I enjoyed being hit in the face with this nostalgia wand of a film

Rating: 8/10 (6 January 2013)

I found the conceit of the film to be quite brilliant as it set the stage for some very cool video game throwbacks which I absolutely loved. However I was often puzzled that these fairly obscure references were used in a film which employed some pretty juvenile humour (in particular when the Sarah Silverman character was involved).
The look of the film is pretty spectacular with each world rendered successfully in different video game styles, in particular the candy land sequences which (here it comes) made me want to eat candy.
The things that keep it from greatness are the usual trappings of an animated film with this budget, whereby they must hit all the necessary emotional beats and hold back from doing anything too narratively unusual. But in spite of this straightforwardness I did find myself a tad choked up in certain parts, so for what it set out to do the story's solid.
Wreck It Ralph is an enjoyable romp with many a fun video game reference to be had and an economical and successful story that I can't imagine not appealing to many people, so check it out and be entertained, but not challenged.
Also Ralph gets hit the face twice when the Rihanna song begins playing, I choose not to take this as a coincidence.