Wreck it Ralph (PG)

When you are a mother of three boys, you come to accept there are just certain things you will be outnumbered on. The toilet seat will never stay down. The television will be tuned to “WWE RAW” every Monday night. The back hallway will always smell like feet. Finally, and maybe most prevalently, video games are now an everyday occurrence, including in the television shows you try to watch as a family. So when the commercial for “Wreck-It Ralph” came on, I had already resigned myself to having to endure yet another invasion of video games onto my TV. Of course, when my boys saw the commercial there was an immediate frenzy of “Mom that looked awesome! Can we see it in the theaters?” As many of you know, to take two adults and two children to a theater is no small expense. Then when you factor in a babysitter for the toddler, candy, popcorn, travel… a movie has to look pretty darn good for me to go through that hassle. So we passed on this one in the theaters as a family, making it a Redbox possibility for a future family movie night. I have to say, it was worth the wait. 

In the beginning narration, we learn Ralph is a nice enough guy, but his job is to wreck an apartment building, so Fix-It Felix Jr. can, well, fix it. He is bigger than the others in his game, and differently shaped, so he can’t help wrecking anything he comes into contact with. This feels like they are trying to evoke an emotional response to picking on the “fat guy,” but it misses its mark only slightly due to the fact that all of the apartment tenants are basically Weeble people. (Weebles wobble but they don’t fall down!)  After being rejected by the tenants, we get a nice little scene where the ghosts from “Pac Man,” Bowser, and other old school bad guys attempt to counsel Ralph on why it’s okay to be a bad guy. When he finds no solace in their wisdom of “It’s just a job” (like much of the rest of the grown up world who loathe going to work), Ralph decides to “go turbo” and find himself glory and a medal of his own by visiting other games.

Along the way he meets some more original game creations, like space marine Sgt. Calhoun, played by Jane Lynch, who seems to be channeling the long lost love child of “Halo’s” Master Chief & Mass Effect’s Commander Sheppard from the sci-fi shooter “Hero’s Duty.” Also we get Sarah Silveman’s annoying and glichy Vanellope Von Schweetz from the Mario Kart & Candyland mash-up “Sugar Rush.” Which is kind of mind blowing, when you process the fact that foul-mouthed Silverman is now a Disney Princess! This is quite possibly the only role that I have actually liked her in. Her annoying-ness is quirky and endearing instead of in your face and raunchy, which is a nice change. And who could forget Alpha from “Dollhouse,” AKA Alan Tudyck’s delicious bad guy, King Candy/Turbo?  I have to admit even though I love him in general, I didn’t realize it was him in this movie; he does “sympathetic bad guy” well. Ralph embarks on a moral struggle, with assistance from these unique characters, all challenging him and helping him come to terms with his villain status.

If I had to pick a Disney theme, as all of their animated tales undoubtedly have a moral to their story, I would say this one is “everyone is vulnerable.” The Villain has feelings, the Hero is insecure, and sometimes good guys aren’t so nice. It’s a theme that bears repeating in this self-obsessed world I brought kids into. With bullying being such a gigantic focus in our schools, sometimes I feel the approach society agreed upon of “Tell on that Bully! They’re bad!” is a little one sided. While I don’t believe you shouldn’t exact consequences for such actions, I think it is nice that they are drawing attention to the fact that bullies have feelings too, and sometimes can be helped to see the error of their ways. You never know what is going on in someone else’s life, so don’t be too harsh or too judgmental.

I also really enjoyed the changes of animation within the film.  I am not a gamer at all, but I live in a house full of them, so I get to see all different types of games. “Halo” looks different than “Sonic the Hedgehog,” which looks different than “Frogger,” which looks different then “Mario.” I was glad that as Ralph jumped from game to game, they didn’t stick to one style of animation. Every world was different, but every world was right on target with the type of game they were. Yet even though every world was different, Ralph found a friend in each.

There are many “family” movies that attempt to be “wholesome” fun and yet throw a few jokes in for the adults. Most tend to do that with double entendre or ancient references. “Wreck-It Ralph” seems to have found a way to walk that tight rope without teetering too much to one side or the other. The lines are never really indecent, the violence never human-on-human and always unrealistic, and the story line is one of moral substance. And it didn’t annoy the crap out of me, which is a rare quality in animated kid movies! Morals, jokes, and good casting? What more could you ask for in this genre?

– by Justine Moore