Wreck-It Ralph

In the same way that Toy Story imagined what toys do when their owners aren't around, Wreck-It Ralph imagines what videogame characters do when their games aren't being played. As much as I love the Toy Story trilogy, Wreck-It Ralph's bubbling creativity, lovable characters and beautiful world make it an even better execution of the same concept.

Although Wreck-It Ralph will never be as culturally significant as the original Toy Story, it successfully captures a lot of the same magic we experienced back in 1995 and brings it to the current generation of iPad-toting kids. If it weren't for its moderately complex plot, I'd even go so far as to say that Wreck-It Ralph is a better film overall.

The teaser trailer above does a really job of covering the jist of the story (don't bother watching the other, spoiler-ific ones). After 30 years of being unappreciated as a videogame villain, Wreck-It Ralph abandons his game in order to become a hero. The resulting journey is an incredibly detailed, explosively colorful, and deliciously sweet film that both you and your kids will enjoy.

You should watch it.

An enormous, creative and beautiful world

I have to commend the makers of Wreck-It Ralph for their creativity. The subway-like system of power cables and extension cords that connects all the machines in the arcade together is quite clever, and I bet the writers had a lot of fun thinking about all the possibilities it creates. With so many worlds and game genres to explore, the potential for an interesting sequel is pretty high.

The few game worlds that we get to see this time around are really well-done, and they show off the technical expertise of the animators at Disney. Everything from the 16-bit colors and glow effects of Fix-It Felix's arcade cabinet to the swarming bugs of Hero's Duty and candy cane forests of Sugar Rush look fantastic.

Remember that one colorful and happy scene in Toy Story 3 when they arrive at the daycare and greet all the new toys? Wreck-It Ralph has ten times as many of those moments. It's the most visually impressive animated film I've ever seen.

Fun and relatable characters

The characters of this film are just as diverse as the games they originate from, and the voice actors all fit perfectly into their roles. It's pretty clear that the voices were determined early on - maybe even during character modeling.

Vanellope - the adorable young girl who eventually plays a big part in Ralph's story - is particularly great, and I'm sure a lot of young kids can relate to her experience of being made fun of by a bunch of sugar-coated fluffheads. Sarah Silverman's voice works really well with Vanellope's teasing and playful demeanor.

Ralph, in my mind, is almost a co-main character with Vanellope. His story gradually merges into hers, and they're both equally compelling. For the fathers in the audience, John C. Reilly's voice and cadence make Ralph an obvious father figure, and the fact that he hates his dead-end job (a classic complaint) makes that pretty clear.

I thought the love sub-story between Fix-It Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer) and Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch) was just plain stupid, but I still enjoyed their characters and radically different personalities. Calhoun's tragic backstory honestly had me cracking up (my humor is a bit twisted) and watching Fix-It Felix Jr. deal with his ocassionally-unfortunate superpower was entertaining as well.

Overall the characters in the film are great - even the minor ones like Q*bert, or Clyde from Pac-Man. There are plenty of little touches and personality quirks that make these digital characters feel very analog.

A story that's a bit hard to keep track of

If Wreck-It Ralph 2 ever turns up, the one thing I hope they tweak is the complexity of the story. I suspect they will, because Wreck-It Ralph's multi-dimensional plot is just barely held together with enough rubber bands to make sense. That said, they somehow mixed a mid-life crisis, a risky heist, a (stupid but excusable) love dynamic, a sketchy kingship, an apocalyptic alien invasion, a journey of self-acceptance and a high-octane race into one gorgeous piece of tasty eye-candy, and I'm thankful for it.

I'm sure the writers knew this as well. Characters repeatedly remind one another that dying in a different game means dying for good, and Ralph grumbles about getting his Hero's medal a bunch of times in the second half.

Surprisingly, despite its complex story, I was never annoyed by any glaring continuity errors or plot holes (which I'm usually a stickler for). The young kids who watch this film won't care too much about the story, but adults may get a little confused even though all loose ends eventually get tied.

Where Toy Story focused on just one goal - getting back to Andy - Wreck-It Ralph presents a series of goals and kinda-sorta expects the viewer to remember them all. That's a problem, but not a huge one, and in the end I'm thankful that the writers didn't rely on deus ex machina to resolve all their problems.

A film you should watch

I wasn't expecting much from Wreck-It Ralph, to be honest. The 86% it got on Rotten Tomatoes seemed promising, and as a gamer I was supposed to like the concept, but I went into it expecting to see a bunch of lame videogame references and obvious "levels" that would fit into the inevitable videogame tie-in.

Instead, the videogame turned out to suck, and the film turned out to be great!

Wreck-It Ralph is a pleasant mix of Toy Story adventure with DreamWorks-like comedy and pop culture that both kids and adults can enjoy. The universe it reveals is expansive and exciting, the characters it introduces are delightful, and although the plot is a few too many layers deep, that doesn't stop Wreck-It Ralph from being very, very sweet.