All the Substance of an Arcade

Rating: 5/10 (1 December 2013)

I wasn't really looking for much going into this movie. I figured there would be a story, some plot development, and something to neaten things up in the end. I don't think I was disappointed.
Wreck-it Ralph starts as a first person account of a bad guy in a video game, quickly jumps from that to a self-help group, moves into some other video games where non-pressing problems are resolved, and wraps it all up in a ending that may or may not be happy. It was just as flat as it sounds. No CGI eye candy. No human interest development. No real attempt. I get the sense that the video game theme was meant to carry the picture, but it didn't.
This film compares well with sequels that were never supposed to be shown in the theatre. If you spent time in an arcade or played any video games the characters do what you would expect. Beyond tugging at memories of past gaming experiences Wreck-it Ralph is just a disconnected collage of those same memories. Watch it and then go play some video games to erase it from your memory.