Like Pixar used to make

Rating: 7/10 (1 April 2013)

Back in the day Pixar would put together culturally-aware, well-written animated fare for children and the parents who had to take them to the movie theater. While "Wreck-It Ralph" is no "Wall-E" or "Monsters, Inc", it is a smart, fun little romp through the annals of video gaming history. John C. Reilly nails the titular role by essentially playing it as the anti-Robin Williams. His even keeled, thoughtful, world-weary, voice work brings a deserved respite from the rapid-fire, jump-cut work of the animated videogames that serve as the film's locations. Rather than the over-the-top scene chewing, you would get from most other voice actors, Reilly delivers a believable relationship arc with Sarah Silverman's video game racing little girl. This warmth carries the film through some slow spots and obvious points where the writers have to wait for something to happen or where they have to write themselves out of corners (wait, so characters who are a product of programming code can change programming code?). Television actors Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch are cast to type and log decent costarring performances. The animation they inhabit is very inventive and smartly emulates thirty years of computational improvements from Fix-It Felix's Donkey Kong clone to the latest Halo-esque first person shooter. However, even non-gamers will find smart references and good performances worth seeing. In short, definitely one to add to your must-see animation list and hopefully one John Lassiter and the boys at Pixar saw.