Pure Video Game Magic

Rating: 10/10 (15 November 2012)

First, a disclaimer: I consider myself to be a relatively moderate Disney animation fan. Sure, there are the great classics (e.g., "Snow White"), the modern classics ("The Emperor's New Groove") and the occasional underrated film ("The Rescuers Down Under"). But for the last decade or two, Disney movies have been more miss than hit... (three words: "Mars Needs Moms". What?)
Now, let me point out that video game movies have an even worse track record. I mean, let's be honest: nobody waxes eloquent about "Wing Commander" or "Tomb Raider" (daydreams about Lara Croft not included). The best we've gotten was occasional flashes of brilliance followed by intense disappointment... "Tron: Legacy", anyone?
So on the whole, the idea of combining Disney animation with video games seemed fundamentally flawed, if not outright doomed.
And yet, it works. It works really, surprisingly well. The cleverness is obvious: making the film around several "familiar" games that didn't really exist means the directors and screenwriters weren't hampered by the storyline baggage of imitating real game. Obviously, talented screenwriters and animators played a big part. It's such a relief, after this year's travesties like "Prometheus", to see a script that doesn't contain any large plot holes and actually builds on itself to advance the plot instead of relying on characters to bumble around randomly.
And yet the real brilliance of it is even more. Jerry Rees (director of "The Brave Little Toaster", perhaps the saddest children's movie ever made) said in a recent interview that "fables have always been a way to move through our darkest fears to a place of hope". "Wreck-It Ralph" works because the stakes feel both dire and real. That even though we're laughing at the main character and his friends telling stories at a "Bad Guys Anonymous" meeting, we feel his pain at being ostracized by the people he cares about. And we share his desire for a better life. Who wouldn't, after doing the same dead-end job for 30 years?
And unlike "Tron Legacy", which built up an interesting world, but then really didn't do anything with it, "Wreck-It Ralph" feels real because of the way the characters behave and interact. A quick scene in the movie showing Ralph giving some food to a homeless, "unplugged" Q*bert almost brought a tear to my eye. And if you don't consider that to be movie magic, then I'm afraid I can't help you.