good family fun

Rating: 6/10 (23 November 2012)

Wreck-It-Ralph is a cute animated movie from Disney about a video game bad guy who decides he wants to be good. In the video game world that is created here, characters are shown to be like actors and actresses in a studio, playing roles for the benefit of their quarter carrying customers - generally preteens. Anyway, this I thought was fun. So Ralph is like an actor fed up with playing bad guy roles. Rather than wreck things, he wants to be a hero for a change. Built like the incredible Hulk, he yearns to be able to use his strength and wrecking power to do good, not bad. The plot then is built around finding a way for Ralph to be able to be this hero.
The set up is engaging. Ralph find he can't really be the hero he wants to be in the game he is presently playing, so he "walks out" and enters some other games in the same arcade. Meanwhile, we go behind the scenes to a place that looks like Grand Central Station where game characters come and go, mingle, and spend their spare time when not "on the set" i.e. not playing their game roles. In other words, when no quarters are inserted in the machines, Ralph and other "cast members" can be found "backstage" like actors taking breaks. Its all kind of cute in a way. And with the set up the way it is, it also makes possible migration of characters to different games. This is where the plot takes off. Also, when game characters leave their game for whatever reason, the game is declared "out of order" and all characters are affected (i.e. put out of work like being laid off). So, this is the world we are introduced to here, and is what makes the story function and have some logic to it.
OK, so Ralph leaves his game, putting it out of commission, and searches for one where he can be a hero. His first try fails, but in his second attempt, he meets an unfortunate but engaging little girl trapped in a CandyLand type game called "Sugar Rush" who is in need of a hero. Meanwhile, his fellow characters from "wreck-it-Ralph" come looking for him. Also, some insect like monsters he inadvertently unleashed in his first alternate game get transported to CandyLand also where they eventually wreak havoc. So, in the end Ralph gets to be the hero he craves, saving his little girlfriend while defeating the villains, both imported and "indigenous".
And so what we end up with here is a little morality play about good and bad and how love can change everything. You see Ralph is a big crude dude and no one loved him in "Wreck-it- Ralph". But in "Sugar Rush" he is able to get a fresh start, find love, and put his wrecking power to positive use. And so eventually we learn that Ralph is a softie at heart and simply needed some love to feel good about himself. In the end, the hero's medal he craved takes a back seat to the love he found during his quest for that medal. Thats good as I didn't want him to become "good" just because he found himself a little piece of gold to hand around his neck. It was looking that way for a while...
Anyway, I am not a gamer, but you can see that throughout the movie there is much homage being played to gaming. The plot is well thought out with enough twists and turns to keep you guessing. And the journey through CandyLand was fun with lots of humor thrown in as characters stumble across the sweet landscape. So, all in all, throw in some good music and visuals, and I found the whole trip entertaining.
And if you remember "The Wizard of OZ", expect to see some references and parallels to it in Ralph's journey through CandyLand. Its as though Ralph traveled to OZ in search of a wizard (King Candy) to give him a medal only to find that through love and good deeds, he earns it naturally. Same lesson - you don't get something for nothing. I think it was on purpose that we come to wonder at first if Ralph can be "good" simply by stealing medals not belonging to him. No, he has to earn them, and eventually he does.