Wreck It Ralph

2.5 Stars (out of four)

Disney's Wreck It Ralph is the next movie by Pixar über-genius, John Lassiter, the man behind almost every Pixar film out there.  But this is under the Disney banner.  If you haven't seen the previews, the main character Ralph is the bad guy in an old 8-bit video game called Fix-It Felix.  The game is a cross between the classics Rampage, Donkey Kong and Burger Time (and many others).  Basically, Ralph (John C. Reiley) smashes up a building, Felix (the player), fixes the damage and then the building's residents, in a style similar to the pitchforks and torches mobs of Frankenstein, toss him off the roof and another level starts.  Ralph lives in the dump next to the building and is shunned by the building's residents while they praise Felix after the arcade (do these even exist anymore?) closes for the night.  After 30 years, Ralph doesn't want to be the bad guy anymore and leaves the game to get a medal (don't ask).  He goes into a modern first-person shooter, absconds with a medal and a dangerous bug into a racing game called Sugar Rush.  Here he meets Venelope (Sarah Silverman), another outcast in her game, and she steals his medal and then loses it to the king of Sugar Rush.  Meanwhile, the bug is laying eggs that could bring the end of the Sugar Rush world and make it inoperable, which means the game is out of order and unplugged, essentially killing everybody  Felix and a woman from the shooter come in, chaos ensues, the day is saved, and Ralph realizes he has his own place in his game.

The movie, while fun, is a conglomeration of things you've seen before.  There is nothing particularly bad about the film, and even a few inspired gags.  The problem is you have to have a LOT of video game knowledge and experience to really get a lot of the funnier inside jokes.  It is not a coincidence that Lassiter is part of this.  The movie feels like the first draft of the much superior Toy Story.  There are good messages, though: Self-discovery, recognition that money or popularity aren't the most important things in life, opposites attract, don't judge a book by its cover, importance of friendship and teamwork, recognize your strengths and others', blah blah blah.  These messages seem to be required in any kids' flick or TV show now.  Why can't they just be fun sometimes?  No message, just plain old fun?  An interesting side note, as the movies' real demographic seems to be people my age who can remember playing Pac-Man, Dig Dug, Asteroids through Street Fighter and Tomb Raider, up through Halo and Mario Kart, is that the movie makes a point about the quaintness of the 8-bit games and the andrenaline-fueled games of today.  That is, the games of today are kind of fast-paced, fever-dream psychosic dream worlds.  It didn't happen at once, but creeped up on us.  And now we have psycho games like Call of Duty, Dead Island, Bioshock and Grand Theft Auto clearly meant for adults but most kids play; and on the other hand, cutesy games like Mario Kart and Dance Dance Revolution with not too much in between.  Not making a judgement, merely an observation.

Is the movie appropriate for kids?  Sure.  Is it good?  For sentimentality for older people, maybe.  Kids will find it cute.  Hard core gamers may love it.  Normal parents will probably think it's okay.