Milk my duds, Wreck-It Ralph is brilliant

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2013)

Before I went into this film I had a feeling it was going to be good, I just didn't know how good. Honestly it's such a rarity to have high expectations for a film nowadays and have those expectations completely dwarfed by what's put in front of you.
Wreck-It Ralph draws comparisons to Toy Story and it's easy to see why. It's basically has the same premise, characters that come to life once they are not being played with and no humans are around to see what they are getting up to during their "social" hours. To me though, once the lights go out in the arcade, Wreck-It Ralph is something completely different.
Our main protagonist, Ralph, is unloved and sick of his job. A job which means having to play the villain all the time. Ralph however, wants to change things and his idea of doing this is to make his way into another game and earn himself a medal to show off and earn some respect from his peers.
Of course this doesn't go according to plan and Ralph's efforts end up in all kinds of destruction, interfering in not one but two new game worlds. Along the way he meets Calhoun, King Candy & the absolutely adorable Vanellope.
For me, Sarah Silverman's Vanellope steals the show completely. If you don't want to pick her up and giver her a hug after Ralph has Hulk smashed an object that means the world to her then you have no heart.
There are of course, many memorable characters in this film. Alan Tudyk as villain King Candy is an absolute blast, playing the character as classic comic book camp initially then moving into real vicious territory as the film moves along and his motives become clearer.
The story moves along at a fair pace. Moving between different game worlds, showing us the goings on in the real world of the arcade and giving each character enough time to shine. There is rarely, if ever, a dull moment in the film. I was having enough fun at the start of the film just trying to spot all the different video game characters from my youth, that have been lovingly & brilliantly captured on-screen.
I really can't recommend this film enough. It has managed to get the blend just right of appealing to both children and adults alike and must surely go down as a true Disney classic in years to come.
Go watch it, now. You won't regret it, I promise.