WRECK-IT RALPH

2012, Disney Animation

Animated

Rating: PG

Approx. 108 mins.

THE STORY:

Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the villain in a classic video game. His raison d'etre is to destroy buildings as the perfect foil for the game's hero, Fix-it Felix (Jack McBrayer). He performs his task, but receives no appreciation. The breaking point comes when Ralph is excluded from a party the game characters hold to celebrate its 30th anniversary. Wanting to gain acceptance, he resolves to earn a medal as proof of his capacity for good.

By joining another arcade game, he manages to get his hands on a medal, but loses it almost immediately in another game, Sugar Rush. The medal ends up in the hands of Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), an outcast little girl character. Her goal is to win a race so that she can prove that she is not simply a glitch. Ralph promises to help her on the condition that she give the medal back to him when she finishes the race.

The friendship that Ralph and Vanellope develop is strained when Ralph is tricked into thinking that winning the race will lead to Vanellope's demise. Ultimately, Ralph is the hero: he protects and supports others and learns that changing the way people see him involves changing the way he is.   

QUESTIONABLE LANGUAGE:

• Stupid
• Butt load

VIOLENCE:

• scenes simulating a combative video game are pretty violent-- lots of shooting and human-devouring insectoids 

TEACHING POINTS:

• Good and bad are not always black and white
• Heroes are people who help and support others in achieving their goals
• Who we are depends on us, not on what others tell us we are 

THE UPSHOT:

It was kind of a 'you had me at hello' film. The opening voice-over is so funny and clever that I completely bought into the character and the fantastic story. I love the idea of an anti-hero, who--despite the incredibly fictional circumstances-- is very much an everyman. I loved the existential implications of Ralph's refusal to accept his mission. He is an Atlas who shrugs, a Sysyphus who leaves the stone at the foot of the hill. 

The recurring theme is not so much good vs. bad, but more the fact that good and bad aren't always easy to label, or even necessarily diametrically opposed. Ralph learns that he isn't 'good', but that that isn't 'bad.' Felix sets out to find Ralph not to punish, but to restore order and protect all of the game's characters, Ralph included. 

It's a pretty deep story and I don't kid myself that the child in the room appreciated all of that, but luckily she found the humour and the clever word play hilarious. Case in point: O-re-o Oooo-re-o chanted by Oreo cookie guards echoing the Wicked Witch's guards in The Wizard of Oz.

I would have loved to give Wreck-it-Ralph a 5, but the story did get confusing around the 2/3 mark. When an adult in the room asked what was going on, the four year-old said, "I don't know. Just watch." There's something to be said for that approach, but I still like to understand what I'm watching.  

4/5