Disney's latest animation seems designed to attract the dads as much as the kids in this tale set in the Universe of arcade games such as Mario and Donkey Kong. Overseen by former Pixar boss John Lasseter, Wreck-It Ralph has been obviously influenced by Toy Story and Monsters Inc and is enjoyable enough, if lacking some of the wit or invention of those classics.
Whereas Toy Story gave us toys that had their own lives once the kids left them, Wreck-It Ralph shows us a world where computer characters have their own existence once their arcade shuts. Ralph is the bad guy in the game Fix-It Felix but is bored of being an outcast. While Felix is feted as a hero, Ralph slinks back to his rubbish heap and to meetings of Bad Anon (the neatest gag in the whole movie). When the 30th anniversary celebrations of Fix-it Felix neglect to invite him, Ralph sneaks off into another game to gain a medal of his own, ending up in Halo inspired Hero's Duty, fighting giant space bugs next to the tough but glamorous Calhoun (voiced by Glee's Jane Lynch). From here, Ralph finds himself crash landing in Sugar Rush, a racing game, and meeting quirky racer Vanellope. But an alien bug has arrived with him and risk's destroying the game. With Felix trying to find him, can Ralph help Vanellope, save Sugar Land and come back to his game before it is declared faulty and shut down?
Wreck-It Ralph has much to recommend it, not least some glorious animation. From Ralph's 80s inspired environment with its crudely pixallated buildings and jerky inhabitants to the vistas of candy canes and donut mountains of Sugar Land to the sci-fi trappings of Hero's Duty the film looks wonderful. The voice artists are well chosen too, with John C. Reilly a perfect Ralph with the animation resembling him a little too. Jack McBrayer as Felix and Lynch as Calhoun are also spot on. Sarah Silverman's Vanellope can be a tad on the annoying side, with you wanting to slap the little glitch as much as like her, but she's worn you down by the end. There are some nods to classic games early on, with a Pac Man ghost at Bad Anon and Pac Man himself at a party (his open jaw moment is wonderful) and Q-bert makes a cameo as a past it character without a game, living rough in the shared area of the power plugs. Whenever Felix 'dies', he does the little midair somersault so beloved of Mario before springing back up again. There are also some good lines, espscially Felix trying to escape a dungeon with his golden hammer only to have it fix the bars even more, leading to him crying "why do I have to fix everything I touch?!"
But Wreck-It Ralph is just a little too linear and predictable to reach the heights of Monsters Inc or Toy Story. We've seen this all before, especially the idea of bad guys not being that bad really in a place where characters act bad for a living - basically the plot of Monsters Inc. The traditional Disney moral, in this case Be Yourself is rammed home with all the subtlety of Felix's golden hammer. The characters are also not quite as loveable as your Woody or Nemo or Sully meaning the emotional arcs the characters go through are not as affecting as they should be. Still, it is a visual feast and my two boys absolutely loved it, as did the jam packed cinema screen I saw it in and, at the end of the day, it's made for them, isn't it.
GK Rating: *** The Blog of Delights
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