Best Animated Film of 2012

Rating: 9/10 (17 January 2013)

¨My name's Ralph and I'm a Bad Guy. I'm 9 feet tall. I weigh 643 pounds. Got a little bit of a temper on me.¨
Wreck-It Ralph is my favorite animated film from 2012. It reminded me a lot of Toy Story, only this time the characters that come to life aren't toys, but video game heroes and villains. The characters are really well developed and everyone who enjoys playing video games will love this movie. Adults will also enjoy it as the film gives us a sense of nostalgia and love for some of the older games. The graphics of the movie are all really cool; especially the scenes that take place in the ¨Sugar Rush¨ game. The Sugar Rush game has some similarities with Mario Kart and the Wreck-it Ralph game with the original Donkey Kong game. It's really hard not to fall in love with these characters, especially with Ralph and Vanellope who shared a wonderful connection together. I think that it was a plus that the actors' recorded their characters' voices together in the studio because you could really feel the connection between them, unlike in most other animated films. This led to some extremely funny dialogues which were probably mostly improvised. The flow of the movie was much better this way and I really enjoyed it. I hope it wins the Oscar for best animated film because it was much better than the competition. I also loved the short film, Paperman, that was released with this film. A wonderful short story that helped set the nostalgic mood for Wreck-It Ralph.
Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is the villain of his arcade game Wreck-it Ralph. His mission in the game is to wreck an apartment complex which Fix-it Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer from 30 Rock) tries to fix, therefore making Felix the hero and beloved character. When the arcade game shuts down at night, these characters come to life inside their games and they can travel to other games inside the arcade through the machine's electrical plug. There is a ¨Game Central Station¨ where the characters can travel from one game to another and therefore Ralph decides to go to a meeting with other villains from other known video games to express his feelings. He is tired of being the bad guy and wants everyone to like him so he doesn't have to be on his own. In order to become a hero, he decides to enter another game and try to win a medal so he can prove to the rest of the characters that he can be a hero. He suffers an accident inside one of the video games and ends up in Sugar Rush where he meets Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) who happens to be a glitch inside her game. They discover they share a lot of things in common like being an outcast so they become friends and decide to help each other out on their mission to be accepted.
I thought the plot was pretty ingenious and I loved the world that was created by director Rich Moore and his team. Moore is mostly known for directing some Futurama and The Simpsons TV episodes. He made some really memorable characters and I think the improvising between the actors added more funny moments and heart to the film. I really loved this story and the world they created through these video games - some invented and others authentic like Pac Man, Sonic the Hedgehog, Zangief from Street Fighter, Bowser from Mario Bros, Q'Bert, Paperboy, and Tapper who all have some cameo appearances that fans will enjoy. I also have to give a lot of credit to Sarah Silverman who did an excellent job with her character. I loved the way she delivered each line and made her character so lovable. I think her performance was the highlight of the movie. The chemistry with John C. Reilly was incredible as they shared a lot of lines together. I also thought McBrayer was really good voicing Felix, and Jane Lynch the same with Calhoun, the general from another video game called Hero's Duty. Overall I have to say I really loved this movie and found it entertaining. I absolutely recommend it.
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