Wreck-It Ralph Film Review

Wreck-It Ralph

Director-Rich Moore

Starring- John C Reilly

Sarah Silverman

Jack McBrayer

Alan Tudyk

Films based upon video games have never really worked have they? There is actually no decent video game to film conversions. I can honestly think of only one film that even comes close to capturing the essence of the source material and that is 'Final Fantasy VII; Advent Children'. Even this  film however has its flaws and also the major problem with this point is this  film is considered more of a companion piece to the original video game rather than an actual film version of 'Final Fantasy VII'. It's never been done and probably can't be done, so Disney decided, why try and make a game to film when they could make a film about a game. Though 'Wreck-It Ralph' is based on a game character and is set in the actual gaming world, filled with 'Sonic' and 'Pacman', Ralph and his respective game is fictitious. This may be the route to go down for the time being, especially if this is the result.

Some of these characters are not in it  nearly enough.

Plot

For the past thirty years Ralph has had to deal with his job, a thankless affair where at the end of the day he is thrown from a five story building where he lands on his ass and is rejected from his work colleagues. While  at the same time Fix-it Felix Jr( Jack McBrayer) is congratulated as a hero for just doing what Ralph does, his job. On the anniversary of their game, Ralph  realizes how  much he hates this and comes to the conclusion  that the only way to be accepted would be to earn a medal just like Felix does at the end of every game. This leads Ralph into the coolest experience ever, in my opinion, he decides to game jump and become a hero. This is where things get really interesting and at the same time get bogged down, but more on that later.

Good.

Right, off the bat I would have to say  that the biggest and best  thing about this  film was, the cameos. Seeing Sonic the  Hedgehog and M. Bison in the same universe is absolutely hilarious. The Easter eggs alone make me give out a little man giggle, There is a wall within game central which houses a particular graffiti that holds a special place in my heart. It reads 'Aerith Lives', when I saw this I knew that  this was a film that took into account the true gamer's opinion. The characters throughout are also superb, Ralph( John C Reilly) is  a wonderful outsider and in a world filled with outsiders he is a wonderful oddity. To be fair this film  is filled with weirdos, 'Venelope Von Scwheetz( Sarah Silverman) is a glitchy chatter box and 'King Candy'( Alan Tudyk) a truly eccentric and topsy turvy character.The animation is wonderful, the soundtrack is  pure fun and the worlds are wonderfully crafted.

Bad.

There a few things in this film that just irked me a bit. I'll begin with the end, up until the end I was not quite sure how it would end, I hoped for  maybe something as unique as the premise but unfortunately towards the end it becomes extremely obvious where it is going. Venelope does grate on you at times, her cuteness and her quips at times come off as simply annoying.The film teases at a massive universe which we only glimpse at, especially when we go  through only three worlds and one of  those worlds is so disgustingly sugary it will cause cavities from just watching it, even for my tastes. 

Next time baby.

Ugly.

The film was great fun, it didn't take itself too seriously and gave us a lot of  memorable characters. There were some glitches in this film and they ranged from a long drawn out middle section of the film to a by the numbers ending which did include a lovely addition to the roster of Disney princesses. For a film which has promised a sequel, which will expand the universe from arcade games to console games and MMO's I am very excited. Not only that but it has also promised that the next  installment will include 'Mario' as another lead protagonist. The sky is the limit with all the ideas they could pack into the next installment and beyond.

8.5/10

Though there was a few glitches hopefully the next film will patch everything up to really show off the full potential of this film and its possible franchise.