WRECK IT RALPH
Director : Rich Moore
Year : 2013
Genre : Animation
Rating : ****
Combining 1980's video game nostalgia with eye popping visuals, 'Wreck It Ralph' is the wonderful latest computer animated offering from Walt Disney Studios. Directed by Rich Moore and starring the voice talents of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman and Jane Lynch, 'Wreck It Ralph' is a captivating, touching and exciting movie that is so far, the best animated film of 2013. Over the past few years, the quality of Disney movies has unfortunately slipped with such mediocre fare as 'Brave', 'Cars 2' and 'Tangled', but thankfully Disney retrieves their crown as the true masters of animation and storytelling with this fantastically entertaining visual bonanza. Despite falling into typical conventions and characterisations, 'Wreck It Ralph' really does break the boundaries of standard CGI animation.
Set in an arcade, 'Wreck It Ralph' takes place through multiple games and worlds. The lead character, the eponymous Ralph, is the main antagonist of a game called Fix It Felix in which he punches and destroys a large tower block, during which the games hero Felix works to rebuild it and save it's inhabitants. After the arcade is shut down for the night, the characters come alive and Ralph is still seen as a villain and despised by the people who live in the building. He is forced to sleep in a pile of bricks on the outskirts of the game, but unbeknownst to everyone, he is a friendly character who desperately wants to prove that he is a good person. One night while resting, he notices that a party is taking place in the penthouse of the flats and goes up to investigate. He soon finds out that the celebrations are due to the game celebrating it's 30th anniversary and that the inhabitants have purposely not informed him due to his clumsiness and tendency to destroy everything around him. After a disastrous entrance, he says that he will prove to everyone that he not a bad character and to show this he will win a prized gold medal from another game in the arcade.
Director Rich Moore is best known as a prolific writer for 'The Simpsons' and 'Futurama'. Having a background in animation, he was the perfect choice for helming 'Wreck It Ralph' and he adeptly switches from cel animation to CGI. Amazingly, the ideas for the film had actually arose in the 1980's under the procarious title of 'High Score', but due to reconsiderations and decisions, it would be nearly 30 years before the ideas behind 'High Score' would form 'Wreck It Ralph'. Thankfully, the fantastic advances in technology and the build up of nostalgia for classic arcade games which obviously wouldn't have existed in the 1980's gives the film a childlike joy and fantastic reality that really pushes the enjoyment of 'Wreck It Ralph' above all other recent animations.
John C. Reilly is perfectly cast as the lead character who is both tough but also caring and the dichotomy between the bulky character and Reilly's soothing voice gives Ralph a gravity which is relatable and touching. Sarah Silverman has good fun playing Vanellope, a character who has developed a dreaded glitch which makes her unpopular with her peers. In the past I have found Silverman deeply unfunny and annoying and some elements of her character do come across as forced and uncontrolled. Thankfully however, her character is given an interesting storyline and touching backstory so Silverman is able to give more gravity to her performance rather than the usual characterisations that usually irritate me so much. 'Wreck It Ralph' features a lot of other voice actors and the secondary characters are all voiced well and beautifully animated. 'The 40 Year Old Virgin's Jane Lynch especially stands out and is very funny as a Lara Croft type mercenary.
I cannot profess to have a huge knowledge of video games but due to popular culture, I can recognise many of the characters depicted on screen. From Sonic The Hedgehog to Marios archenemy Bowser, 'Wreck It Ralph' features characters from some of the most popular arcade games of all time. However, for fans of classic Nintendo games, 'Wreck It Ralph' will be especially enjoyable as there many in jokes and references that only hard core fans will understand. The film in this sense really is the 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' for the 21st century and the cameos blend seamlessly into the narrative and plot of the film. However, even for those who have absolutely no interest in videogames should still find 'Wreck It Ralph' a highly enjoyable movie.
While 'Wreck It Ralph' is by far the best animation in recent years, it is not perfect. The biggest problem with the film is the child friendly nature of the film which dilutes the narrative and slows the movie right down. The film begins in a very kinetic way and there is great fun to be had in seeing Ralph switching from one game world to the next, but it slows right down when he enters the colourful world of Candy Rush, a racing game. It is in this world that 'Wreck It Ralph' stays for most of the film and it in during this section of the movie where the characters become much more conventional, the whole plot drive seems to drop a gear or two and the animation, while beautiful, becomes much less interesting. The diverse and multi-coloured palette is replaced with more conventional pastel colouring, child friendly kid characters and lazy pratfall humour. In any other film, this wouldn't be a problem because this how animated films now look these days, but it seemed to me that 'Wreck It Ralph' would be different. Sadly not. This is a shame because the movie starts off with so much promise; breaking the boundaries of animation and showing things we have never seen in a Disney film before.
Despite these problems, 'Wreck It Ralph' is still is a fantastically entertaining film. Nominated for an Academy Award and winning an Annie award for Best Animated film, the movie is a visual banquet that should enthrall children and especially their parents. It's just sad that the film didn't stick to its convictions and finally became so conventional. However, while bored me slightly, it didn't take any of my enjoyment of the film and by the credits, I had a big smile on my face
You will like this if you liked : Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs & Monsters Inc.
John C. Reilly is perfectly cast as the lead character who is both tough but also caring and the dichotomy between the bulky character and Reilly's soothing voice gives Ralph a gravity which is relatable and touching. Sarah Silverman has good fun playing Vanellope, a character who has developed a dreaded glitch which makes her unpopular with her peers. In the past I have found Silverman deeply unfunny and annoying and some elements of her character do come across as forced and uncontrolled. Thankfully however, her character is given an interesting storyline and touching backstory so Silverman is able to give more gravity to her performance rather than the usual characterisations that usually irritate me so much. 'Wreck It Ralph' features a lot of other voice actors and the secondary characters are all voiced well and beautifully animated. 'The 40 Year Old Virgin's Jane Lynch especially stands out and is very funny as a Lara Croft type mercenary.
I cannot profess to have a huge knowledge of video games but due to popular culture, I can recognise many of the characters depicted on screen. From Sonic The Hedgehog to Marios archenemy Bowser, 'Wreck It Ralph' features characters from some of the most popular arcade games of all time. However, for fans of classic Nintendo games, 'Wreck It Ralph' will be especially enjoyable as there many in jokes and references that only hard core fans will understand. The film in this sense really is the 'Who Framed Roger Rabbit' for the 21st century and the cameos blend seamlessly into the narrative and plot of the film. However, even for those who have absolutely no interest in videogames should still find 'Wreck It Ralph' a highly enjoyable movie.
While 'Wreck It Ralph' is by far the best animation in recent years, it is not perfect. The biggest problem with the film is the child friendly nature of the film which dilutes the narrative and slows the movie right down. The film begins in a very kinetic way and there is great fun to be had in seeing Ralph switching from one game world to the next, but it slows right down when he enters the colourful world of Candy Rush, a racing game. It is in this world that 'Wreck It Ralph' stays for most of the film and it in during this section of the movie where the characters become much more conventional, the whole plot drive seems to drop a gear or two and the animation, while beautiful, becomes much less interesting. The diverse and multi-coloured palette is replaced with more conventional pastel colouring, child friendly kid characters and lazy pratfall humour. In any other film, this wouldn't be a problem because this how animated films now look these days, but it seemed to me that 'Wreck It Ralph' would be different. Sadly not. This is a shame because the movie starts off with so much promise; breaking the boundaries of animation and showing things we have never seen in a Disney film before.
Despite these problems, 'Wreck It Ralph' is still is a fantastically entertaining film. Nominated for an Academy Award and winning an Annie award for Best Animated film, the movie is a visual banquet that should enthrall children and especially their parents. It's just sad that the film didn't stick to its convictions and finally became so conventional. However, while bored me slightly, it didn't take any of my enjoyment of the film and by the credits, I had a big smile on my face
You will like this if you liked : Cloudy With A Chance Of Meatballs & Monsters Inc.
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