Film Review #48: Wreck It Ralph

For the Toy Story of the Disney canon of films, Disney had an uncanny amount of tie-ins within the film, from Pacman ghosts, Sonic the Hedgehog and Bowser, to newly invented characters.  And while again not a truly amazing masterpiece, Wreck it Ralph is perhaps more engaging and imaginative than the two previous fairy tales.  The characters are more developed and the story is more original.

Plot: When the arcade closes in the nightfall, the video game worlds come to life and are free to commune with each other.  Tired of the life of a villain in his game (Fix it Felix, a kind of Donkey Kong hybrid), Wreck it Ralph decides he wants to be a recognized hero.  But to do so, he must earn a hero's medal.  So he travels to a "Call of Duty" knock off and ends up earning a medal there, but is knocked out of the game in the process.  With Ralph gone, Fix it Felix is unplugged, deemed faulty by one of the arcade employees, leaving everyone in the game without a home.

Ralph crash lands in a Mario Kart knockoff called Sugar Rush, and has his medal stolen by a little girl named Vanellope, who uses it to get into the race.  As Felix searches for Ralph to bring him back, Ralph and Vanellope must  elude the evil King Candy and his ruthless schemes.

What's Bad?: I wish the video game characters had larger roles in the games.  Not the Disney named ones, I mean Sonic, Bowser, and the like.  Like in Toy Story, which had large roles for Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, Barbie, and board games like Battleship.  But the characters only make brief cameos.  I mean, with all this limitless money Disney seems to have (they bought Lucasfilm at this point), surely they could have shelled out more money for a couple of characters to have large roles.  I'm certain Mario won't earn another film role anytime soon.

What's Good?: The lead characters are likable and interesting, particularly Vanellope, who is like that little hyper sister no one ever wants to have.  The techno score they used for much of the soundtrack was great, and the animation is still top notch.

Overall: I do like this film, but I think it could have been so much better.  It's passable, but not legendary.  I'll save that word for later...

Report Card:

Hero:                           87
Heroine:                      90
Villain:                         75
Side Characters:         86
Songs:                          82
Musical Score:            90
Animation:                   94
Special Effects:           88
Story:                           95
Themes:                       89

Final Score:                  88