Fun and engaging animation rich in comedy; adventure and dregrees of nostalgia.

Rating: 7/10 (21 August 2018)

I am just about old enough to remember arcades and arcade machines themselves - there was an "Outrun" situated beside a "Michael Jackson's Moonwalker" near the reception desk of my local sports and leisure centre back in the mid 90's. Upstairs, in another the corridor, there was a "Pac-Man" game. On one particular holiday, an outlet known as 'SegaWorld' was situated not five minutes away around the corner of a hotel we were staying at. This was the only real video gaming arcade I think I ever visited: it was a vast, open gaming utopia of bleeping noises; flashing lights and huge screens. Shooting games would have in-built guns pointing at the screen, driving games ("Daytona USA") would allow you to sit behind a wheel and actually simulate driving around the track. I distinctly recall being wowed by the fact multiple people could engage in the same race at once on different screens. That sounded like the most fun anyone could ever have doing anything.
Not very long after all of this, Sony released their first 'Playstation' console and there was not, I do not think, really a reason to go back to arcades - I strain to recall going back to one after having obtained a Playstation myself, and I distinctly recall the arcade machines at my local leisure centre having vanished certainly by 2000. I can only guess no one was playing them anymore - Sega and Nintendo of course had certain consoles out when arcades were much bigger, but Sony just seemed to have seen the arcade off for good.
All of which brings us to "Wreck-it Ralph", an actually quite infectious animation in the mould of "Toy Story", with spits and spots of "Last Action Hero" and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit" thrown in for good measure, about video game characters who live in arcade machines and operate within their own little universe parallel to our own. Like "Toy Story", they have their own rules and regulations on keeping everything a secret - it's a little more serious in this film because if game characters start misbehaving too badly, their arcade machine is shut down and wheeled off thus terminating everybody in the game. 'Work' is to fulfil what your character is meant to do within the confines of a given game - ANY game - and then chilling out in the evening ready for the next day. Sometimes, they use electricity cables to traverse to communal places, or even one another's games.
John C. Reilly voices the eponymous Ralph, the villain in a fictitious arcade game from the 1980's entitled "Fix-it Felix", which still somehow manages to pull in the punters amidst all the cool new games. Ralph, however, wants change - he's tired of being the villain and is a little depressed on account of being rejected by the other characters in the 'Fix-it' game, whom will quite happily invite one of the Super Mario Brothers to a house-party, but never Ralph.
Going against all the rules, Ralph bolts from the game in search of a medal, which he believes will win him the appreciation of the game's other characters given his nemesis Felix is showered in them every day for winning the very game Ralph must attempt to thwart. Facing oblivion should Ralph not return, Felix (Jack McBrayer) converses with the other characters of "Fix-it" and decides to follow him into a game resembling a combination of "Mario Kart" and those candy themed levels from "Mickey Mouse's Castle of Illusion" so as to drag him back... Eventually, events unfold whereby Ralph is wrapped up in a mission that threatens much more than his mere popularity.
What is most impressive about the film is, aside from its dazzling visuals and really quite wonderful idea of creating a universe for video gaming characters to all co-exist, its sense of adventure and the careful characterisation it provides to an array of made-up video gaming entities, of whom cane be little; large; tough-talking; softly spoken; kooky; wacky and just plain homicidal - all of which creates a wonderful palette. Thrown in for good measure is a sweet romance sub-plot Felix has with a gun-toting action heroine from a "Halo" style shooter named Calhoun (Jane Lynch), which I assume was partly designed to highlight the progression female characters have undergone in video-games over three decades.
The film's director, Rich Moore, has a background in working with people like Matt Groening on "Futurama" and "The Simpsons", and so is more than adept at delivering fast-moving, joke-riddled cartoons which are often very funny and seem to be about complete nonsense, but actually have very carefully defined boundaries that keep them from being such a thing.
I think much of one's enjoyment of the film will derive from whether or not you can recall heading down to arcades and having a blast on a game, either with a friend or on your own. For many, those memories originate from childhood anyway and so there can be a really pleasing clash of nostalgia with the freshness of seeing an unseen adventure. The film is much more than mere visuals and effects, and certainly, the way everything is reigned in and brought together for the finale, is more than just slightly impressive. It isn't difficult to recommend "Wreck-it Ralph".