A Disappointing Execution of a Great Idea

Rating: 6/10 (8 September 2016)

Wreck-It-Ralph creates an extremely promising world that's brilliantly designed and animated and fleshes it out with a story that's entirely generic and worn out. I remember liking this quite a bit when I saw it in theaters, but maybe I was just on a high after seeing Paperman play right before it. It's frustratingly mediocre, and the fact that it doesn't seem to have any ambitions beyond that makes it even more disappointing this time around.
Ralph is a pretty lovable character by the end of the movie, though I had a really hard time feeling sorry for his plight at first because he seemed to cause all the problems for himself, but once he meets up with Vanellope and helps her along he becomes a big-hearted guy worth cheering for. I wish he had a better movie around him. I think the moral of being comfortable with yourself is a little hazily told, but it seems like a good lesson for kids.
I will say that despite my distaste for much of it I was never not engaged. The world is a lot of fun and the voice actors do well. I completely love the idea of the central station, that's so clever. So is the bad-guy group session. It's the details like that that make this movie worth watching, but they're also hints of a better movie that never arrives.