More often than not, movies let me down. It's very rare for one to come along that just totally hits on every single level.
Wreck-It Ralph did just that. As the closing credits rolled, I said to myself, "Wow, that was perfect!"
Truth is, I wasn't expecting much from this film. Almost every movie I've seen based on a video game has been substandard at best. I was a little reluctant to give this one a chance. I'd seen the commercials and was ready to write it off as simply children's fare. I'm glad I didn't.
The world created in this movie is absolutely incredible. It is set in an arcade and when it closes for the day, the video game characters interact with each other. It's sort of like Toy Story that way - the rest of the world is oblivious to the lives of the characters outside of game time.
The brilliance of this story is that it is based on the bad guy. Wreck-It Ralph isn't the title character of his game. He just gets to smash a building while Fix-It Felix Jr. uses his magic hammer to repair the damage.
I am glad that the writers of this film chose to create an original game for this film. They managed to capture the essence of two classic games in the process and they created something quite magical.
Wreck-It Ralph is pretty much the monster creature from Rampage. He climbs up buildings and destroys them. When the arcade closes, people run away from him. He gets picked on by security and treated as if he were a monster. But he's not. He has a big heart and he just wants to enjoy the 30th anniversary of his game.
Fix-It Felix is pretty much the Mario character that we all know and love. He is treated as a hero by the other video game characters in the arcade.
Wreck-It Ralph wants to be a good guy for once. He wants to earn a medal like Felix does every day. He thinks if he can do that, he will be accepted and his life will greatly improve. So he hops over to a new generation game. He believes that he is bad enough to fight the alien bugs and earn a medal there.
The contrast between his innocent old-school single screen game and the gritty violent world of the new game is overwhelming. It's terrifying for him and we really are along for the ride.
He hops over to another game that is a lot like MarioKart and meets an outcast character there as well.
I won't give away anymore of the movie because I highly recommend it. It hits some emotional marks, has some interesting cameos from real video game characters, and it's true to the old school games I used to love playing at the arcade.
Wreck-It Ralph is a perfect movie!
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