Wreck-it Ralph

I took my seven-year-old nephew to see this film, and like most boys and young men I know, he loves video games. He has a Nintendo DS that he carries around and a Wii at home – and he plays them constantly. At the moment he’s obsessed with Batman video games, but unlike most boys he’s fascinated by villains, not heroes. Although he admires the heroism in Batman, he seems more fascinated with characters like the Joker, Clayface and Harley Quinn. This new Disney film’s titular character is the “bad guy” of a game called Fix-it Felix Jr. – it’s a charming film that pays homage to game arcades for nostalgic gamers. I’m not a gamer myself – though I grew up addicted to playing Donkey Kong, a phase I quickly grew out of – therefore I wasn’t as reminiscent whilst watching this film, but I surely found it quite entertaining. And so did my nephew.

In this Toy Story-type story, the games’ characters are like people – but they only come to life when the arcade closes and are free to roam about in their own games, or in other arcade games (they travel through the electrical cords like trains, and the main electrical board is known as Game Central Station – and, yes, it’s designed to replicate the famous New York train station). This sort of set up is what Disney films have succeeded (including A Bug’s Life and Monster’s Inc.), and it is often very clever, humorous and endearing.

John C. Reilly lends his voice to Wreck-it Ralph, the bad guy to the game’s hero, Fix-it Felix Jr. (Jack McBreyer). Ralph’s programed to destroy a building occupied by the humble people of Nicelander, and it’s Felix’s mission to fix up whatever Ralph destructs, therefore ultimately winning the hero’s medal and the luxury penthouse. Upon the 30^th anniversary of the game, Felix is overwhelmed by the congratulatory attention he’s been getting, and this results in Ralph being left out – even in closing hours, villains must keep their distance from the heroes and civilians. Ralph feels that he’s been misunderstood, and would very much like some positive attention, as well as a medal and a penthouse. After attending group counselling, and being constantly badgered by the people of Nicelander, Ralph ventures to change his path by being a hero for once. Ralph goes “turbo” as he is lead into a first-person game called Hero’s Duty, where soldiers fight against vile bugs. Ralph finds, rather than wins, the hero’s medal, only to stumble, and then ultimately losing it in another game called Sugar Rush, a candy coloured racer game for young children. It is there he meets a fellow outcast, an adorable little girl with bits of accessorised candy in her black hair named Venelope von Schweets (Sarah Silverman). Venelope is known as a glitch in their world - a glitch is a faulty character in a game, much like an injury prone athlete who can no longer compete – and her presence on the race track could risk the game of being shut down. However, being a glitch hasn’t stopped Venelope’s ambition to race. It is she who finds and uses Ralph’s hero’s medal to enter the race. Venelope intends to win the medal back for Ralph, but only if he’s there to help her to prove to the other standoffish racers, including the very successful, yet unruly, King Candy (Alan Tudyk), that she’s “coded” to be a winning racer.

Venelope’s glitches certainly represent the flaws and insecurities we all have (Sarah Silverman duly notes this during her appearance on Conan O’Brien, as she mentions that director Rich Moore based Venelope on Silverman’s memoir). Some of us have trouble dealing with them, and some of us use them to enrich our talents. And that is what’s so profound about John Lasseter’s Disney films. There are always these subtexts that often refer to the hurdles in life, the highs and lows of a rollercoaster ride, glitches in life that we try to fix – healthy messages that are also intended for adults, as well as children. Like Marlon the clown fish (of Finding Nemo), an over protective father who must earn Nemo’s trust, so he can learn to let go and allow his son to have an adventurous life. And Lightning McQueen (of Cars) realises that winning the Piston cup isn’t just about getting sponsorships and media attention, and that taking short cuts doesn’t necessarily make you a worthy winner, nor does it make you a decent person. These messages are subtle and honest, and are thoughtfully expressed through real and engaging characters.

Venelope is the real charm of this film. She is a well written character and voiced by a very talented and lively actress. There is a great, bitter-sweet scene where Venelope gives Ralph a cookie in the shape of a medal that says “You’re my hero.” And then subsequently to be betrayed by Ralph (I won’t explain why) as he destroys her racing vehicle that she was so proud to have made with him. “You really are a bad guy!” she cries. This heartbreaking scene reminds me of Monsters Inc. when Sully accidently terrifies Boo in a training exercise, and then seeing her horrified face being played back on the monitors.

This film draws many parallels to previous Disney films. It may not seem as original, however a Disney film about video game characters was destined to happen. The colour palettes in this film are vibrant and enchanting, particularly the pretty brights and pastels of Sugar Rush. The array of bubble gum pinks and frosty cupcakes certainly triggered my sweet tooth. But the one flaw that stood out to me about this film was that I didn’t think it had enough humour – with the exception of Sarah Silverman who’s often surprising, and Jack McBreyer being all goody-two shoes, much like his Kenneth Parcell character on 30 Rock – but my brother and my boyfriend told me: “It’s because you didn’t get the video games references!”