Wrecked Potential

Rating: 5/10 (29 December 2015)

I recently saw Wreck-It Ralph as part of a long marathon of "age appropriate" movies for my nieces and nephews over the Christmas season. Contrary to my expectations, many of the children's movies were surprisingly good or even great as movies in their own right. On the other hand, movies like Wreck-It Ralph are exactly what I expected.
While the premise is solid, the scenario is poorly plotted, the foreshadowing is weak, the characters are under-developed, the gags are not funny for either children or young adults, and the film ends without ever really delivering any kind of message or exploring a theme.
There are severe pacing issues. The introduction overstays its welcome. Exposition is delivered at the wrong times making certain elements of the story annoying rather than mysterious. It fails to execute on the level of UP, Wall-E, the Lego Movie, or anything else I saw during the marathon. Actually, the botched execution is noteworthy-- there are scenes with so much unrealized potential.
It could be praised for never relying on jokes that go above the heads of children, unfortunately, they just are not good jokes.
I highly recommend you avoid ordering this if you're looking for some family friendly movie that everyone will enjoy. This is a much better movie for the "stare at TV entranced without understanding the words" crowd, and even then, some of the visual direction is likely to lose interest.