![]() But Vanellope is an outcast and is never allowed to race because she’s a glitch, and is constantly glitching out. And inside the game world, all the various Sugar Rush citizens compete for those 9 slots. You see, Sugar Rush is a racing game where 9 new racers are picked every day for the players to choose from. Vanellope actually steals Ralph’s medal to use as payment to enter the next qualifying race. It’s here that Ralph meets and befriends one of the racers, the quirky Vanellope von Schweetz, played to the height of adorability by comedienne Sarah Silverman. Ralph ends up winning a medal when he goes rogue in the game, but an accident in the psy-bug egg chamber sends Ralph and a baby psy-bug rocketing out of Hero’s Duty, into the game hub central, and then blasting into the Mario-Kart-like Sugar Rush, a candy-themed racing game staring adorable little pixie avatars. ![]() They did a great job differentiating locales. The animators really go all out in this section, creating a harsh, dark alien world that is completely unique from the other video game settings. They don’t calm down when it’s game over, and have to be dealt with by the game’s all-purpose bug zapper. And the worst thing about the psy-bugs is that they don’t know they’re in a video game. So Ralph jumps into Hero’s Duty, an epic sci-fi first-person-shooter, set in a harsh alien landscape battling evil psy-bugs. ![]() Then after a heated confrontation at Felix’s 30th anniversary party (to which Ralph was not invited), Ralph decides to go out and get himself a medal in a different game! Then he’ll get the respect he feels he deserves. Then it’s up to the player to control Felix to fix the building and defeat Ralph, saving all the townspeople. Every time the player puts in a quarter, they watch as Ralph smashes and destroys a highrise apartment building. It starts with our hero (or is it our bad guy?) Wreck-It Ralph, the villain in the classic arcade game called Fix-It Felix Jr. The story of Wreck-It Ralph is actually rather deep, with multiple plots and subplots coming together to just build and build into an epic climax. Sonic the Hedgehog has a few cameos, and my favorite had to be seeing ‘Aerith Lives’ and “Sheng Long Was Here’ written in graffiti. Wreck-It Ralph is filled to the brim with sly references, blink-and-you’ll-miss Easter Eggs and direct shout outs to famous games. So it’s a delight to see such a wonderful picture paying tribute to one of my all-time favorite hobbies. As my regular readers know, I’m a huge video game fan. I guess it helps that Wreck-It Ralph isn’t based on any existing video games, and instead simply embraces the fun and excitement of gaming in general. It’s about time somebody made a really good video game movie. Join me after the jump for the full review. In a match up between Pixar’s Brave from earlier this summer and Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, it should be no surprise that the one filled to the brim with video game references is by far the best. There isn’t a bad character in the bunch. And the great, glorious Sarah Silverman is beyond adorable as Vanellope the glitch. Alan Tudyk makes a surprising turn as the Candy King, who is a far more complex character than one might think. Jack McBrayer is a little grating as Fix-It Felix Jr., but then I mostly just feel that way about Jack McBrayer. Reilly as Wreck-It Ralph is a great leading man, who really comes through in the end. He has to earn his happy ending – and believe me, he does! Ralph can’t just win a medal and expect everything to work out all hunky-dory. Why does Ralph want to be a good guy? What does it mean when he hurts his friend in order to help her? These are not simple matters of good guy and bad guy. ![]() Wreck-It Ralph is one of those movies that expects its viewers to think, to understand a character’s complex motivations. Kids may not understand more complex concepts, but deep down, they understand and can appreciate the difference between comedy and tragedy. When you’re making entertainment for kids, you don’t need to talk down to them and you don’t need to pander to them. Wreck-It Ralph is the rare kids’ movie that doesn’t hold your hand or soften its blows. Wreck-It Ralph is made with obvious forethought, setting up many plot points and story threads that pay off with delightful glee in the end. There were several moments in the film where I was very surprised at the latest turn of events, but also in awe at just how well-structured those events were. I knew Wreck-It Ralph was going to be good, but I didn’t know it was going to be this good! I can’t remember a cartoon kiddie movie with this many layers, with this much devastation and with more twists and turns than your average Sugar Rush race track. ![]()
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