Wreck it Ralph – PG

Running Time: 101 min

Director: Rich Moore

Lead Voice Actors: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch

Wreck it Ralph is probably the only movie I’ve ever seen which can pull off the incredible amount of pop culture references it contains. Incredibly, the movie is right on track as its cameos increase. Wreck it Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly), a husky monster of a man, plays the antagonist in their little “play” of a video game. The only problem he has is the characters in his society treat him the same outside of the game as they do inside it. Rejected and shamed, Ralph leaves his little world to find the one thing that will earn him his place in his society; a hero’s medal. As he struggles for his medal, he learns what really makes someone a hero.

First and foremost, the short shown at the beginning of the film was, in a word, precious. Named Paperman, this new comedic-romantic short was refreshing to the ear and the eye. The hand drawn animation was a journey to the roots, if you will, as no computer animation is ever quite the same as the stroke of a living animator.

As cheesy as the plot line sounds, Wreck it Ralph turned out to be a very satisfying ride for the audience. It held no plot holes and no unnecessary drama; everything that happened had a reasonable cause and there were no unreasonable, unrealistic behaviors from any of the characters. It was, in fact, a surprise ending for my family and I; we only realized the real twist of the movie a few moments before it was revealed.

The greatest jewel of the movie, however, was most definitely the graphics. As the characters moved from world to world, the medium completely changed. There was also a noticeable difference between how each of the characters moved when not watching them from behind the screen of the video game; while joining them in their own worlds. I noticed that the characters, mainly in the old fashioned games, which were robotic in their own behaviors and perhaps “a bit too good” were jerky in their movements. Ralph was practically the only one from his society which moved fluently like a real person. I only noticed it being used as a literary device when Fix it Felix (voiced by Jack McBrayer) slowly began to move like Wreck it Ralph when he got frustrated or euphoric. Perhaps this is trying to say something about what real people are like… then again, perhaps I saw too much in nothing.

Despite the fact that I was bedazzled by the movie, I left feeling content to never see the movie again. The feeling I got when leaving the theatre is, for lack of a better word, unexplainable. Perhaps it can be more easily explained in video game terms; there are many games which are extremely fun to play through once, yet their “replayability” is very poor. Long story short: I loved the movie, yet have no desire to watch it again. Use that information as you please.

Wreck it Ralph was a movie of many faces, that of both silliness and seriousness. It managed to teach lessons about community, family, finding our place in the world and coming to terms with who we are, all while giving a beautifully simple story and imaginative universe.