CHEER! - (8 stars out of 10)

Rating: 8/10 (26 April 2019)

The stage curtains open ...
"Wreck-It Ralph" is one of the most original ideas I've seen for a movie in a long time - and it took the wonder of computer graphics to bring its imagining full scale to the silver screen in a way no other type of animation could have. In other words, you don't have to do any brain work here - they've already done it all for you.
In the world of arcade video games, Wreck-It Ralph is one of the "bad" guys. He destroys - and the game's hero, Fix-It Felix Jr., repairs. It is a rather simple video game with simple graphics and programming - and after 30 years of being the bad guy, being the outcast and living alone during the down times, Ralph has had enough. He wants to win a medal and be the hero for a change. This leads to a chain of events that finds him bouncing out of his game to another one called "Hero's Duty", where he actually claims his coveted prize medal. However, when he accidentally ends up in another game called "Sugar Rush", a little glitch called Vanellope gets in the way of his dream - and the only way to reclaim it is to help her realize hers.
A fun movie from top to bottom, "Wreck-It Ralph" does a great job of building strong characters while crossing different eras and genres of video gaming effectively. The main backdrop of the story is in Sugar Rush, with everyone who's pulled into it from other games having a pivotal part in saving that video game's universe.
This one comes at a high recommend. It brings back the good ol' days of arcade video gaming which was so prevalent in the 80's (my generation) - a time gone by. Seeing the old Nintendo game controller was fun too, which heralded in the age of home video gaming on a large scale. I am anxiously looking forward to watching the sequel next.