For the past decade or so, the Mouse House has been struggling to hit the heights it once achieved during the Second Disney Animated Renaissance in the 90s (though in my opinion the last good traditionally animated Disney film was Lilo and Stitch way back in 2002). I mean c'mon Brother Bear? Home on the Range? Chicken Little? And does anyone actually remember Meet the Robinsons or Bolt? And their much-hyped return to traditional animation, The Princess and the Frog, did not ignite a Third Animated Renaissance, the way the studio hoped it would. All too often the films have been mediocre to decent, with Tangled being probably the best offering to independently come out of the studio for a while. But lo and behold, the seas have parted, the sky has lit up, and now Disney Animation is finally ready to play by Pixar's rules with, ironically enough, a loving kiss to video games of all generations--Wreck It Ralph!
So far, without a doubt, this is the most inventive and original animated movie of this year. The story is simple enough--In the world of video games unified by Game Central Station at Litwak's Arcade, Ralph, the villain of the game Fix-It Felix, is tired of his thankless role as the bad guy who wrecks things, and the lack of respects he gets from his fellow game "coworkers". Hoping to prove to himself and the cast in his game, that he's more than just the bad guy, Ralph, to the fear of all other characters in the arcade, "game jumps" to earn himself a hero's medal from a game called Hero's Duty. He ends up blasting off into a Mario Kart-esque game called Sugar Rush, where he meets precociously adorable Vanellope Von Schweetz, an outcast of her own game. And through sympathy and understanding of one another, they form a friendship that essentially changes the status quo of things at Litwik's Arcade.
Though similar themes have been explored in other movies, like Toy Story, the Nightmare Before Christmas, Shrek, and a few others, Ralph's journey as a character never feels stale or cliche. The writing in and of itself pops! We are treated to many clever jokes, both video game and snack related, and more importantly, we are sold on these characters through the hearts and souls fleshed out for them in the script. Ralph and Vanellope, unlike the typical templates for Disney characters, are broken. They aren't perfect. They are flawed, and therefore, dare I say, human. And we love them because, like a lot of us humans, they are determined to do whatever it takes to resolve these flaws, but are at the end able to accept themselves for everything they are--imperfections and all. Ralph, voiced perfectly by John C Reilly, hates his role in life. He's unhappy with this aspect of himself, which, per the rules of the arcade, he can't change, but forcibly tries to change it anyway. The same way, Vanellope, voiced by the initially grating, but eventually endearing, Sarah Silverman, wants to prove she's more than just a glitch in her game to all the bullies that reject her, and finally enter and win a Sugar Rush qualifying race. The two characters need each other to help themselves realize they can accept the things about themselves they can't change, something the writers intended of course, and therefore the relationship between them anchors the picture. By the end of it all, the flaws don't matter, because they have each other, and are finally happy with themselves.
Departing from the topic of Ralph and Vanellope, the supporting cast of characters is a LOT of fun to watch too, as they take us through the B-storylines of the movie. Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch are amazing and hilarious to watch as Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Callhoun, whith some really funny dialogue and clever moments between them. Alan "I'm a jewel of the Whedon-verse" Tudyk is also very funny as King Candy, the goofy tyrant of Sugar Rush, determined to keep Vanellope down. There's a dark, unexepected, and clever twist that's revealed in the final act with his character. And of course, the amazing video game cameos that are a feast for the eyes of gamers everywhere, including Ken, Ryu, Cammie, Chun Li, M Bison, and Zangief from Street Fighter, the cast of Q-Bert, Pac-Man and the various Ghosts, Tapper, Sonic, Dr. Eggman, etc, all of which are just brilliant nods proving how truly geeky the creators of the film really are, and how much they cared about bringing this gamer-verse to life.
Rich "Futurama is the greatest TV show ever" Moore handles the story and the script much like many of the best episodes of Futurama or The Simpsons, with love, wit, snark, and enthusiasm, never forgetting that this movie is about video games and emotionally vulnerable characters, but also never forgetting that it's supposed to be fun. The colorful environments and action-packed set pieces are a blast to watch, particularly Ralph's first hilarious experience with combat during the Hero's Duty segment, and the well-animated vibrant gumdrop-world of Sugar Rush. These are probably the best, most colorful CG-rendered environments in an animated film since How To Train Your Dragon.
The overall package of Wreck It Ralph is definitely a surprisingly heartwarming, funny, well-animated, and clever gift for us--especially given that this was done without Pixar, who's star seems to be dimming between the very poorly received Cars 2 in 2011, and the less-than-enthusiastic reception of the disappointing Brave this summer. While we are of course still rooting for next summer's Monsters University to bring Pixar back on track, I'm just very happy that Walt Disney Feature Animation has given us a Pixar-level movie that we have been missing since the double whammy of Dreamworks' How to Train Your Dragon and Toy Story 3 back in 2010. Here's hoping Ralph marks the beginning of the Third Animated Renaissance Disney's been hoping for a long long time.
Overall Rating: A
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