Marquee Mama Reviews Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph

Question.  Who would relish a movie made in 2012 about video games from the 70s and 80s more: a child in 2012 or an adult from the 70s and 80s?  Answer:  Both! My daughter and I liked Wreck-It Ralph equally, but for different reasons.  I had so many laughs over the nostalgic references but she loved it on a purely original and contemporary basis.  Starting with the old-style, blocky, early-computer font, once considered high-tech, anyone my age (ahem) will be transported back to adolescence and long afternoons of clearing screens and leveling-up on whatever your beloved game of choice used to be (Pac-Man for me).  For today’s youngsters, Wreck-It Ralph is more a journey of story-telling and new discovery of bygone game days and characters (complete with appearances by Q*Bert, M. Bison and Clyde, the orange ghost from Pac-Man).  Click ahead to read the rest of my review…

Marquee Mama’s Family Rating Chart for Wreck-It Ralph (Big Smiles for Mom & Kids, Slight Smile for Dad!)

The story has Ralph, longing to be a hero instead of the one-man wrecking machine he’s been in his video game for 30 years.  He “game jumps” (just part of the cleverness of this movie) into other worlds in search of approval and admiration, only to learn one of my favorite life lessons “Wherever you go, there you are.”

WRECK-IT RALPH -Fix-It Felix, Jr. Game Cabinet

The movie captures you with the opening graphics and vintage-but-familiar sound effects, but it’s the loveable characters that stay with you beyond closing credits (featuring an amusing original theme song explaining Ralph’s plight). I can’t recall a cuter, sassier, more enchanting character (alive or animated) than Vanellope von Shweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman), “the Glitch”.  My daughter LOVES her – and quotes her – still.  Ralph (John C. Reilly) is a true man-child with equal parts bullishness and heart.  Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer), Ralph’s counterpart in the game, was amusing enough, but I suspect his main function was to set up Sergeant Calhoun’s prize lines (the incomparable Jane Lynch) to pack even more punch than intended.  By the way, she’s H-O-T!

The Main Cast of Characters from Wreck-It Ralph

This movie will please the entire family, gamers or not.  In fact, it’s a great excuse to chat up your modern-day gaming kids about the games of your own childhood.  Common ground is always a good thing to have with your children.  Any good family film delivers a message, a lesson.  This one has it all:  good vs. evil, overcoming adversity, learning tolerance.  My hope for the take-away of this film is we all learn that the grass is greener where you water it.

What I Loved:

• Old-style computer font, wicki-wicki sound effects, a walk down the memory lane of video games.

• The Bad-Anon meeting (a gathering of video game bad guys struggling with their lives of disrepute) is hilarious with the most notorious game bad guys you can remember!

• 3-D.  This would normally appear in the next section (What I Didn’t Love) but this time it was so well done, without being overdone, that it merits a bullet point here.

• Funny to see kids lining up quarters on the games (a flashback to when these games actually cost a mere 25 cents).

• The animation and technology were spot on! The jerky movements of the old game characters mixed with the seamless realistic action of the modern-day games – excellent juxtaposition that kept this fantasy feeling real.

• “Sugar Rush”, a fictitious racing game in an all-candy land, was a visual treat and it was great seeing the creative ways the game utilized candy (another dose of nostalgia!) like using a lollipop for a gearshift.

• The chant “O-re-o!” was a hilarious rip-off from Wizard of Oz.

• More hilarious treasures:  donut security guards, police K-9 units called Devil Dogs, and Vanellope’s line “I’m not a Glitch! I have Pixlexia.”  Priceless.

VANELLOPE VON SCHWEETZ in the video game world of Sugar Rush

What I Didn’t Love

• “Hero’s Duty”, a dark futuristic shoot-em-up game, adds a degree of violence to the movie which could be unappealing to the youngest viewers (and their moms).

• The racers in “Sugar Rush” are all mean girls who snub Vanellope as the Glitch, but then turn around and worship her as the story turns.  I hate this kind of superficial “friendship” depicted in movies.  I wish the mean girls-come-friends would not gain automatic acceptance and instead be made to transform into nice girls before being rewarded with friendship.  Come on movie-makers, this is always a missed teaching opportunity!

Chaos ensues during the game Hero’s Duty

WRECK-IT RALPH is in Theaters November 2, 2012 (Rated PG)

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