Walt Disney Animation Studios Review: Wreck-it Ralph

Walt Disney Animation Studio’s 52nd feature film.

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My opinion right after watching film

My opinion on this film is that it is brilliant. It can actually compete with many of the Pixar films, and I do think it is one of the best films in the canon. They took an idea that is so not WDAS, but turned it around, and gave the film a lot of heart. The characters are likable, the plot is extremely detailed and well paced, and you can really tell that there is a lot of effort and creativity into this film. I feel like this is what they were trying to do with films like Atlantis: The Lost Empire, and Treasure Planet the decade prior. This film really proved to me that WDAS is back.

Production

So the idea for this film acme up in the late 80s, titled High Score, but it went nowhere. They re-brought up the idea may times, like in the late 90s under the named Joe Jump. and in the mid 2000s, called Reeboot Ralph, to only be renamed Wreck-It Ralph. So this film officially started production in the mid 2000s.

Before the official production started, they thought of which existing video game characters they wanted to use, and to decide where they wanted to incorporate them in the film, where it made sense, but they did this all before they got the licensing rights from the companies these game characters are from. They got the rights to all of the characters they wanted in the films from the companies. Apparently, Mario was going to be in the film, and Nintendo gave WDAS the rights to use him and Luigi, but they felt like Mario would outshine Ralph and the other original characters in the story, so they took Mario out of the film.

On an earlier draft of the film, Vanellope and Ralph would go all around the game world to collect pieces for her kart to race, and sometimes, Felix was there, but after he told Ralph of the news of his relationship. Ralph somehow got depressed by this and ended up in a Sims/Grand Theft Auto game, where he would drink his sorrows, and give up his dream of getting a medal. They cut this out because they had trouble with incorporating this game in the arcade, and how Ralph would handle being there. This is probably why 2/3 of the film is in Sugar Rush.

Story

So the film takes us to a place called Litwaks Arcade, and a character called Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain in the game Fix-it Felix, and he describes the purpose of the game. He wrecks an apartment complex, and the hero Felix (Jack McBrayer) has to fix the broken windows and the building, and defeat Ralph, and he gets a medal.  After 30 years of doing the same at the arcade, he is tired of it, and ends up going to a Villain’s support group, since the people at his game loathe him even when the store closes, and they get a break. They tell him that he is the bad guy in the game, but it does not mean that he is a bad guy, and that he was created to do this role, but they are all shocked when he tells them that he does not want to be a bad guy. The interesting thing is that this support group is at the Pacman game, where all of the villains in Pacman always stay at.

He goes back to his game, and sees that it is the 30th Anniversary party in Felix’s penthouse, and storms up there in annoyance, that he was not aware of. Felix is very awkward when Ralph talks to him, and awkwardly invites him into the party, only for there to be a confrontation with Ralph and one of the people that lives at the apartment.

The man that has the cake all over him in this picture got sassy with Ralph and tells him he will never be on the top of the cake with Felix and will never have the metal because he is the bad guy, and Ralph is sick of getting no recognition.
I have to say that I like that Ralph is never jealous of Felix and mad at Felix AT ALL in this entire film, but is mad that everyone treats him like crap. That is rare in film.

Ralph ends up at a bar to drink down his sorrows, and sees a man in a Hero’s Duty discussing about getting the metal in his game, causing Ralph to come up with the plan to knock the guy out, steal his outfit to sneak into the Hero’sDuty game, and we are soon introduced to my bae (look it up) Sargeant Tamora Jean Calhoun (Jane Lynch), and I will only refer to her as Calhoun from now on, and she is the leader of the game. She tells them to kick some cyborg ass, and Ralph screws up because he is not focused on the purpose of the game, and goes after the metal, causing them to lose the game. He gets it the second time though. I have to say that this is an overly selfish and careless thing for him to do, as taking the metal would literally destroy the game, and causing their game to plug out. Sure, they could live in the cords, but they would be homeless. I just wish he thought about that part before he did what he did. Ralph enters a jet so he can leave, but a cyborg joins him, and forces the jet to go crazy and ends up flying in a game called Sugar Rush.

I forgot to mention that as all of this is happening, it is the next morning, and Ralph is not there when the game starts, causing Felix and the others to worry, and their game has the “Not Working” sign on it, meaning that if things are not fixed by tomorrow, their game is gone, and they are homeless.
They really explain the world in this film brilliantly. If you die outside of your game, you die permanently. If you are in the game as it is pulled out, and not in the electric cords, you die forever as well. Simply brilliant that they explained a lot about this.

The jet Ralph is on crashes, and he sees his metal on a large candy cane, so he climbs it, only to see a little pest…a little girl named Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) annoys us by taunting Ralph with a bunch of lame immature jokes, before she sees the metal, and they have a chase over who gets the metal, as he tells her that it is his, but she manages to get it and runs off with it. Calhoun and Felix decide to team up, as he looks for Ralph, and she is after the cybugs. I thought they were called cyborgs, but was apparently wrong. We learn that she is a tough bitch because she was programmed to have a very tragic backstory of her soon to be husband being eaten by a cybug,

Vanellope uses his metal as a coin to participate in the race, and everyone realizes that it is her, and is and, because a glitch like her cannot race, or they will screw up the game. Ralph scares everyone in the game, as he goes after Vanellope, but he is soon arrested under King Candy (Alan Tudyk) ‘s orders, and is taken to his palace, where Ralph explains that she used his metal for the game, and tells him that it is from Hero’s Duty, where Candy thinks Ralph is “Turbo-ing”, which you will soon find out what it is.

The other little girls pick on Vanellope and break her kart, and Ralph (who escapes out of jail) sees this, and feels bad for her, because he relates to her. We have a parallel that both of them are judged for nit fitting in, and only being something bad. After he scares all of those girls away, he tells her that he needs the metal back, and they make a proposition to get her to race, since it is the only way he will get his metal back. Vanellope needs to shut the hell up with the lame ass toilet humor.

Calhoun and Fleix are looking for the cybug, as she has the tracker for it, and the end up sinking in quick chocholate, and the vines laugh and approach closer to them when she slaps him, so he tells her to do it again. She does not want to hurt a nice guy, but does so when he demands it, and they start to grow a clear infatuation to one another.

Ralph and Vanellope sneak into the compartment area where they have to make the karts, and they have a lot of fun as they make their own cart, but because he is meant to wreck things, the car comes out and looks like a bunch of shit, but she likes it. go figure. A third of her dialogue are about shit jokes. The security guard wakes up, and calls King Candy and co. to get them arrested. It is soon realized that Vanellope does not know how to drive, and Ralph has to get them to escape.

They make it to her home which is the trash area in this game), and he rants about not being able to get in his medal, which was his ticket to a better life and some good recognition, which she relates to. He slams the floor, causing the Mentos on the roof to spill into a liquid, and causes it to blow. Vanellope tells him that glitches like her are not grammatically allowed to leave the game, so she is forced to stay in the crappy place. He makes a track, so she can drive, and when she gets in the car….no……NOOOOO.

There is a Rihanna song in this film. Why the HELL would Disney put her song “Shut Up and Drive” in this film? It makes sense, but…….UGH. I do not want to ever associate Rihanna to Disney. Never again. So about the importance in this scene, Vanellope is doing well enough, but she glitches, causing her kart to crash into the Mentos in the ceiling, causing a few explosions. He tells her she needs to learn to control that.

Felix and Calhoun are in her jet, and he cannot help but blush as he looks at her, and confesses his feelings for her, saying she is “one dynamite girl”, which causes her to go to flashbacks of her ex fiance saying that, causing her to scream traumatically, and telling him to get out of her jet, and flies off after he gets out. Felix goes tot the castle, and asks for Ralph, only for him to get arrested for being associated with him.

Ralph and Vanellope are excited about going to the race, but she goes inside to give him something, and while she is inside, Candy shows up, and tells Ralph that she cannot play because if Vanellope wins the game, she will become one of the main characters to choose from, and whoever is playing the game and seeing her glitch, they will report that the game is broken, causing the game to shut off, and all of them to leave the game, but she will die, since a glitch can’t leave the game. Candy gives him his metal (which he got from sneaking into the coding) before leaving. Vanellope comes back and gives him a made up metal saying “My Hero”, and he tells her that she cannot go, and tries to explain, but she yells at him and tells him he is awful, as she sees his metal. He has to even destroy her kart with his own hands. Such a sad but well done emotional scene. Ralph returns home for him to find out that the game is going to be plugged in the morning, and everyone left after Felix went to find him.

He throws the metal at the screen of his game, causing piece of the sign to fall off, to see that Vanellope is on the side of the game console, causing him to rush back to Sugar Rush, realizing that she is supposed to exist and everything is a lie. He gets the gumdrop to tell him that the real reason she can’t race is because if she crosses the finish line, it will cause the game to reset, and she won’t be a glitch anymore, and the game will be back to normal. Candy locked away all of their memories, so they won’t remember the real version of the game, and he tried to delete Vanellope, but couldn’t, which caused her to turn into a glitch.

Calhoun is walking around, and soon finds the cybug, and realized that it multiplied and had many babies. Ralph goes into jail, and saves Felix, who is very mad but glad that he is here, and rants about his experiences in the game, and with Calhoun, and rants about being rejected and being a criminal here, but Ralph tells him he knows how he feels because that is every day of his life, and that he needs to fix the cart, which Felix does.  He breaks out Vanellope, and brings the cart to her, and all is forgiven, as he apologizes for being an ass and a loser.

She makes it tot he game, and he tells her that she does not need to be first to get the game to restart, but as long as she crosses the finish line. She soon catches up to King Candy, who is in first place. Calhoun shows up to the race, and rips Ralph a new one, revealing that the cybug he brought multiplied, and that they all need to head to Game Central Station (the extension cord), which everyone but Ralph runs to, as he wants Vanellope to cross.

As they are the only two left on the race, Candy flips out when he sees her beat him, and he crashes into her, trying to kill her off, forbidding her to cross. As she glitched, it is revealed that he is the infamous Turbo, who crossed games, because he did not want to die with his game, and wanted to be the best racer ever. He reveals that he reprogrammed the game, so he could be the center of attention, and the central focus of the game.

Vanellope glitches to her advantage, and manages to beat Candy, but the finish line is destroyed by the cybugs. They are all leaving the game, but as they run, Vanellope is blocked from leaving, and Ralph tries to pull her, but she tells him that it is no use. Calhoun is about to blow up the entrance, and he takes Calhoun’s disk, going to the mentos and cause a volcano, which the cybugs will go to , liking the light, but is stopped by Turbo. They engage into a final fight, and Turbo is about to kill him (after they watch Vanellope die), but Ralph sacrifices himself, knowing he would die, and causes the volcanic eruption, but Vanellope saves him, and Candy dies as he touches the volcano (as he transformed himself into part bug).

Calhoun and Fleix kiss in excitement before Ralph takes Vanellope crosses the finish line, and the game restarts, everyone regains their memories, and it is revealed that she is the princess of Sugar Rush, but she rejects that title, and dubs herself “President Vanellope Von Schweets). Calhoun, Felix, and Ralph rush back to their games, and it is revealed in the final scene that the Nicelanders are being nice o him, and enjoy him as being the villain of his game, Vanellope is a fan favorite in her game, and him and her were the best man/bridesmaid to Calhoun and Felix’s wedding. The homeless people are in Fix it Felix for the bonus specials, and they built homes over there as well. Ralph says that the best part of his day is seeing Vanellope kick ass right as he is thrown off the building of his game.

This is a really great film, and I like that it is something that WDAS would not normally do, but they kept the heart, character development, and the strong message that they usually have (which were missing in many of the Post Renaissance films). It was a success, and it showed that Disney is improving without forgetting their roots. The characters are really likable and strong, the soundtrack is pretty good for having the game scores, and it is just a lot of fun. Don’t be shocked if this is on the Top 10 Best lists I do for the WDAS conclusion blog post.

Characters

The characters of this film are very likable, and they do their parts really well. Most of them have some depth to them, and there is a lot to them, and the 5 main characters work really well together. I want to see more of them, learn more of them, and to see their lives improve.

Ralph is a really great main character. I like that he is very destructive and has a massive temper that he never fully gets over with, so he becomes a perfect man. He is really nice, heroic, strong, determined, and needs to feel comfortable in what he is doing and wants to fit in. He is very relatable, and you do not get a shallow feeling from him, like with many heroes and protagonists.

Well, at first she is very annoying and very lame, but she is a character that you warm up to as the film goes on. She is a lot like Ralph in a lot of ways, though she is immature, very tom boy-ish, and vulnerable. She really wants to be given a chance, and feels comfortable in her own skin. She is very likable, and you cannot help but feel for her as the film goes on. If there is a sequel, I wish she has something bigger to do, and she could develop in a different and huger way, so she could be more than just the child.

King Candy is definitely not one of the more memorable villains, but he is a very good villain as well. He is overly ruthless, low down, and a huge attention seeker. He is not overly funny or overly scary (as with villains, you are either one or another), but he is very in between. But something about him is not…………good enough to be one of the best. I like that the Turbo backstory was added for him, to explain a lot more.

Felix is a very likable supporting character, but he…….did not really learn much, develop, or add anything other than fall in love with Calhoun. I remember going online and a few calling him bland, which I don’t think he is, but I just wish he did more. He is the only character that has no depth whatsoever.

I like that she is a kickass tomboy, but she still has a vulnerable, soft, feminine side to her, and it is a very good mix. Though I would have liked for her relationship with Felix to be explored a bit more, it was good enough for a basic attraction (it is clear their wedding took place a while after that), and the backstory of her ex is a brilliant touch.

Animation

The animation is simply brilliant, and you can tell that they studied A LOT of games for this animation. Some of the minor characters move slower, and have those rigid movements because there were only so many positions that they can do in the games (like the citizens in Ralph’s game). The backgrounds are simply jaw dropping, and there is so much detail into every single game, though the designs for all of them are so different. Everything in this film looks good.

Music

The music for the most part is good. The scores are the scores in many of those arcade video games, which I thought was a very neat idea, and they are memorable. The only issue that I have with the music is that they used Rihanna for a song in the soundtrack. Note to Disney, do not EVER do that again.

Reception at Release

When the film was released on November 2nd, 2012, it topped the box office with $49 million, which is the second biggest opening for a WDAS film, to only be topped by its immediate successor. Overall, it made $189,422,889 in North America, and$281,800,000 overseas, for a total of $471,222,889. It is the 14th highest grossing film of 2012, the 4th highest grossing animated film of 2012, and the 5th highest grossing WDAS film.

It did well critically as well. They liked that it is a true family film, with the kids enjoying it, and having the adults laugh at the references. They liked that Disney tried something different, and actually pulled it off. Some did think that the film was too overplotted and underdeveloped.

Wreck-It Ralph did very well with the awards. It won a lot of awards, was nominated for a bunch of awards, and even got an Annie for Best Animated Film. When it comes to the Best Animated Film award at the Academy Awards, it lost against Brave, and many thought it was undeserving, and I agree wholeheartedly.

Reception Today

Well, there is a huge fanbase for it today, it is not that spoken about in Disney because……..it is not a DP film. It is still prominent in Disney parks and stuff, and it is seen as this generation’s Aladdin. There is a lot of fans, but there are some of the people who don’t really care for it. Apparently, there was an interview this year, where it is said that a script for the sequel is being written, so I am assuming that there is going to be a sequel.

Final Score

Story: 9/10

Characters: 7.5/10

Animation: 9/10

Music: 8/10

= 33.5/40 = 84%

Next Time…

Review: December 15th, 2014

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