Movie Review - Wreck It-Ralph

Wreck-It Ralph  $$$    

 

 

PG

101 Minutes

Starring: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, and Sarah Silverman.

Director: Rich Moore.

 

            Movies that dip into the reality of games or the dimension of the silver screen have a special place in heart. Mainly because I’m strange, but it appeals to the creative portion of me that asks what all of these characters are doing when the game isn’t being played or the movie isn’t being viewed. Tron, The Last Action Hero, and even Toy Story fall into this magical category that tells what happens behind the scenes.  

            In this case, the story is about Wreck-It Ralph (John. C. Reilly). He is the villain for video game. His job is to destroy an apartment building while the hero, Fix-It Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayar) fixes it. As you can imagine, Ralph is not very popular with the other characters in his game and he decides to show them that he can be the good guy if just given a chance. In order to do that he has to travel to some of the other games and earn a medal to prove that he is a hero.

            Along the way he runs into Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), who everyone calls Glitch. She convinces Ralph to help her win the candy-coated race in the game “Sugar Rush.” That will prove to the rest of that game’s inhabitants that she is a real racer and not just an annoying glitch. 

            Meanwhile, Felix is looking for Ralph. Without him the game won’t work. And if the game doesn’t work then they will all be sent to the graveyard of broken games. (Okay, they don’t call it the graveyard of broken games; I made it up because I thought it sounded cool.) He tags along with Calhoun (Jane Lynch) who is also looking for Ralph. In her case it’s because he has let a dangerous alien-insect to jump games. If they don’t find the bug-eyed menace it could spread throughout the arcade and destroy all of the games.  

            This was a fun movie. The voice acting was good. The story line, although completely predictable, was cute. The animation was good. Probably the high mark for this film would be the plunge into the game universe that it takes. There are plenty of nods to the video games that were popular when arcades filled the American landscape.

            All of this earned it a rating of three movie bucks. Catch it as a matinee if you can; especially if you have children. This is a film that I will probably buy when it comes out on disc and add to my movie library. If you enjoy family films this is definitely one you should see.

 

            Randy’s Rating System 

$$$$   = Full Price    See this movie right away and pay full price, it’s worth it.

$$$     = Matinee      Catch this as a matinee or other discounted showing.

$$        = Discount     Wait until this movie reaches a discount theater near you.

$          = Rental         Wait until this movie reaches your local video rental outlet.

0          = No Sale       Don’t see this movie at any price.