist in a niche marketing for only the collector and the nostalgic types.

However, I'm more than pleased with Disney's decision to introduce a younger generation to the wonders of video games mounted inside a large case, that accept quarters and in return deliver memorable action and invaluable fun. Wreck-It Ralph is among one of the brightest, most fun animated pictures I've ever seen, with look and intelligence seemingly coming from the five-letter animation studio that should remain unnamed (their main director has an "executive producer" credit here). Gift-wrapped in warm nostalgic vibes and beautiful whimsy, this is a picture that the kids can enjoy and the parents can enjoy, perhaps even more than their little ones. I, for one, can say I enjoyed this more than many of the rambunctious five-year-olds in my theater.

The film opens with our main character Ralph (voiced fittingly by John C. Reilly) narrating his life-story, as he spends his days inside an arcade game called Fix-It Felix, Jr. as the game's main villain. His full name, "Wreck-It Ralph," defines his job; he is responsible for demolishing a highrise building so that "Fix-It Felix, Jr." (controlled by a person in the arcade) can rebuild it quickly using his magic hammer. If the player completes the challenge, amidst while Ralph is throwing things at Felix in the process, they will then see the people who live in the highrise toss Ralph off the roof in glee. Rinse and repeat.

This has been Ralph's daily routine since his first day in Litwak's Arcade. He states that he has seen many arcade machines come and go, but his old-fashioned game has gone on to be timeless along with other gems like Pac-Man. We realize that Ralph is stating his remorse and complaints to a group of other video games villains who are bad guys but "not bad guys." Get it? To see Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, Clyde, the orange ghost from Pac-Man, and other villains from beloved games gather in one room, reiterating their problems like a band of depressed AA members is touching and one of the many wonderful things about one of Disney's best films.

When Ralph is not invited to the thirtieth anniversary of Fix-It Felix, Jr., he decides that is the last straw, and announces to his fellow game-members that he will abandon his duty as villain for the game to pursue other games where he will be more appreciated and, hopefully, earn a medal to show his skills and capabilities. He winds up winning a medal in a first-person shooter game called Hero's Duty, yet becomes lost in a kiddy racing game called Sugar Rush and loses his medal to a little girl named Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman).

Vanellope is a glitched character, meaning she often has electronic ticks that render her as incomplete (glitches in real games usually result from a programming error). Her dream is to race with the other girls in Sugar Rush, only she is ostracized to being nothing more than a meaningless glitch. It dawns on Ralph that the only way he'll be able to get a medal is to help Vanellope win the next race and prepares her by getting her a go-kart, teaching her how to drive, and just being her faithful companion.

Meanwhile, Fix-It Felix, Jr. (Jack McBrayer) worries about the fate of his arcade game, which occupies the dreaded "Out of Order" sign on the screen since Ralph's departure, and teams up with Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun (Jane Lynch), the lead character in Hero's Duty, to find Ralph and save their arcade game.

I personally believe that if you walk into Wreck-It Ralph with a mind wide open to difference and originality that you will be greatly rewarded. Whether or not you've been into video games since back in the Atari 2600 days, or are a modernist with your Xbox 360 and your Playstation 3 housing most of your favorite games, there's some truly beautiful and compelling work to be found here. However, if you're not on-par with knowledge surrounding old video games and arcade classics, there's nuanced material that may go over your head.

What's wonderful is seeing this film come equipped with its limitless, never-ending supply of energy that many children's films tend to lack. With many different characters, personalities, and arcade worlds to explore, writers Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnston never run out of material, and the dozens of animators behind this picture never seem to run out of ideas on how to bring these worlds to life. I also adore the way the Toy Story model is erected here, where things normally controlled by humans, take on a life of their own, with real problems, complications, and mischief when they are left to fend for themselves. Seeing these characters interact with each other, behind the monitors and machines in "Game Central Station" is nothing shy of ingenious and marvelously entertaining.

This is a film where colors, craft, characters, vision, creativity, worlds, look, voice-acting, etc shine over cartoon idiocy and redundant childishness. Wreck-It Ralph is one of Disney's strongest works in the company's history and quite possibly the closest any animation studio has come to approaching or one-upping that same five-letter studio I referred to earlier. It takes a simple, effective moral and places it as the backdrop to a story that is emotionally involved, superbly in touch, visually stunning, and fearlessly alive.

NOTE: As expected, the film begins with a seven minute short, titled Paperman, about a man who is immediately taken with a woman he meets for seconds while awaiting the arrival of the morning train, and how he spends his workday trying to get her attention. Without giving anything away, just like the film that succeeds it, it is one of the best, most enjoyable shorts in years. Four stars.

Voiced by: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch. Directed by: Rich Moore.