Wreck-it Ralph (2012)

Wreck-it Ralph (2012)

Wreck-it Ralph was a return to computer animation and big narrative storytelling, after the comparatively smaller and simpler Winnie the Pooh and seems to be another attempt at Disney trying something a little different out. The main concept of the film and the advertising that surrounded it is the idea that all your favourite video game characters live in the same world – Sonic, Pac-Man, Bowser and so on are all real people who treat their video game personas as a job and at the end of the day they go off and have their own lives; it’s kind of like Who Framed Roger Rabbit, except with video games instead of cartoons. Audiences were taken in by this enticing idea and stuck around for the film’s visuals and story, which went beyond simply shoehorning in a bunch of video game cameos, though Wreck-it Ralph is certainly not without its problems.

Disney clearly establish that at this point, they have managed to use computer animation while still retaining the creativity, imagination and personality of their traditionally animated films; though not as impressive as Tangled, Wreck-it Ralph is nonetheless a very well animated film which takes advantage of a number of different styles and techniques, from cutting edge CGI to retro, 8-bit graphics and even what is made to look like stop motion. The film has a varied visual style – all the characters have unique and interesting designs, reflecting the fact that they are from different games, which all have unique art styles of their own; I do think the film’s human characters look a bit more like Pixar than Disney, which can come off as a bit lazy, but they are hardly the focus of the film. The characters’ movements are perhaps the most impressive aspect; the film perfectly captures the awkward and limited animation of early video games with the stiff, choppy movements of characters such as the Nicelanders and, occasionally, Ralph and Felix, which helps legitimise this idea that these are video game characters that have come to life and not just pre-rendered models. The backgrounds are also all very distinct and colourful, helping to set the tone for each individual game and, again, distinguishing them from one another; I especially like the fact that it is always night time in Fix-it Felix Jr., because old arcade games always have solid black backgrounds.

The basic concept of the film is not an entirely original one, as well as the aforementioned connection to Who Framed Roger Rabbit, the film perhaps more explicitly resembles Toy Story, except with video games instead of toys – a group of characters play certain roles for the amusement of children, which they treat like a job and have their own lives that resume when playtime is over. In this respect Wreck-it Ralph can at times feel as if it wants to be more like a Pixar movie than a Disney one, but it unfortunately lacks the depth of Toy Story and is a little too straightforward. Though this initial idea is very interesting, it isn’t always utilised well; the world of the arcade and all the different rules that the characters have to follow are engaging and make for an exciting journey, but the film never really plumbs the depths of its own ideas; while the Toy Story series used its concept and setting to explore the issues of mortality, abandonment, maturity, selfishness versus selflessness and the difference between merely surviving and truly living, Wreck-it Ralph only really uses its concept as a backdrop for a standard underdog story about an outcast who gains acceptance. 

These problems are also reflected in the film’s somewhat poor pacing – though the initial conflict is set up quickly, Ralph spends much longer in Hero’s Duty than he needs to, as it really only serves to set up Calhoun and the Cy-Bugs, which could’ve been done much faster; additionally, the world of Hero’s Duty is pretty dull and unimaginative compared to the film’s other environments, so it’s frustrating to not see Ralph get out of there as soon as possible. He spends even longer in Sugar Rush and though it’s much more interesting an environment, it’s a shame that Ralph couldn’t go to any other games; the bulk of the film isn’t bad by any means, but this all just feels like a waste of potential. Meanwhile, Felix and Calhoun’s subplot, which also takes place mostly in Sugar Rush, feels pretty pointless; they’re basically just chasing after Ralph, but their stories don’t intersect until the very end and as a result they feel very disconnected from the action and serve more as a distraction or, arguably, filler, rather than a companion to the rest of the film. The only purpose their scenes serve is to deliver exposition, which makes them tedious to watch and slows down the action; again, it feels like a missed opportunity, considering that Felix and Calhoun could have travelled to other video game worlds, met a wider assortment of characters and been given more development to their relationship, rather than simply using their time to spout expository dialogue. 

Speaking of the dialogue, it is sadly one of the film’s biggest problems; though the central story is still good, if a little unfulfilled, the dialogue is often clumsy and flat, with too much exposition and strange and awkward attempts at comedy which had me scratching my head more often than laughing. The film’s sense of humour is very broad and juvenile, with a lot of lazy pop-cultural references, silly puns and childish “funny” insults used in place of any humour that naturally develops from the interactions between the characters and the situations they find themselves in. This, combined with the fact that practically every character is voiced by a relatively major celebrity reveals that the film is perhaps not so much a Disney movie that wants to be a Pixar movie, but more like a DreamWorks movie that’s trying to be a Pixar movie, despite actually being a Disney movie; a messy simile I know, but I think that’s the best way to describe it. That said, the video game jokes are surprisingly clever and subtle, for the most part; I was expecting a lot of very goofy references to only the most well known and base level of video game culture, with a lot of talk about points and levels and high scores and very little specifics, but it’s clear that the writers actually cared about the subject matter enough to do their research. Sugar Rush, for example, is a perfect parody of a dime-a-dozen late 90’s Mario Kart clone, while Fix it Felix Jr. itself of course is a love letter to the original Donkey Kong, right up to the arcade cabinet art. There are a few groan-worthy moments – Ralph referencing Lara Croft for absolutely no reason other than to make the reference comes to mind – but most of the video game jokes are quite clever and usually focus around humorously deconstructing the tropes, clichés and bizarre internal logic of video games as a whole, rather than simply yelling out “Mario” or “Sonic” every two minutes.

The characters are also one of the movie’s weaker points, as even though they have a lot of cool things to do, the weak dialogue puts a damper on their wit and personality. Ralph is a bit dull, he doesn’t seem to have much of a personality beyond being grumpy and short-tempered, not so bad for a supporting character perhaps, but not the protagonist; he’s not especially unlikeable and his character arc is interesting, in theory, but in practice it’s not really all that involving. His dialogue is especially bad, usually just being far too simplistic and lacking any sense of emotion or individuality; if it wasn’t for the effort that John C. Reilly puts into his performance, Ralph would be so boring as to be borderline unwatchable. Vanellope is pretty likeable, she’s fun, cute and her animation is very energised and creative; she can be a little annoying and excessively bratty at times, but like John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman puts a lot of energy into her performance that makes it difficult not to find her at least a little endearing. Felix seems to be a parody of typical early video game protagonists, who, by necessity, had no real characteristics beyond their design, as well as a lot of early Disney ones; he’s a nice, decent guy, but not much else and is often overly naive, as well as polite and friendly to a fault. This is a clever idea which could work really well when paired up against Ralph, but unfortunately the two don’t spend much time together, so like a lot of other things in the movie, this potential seems sadly wasted.

Calhoun is very obviously just supposed to be an animated version of her voice actress, Jane Lynch, or rather, her comic persona and in particular her most famous character, Sue Sylvester from Glee. Not only does she look and (obviously) sound just like her, she’s just as tough, no-nonsense and so on; she’s not unlikeable, but isn’t really very interesting either, as the entire purpose of her character seems to be to deliver exposition, it’s honestly almost all she ever does and it’s distracting, particularly for a Disney movie, as they usually don’t have much exposition at all. She’s not especially bad, but things usually become a little boring when she’s on screen and her dynamic with Felix isn’t nearly as interesting as the dynamic between Ralph and Felix could have been. King Candy is an enjoyably goofy villain and though his dialogue is not particularly funny, his voice and mannerisms – which is quite clearly Alan Tudyk trying to do an impression of the Mad Hatter – are fun to watch. The reveal that he is actually Turbo, an egomaniac who left his own game to take over Sugar Rush and destroyed two games in the process, is genuinely a rather good twist and while his back story is a little clumsily delivered, the way it ties him in to the history of the arcade and its inhabitants helps strengthen his role as a villain and the threat he poses.

There are a lot of reasons why Wreck-it Ralph shouldn’t work: it only capitalises on a tiny percentage of its interesting initial concept, the dialogue is weak, the jokes aren’t very funny, its characters aren’t especially interesting and its attempts to be more like an edgy mix between a Pixar and a DreamWorks movie feel a little out of place. Despite all this, for some reason, I find Wreck-it Ralph really enjoyable and I cannot for the life of me articulate exactly why that is. The best example I can give of this is the scene when Vanellope is learning how to drive, which takes the form of a montage set to “Shut Up and Drive” by Rihanna. For so many reasons, this should not work at all; contemporary pop songs, particularly those of an artist like Rihanna feel completely out of place in a Disney movie, this seems so much more like a scene from a DreamWorks film and not a very good one at that. Yet, somehow, it works; instead of this this awkward song choice taking me out of the movie, it dragged me further in, instead of scoffing and rolling my eyes like I usually would, I felt invigorated and excited, without any sense of irony or insincerity. This sums up the whole film to me, there are so many problems and missed opportunities here, so many things that do not feel like they should be part of a Disney movie, but despite, or perhaps, because of this, Wreck-it Ralph works. Maybe it’s because it’s so unlike most other Disney movies, or maybe it’s because this reflects the very message of the film – everyone is special in their own unique way and even if something isn’t perfect and seems a little messy or broken, that doesn’t mean it can’t be great. Wreck-it Ralph certainly isn’t perfect and is definitely a little rough around the edges, but deep down, it’s a sweet and charming film.

6.5/10