Tapping Into Arcade Nostalgia

Rating: 7/10 (5 March 2017)

Before the invention of home video consoles or the smartphone games that are now so ubiquitous, there was the "arcade generation", who controlled their pixels at the arcade via quarters. "Wreck-It Ralph" taps into that "arcade nostalgia" by focusing on the "downtime" exploits of the arcade's heroes and villains.
For a basic plot summary, "Wreck-It Ralph" follows a premise very similar to "Toy Story" in that when the arcade closes for the night, the characters behind the glass come to life. In one particular game entitled "Fix-It Felix Jr.", the "bad guy" character named Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reily) is having a rough time due to the fact that he is an outcast in his own game. One day, Ralph decides to game-jump (a move that can have devastating consequences on all parties involved) in a quest to prove that he isn't all bad. Along the way, he meets up with a "glitch" named Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), who helps him to understand what being a "good guy" is truly all about.
Story-wise, this is pretty stock Disney fare. It is a feel-good message that, at times, can get a little predictable. The voice-overs match the characters, the plot moves along nicely, and overall it is just a well-paced film. It is full of enough sight gags and crazy antics to hook the kiddies in right away and keep their interest throughout.
Of course, the new era of Disney animation needs more than that, so the "hook" of this film is the nostalgia that adults will feel towards the arcade atmosphere. The film has cameos from many past games (Bowser, Q*bert, & the Street Fighter cast being the most obvious), as well as pays homage to the "beeps and boops" and sometimes jerky motions of those old classics. For true fans of the history of gaming, there are enough "easter eggs" hidden in the background, so to speak, to pique your interest and/or make you chuckle.
Overall, "Wreck-It Ralph" is a fine film filled with humor, heart, and (most importantly) video game nostalgia. It isn't quite as perfectly polished as some other Disney fare (thus the one-star deduction), but it still was fun to watch for both old and young.