What's with the fuss?

Rating: 2/10 (6 March 2013)

I honestly don't understand why everyone's raving about this movie. For me, the biggest drawback and constant grater on my nerves are the absolutely annoying characters, beginning with the titular character himself to the most unmemorable villain.
Let's start with Ralph. I get that he's being treated like garbage and he wants to get more out of his existence despite everyone around him telling him he should stick to the status quo. That's nothing new (and nowhere even close to the ballpark of original). But did he have to be such a selfish, self-serving jerk about it? He stormed into Hero's Duty, almost revealed the big secret (that video game characters have lives outside of the arcade's opening hours), stole the medal, released the evil little bug thingies, destroyed property.... the list goes on. And all without even a hint of regret or contrition, an ounce of self-awareness, and the slightest regard that he was jeopardising every other characters' livelihoods (and lives) JUST so he can serve his own selfish, deluded desire to get a medal. That's like saying, "Hey kids, it's okay to cause trouble to everyone because you're just trying to get what you want and there's nothing wrong with that."
It's just so...American.
And Vanellope! She's spoiled, selfish, and annoying as well. It's like they all have tunnel vision or something. It's all about 'me, me, me. It's what I want and it's what I'm going to get'. Case in point, she totally took that medal even though Ralph begged for it and practically sobbed out how much it meant to him. And she threw it into a freaking cauldron, fully knowing that it would disintegrate (doesn't matter that the medal's going to reappear IF she wins the race). I just...
It's like every action the characters do cause stress to me. Felix is a spineless fool. Calhoun was promising in the beginning but her backstory was more like a parody than something that was supposed to give her dimensions. King Candy was like that raisin-filled chocolate that nobody likes but is somehow always in the box. He's uncanny and out of place (even though we all discover the reason for that later).
The graphics were great, though. The inclusion of all the game characters was interesting. It gets a little off-putting with all the obvious product placements but it gives the viewers a nice opportunity to relate to some of the things shown.
But the clichéd plot and the characters that absolutely grated on your nerves are the dealbreakers. I couldn't even sit through until the end. Left the theatre an hour into the movie. And I thought Brave was bad.