After months of anticipation and excitement, I finally had the chance to see the long awaited Wreck-It Ralph. Now I get to embark on the difficult journey of reviewing the film without dropping any spoilers. Also, “rosebud” was the sled.

Fig 11-3: The true hero of Wreck-It Ralph

But before I go and review the actual movie, let me stop and talk about the short film that appeared before it, Pixar-style. It involved an absolutely adorable, black-and-white-styled romance between two office-bound desk workers. The reason I bring it up is because it seems almost as if Disney knew what a bulk of the audience would be: lonely 20-something gamers with office-bound desk jobs. It’s as if they’re trying to offer us a little bit of hope before the remainder of our lonely lives snuff it out completely.

On a happier note, I am pleased to report that Wreck-It Ralph was actually a good movie. If Disney can still make good movies like this, it makes me think they might not completely screw up the new, inevitable Star Wars sequels (I’m looking forward to seeing Mara Jade!).

As I mentioned in my Battle of the Smithsonian review (way back in the dark ages of 2009), certain movies can be considered “cameo flicks”. However, while Smithsonian screwed it up by just throwing characters onto the film reel willy-nilly, Wreck-It Ralph made its cameos feel more organic. The cameo characters played a part in the overall story without overwhelming the actual characters and feeling forced.

The main characters were also well done. The titular character (Wreck-It Ralph‘s Wreck-It Ralph) was impressively nuanced with his own dreams, desires, and grudges. The way others reacted to his bad-guy stereotype added to his feelings of frustration.

The character that impressed me most, however, was the little brat Vanellope von Schweetz, Her appearances in the trailers simply did not do her justice. I thought she would be an annoying little girl that would leave me with my head in my hands wondering what I did to deserve this punishment. Instead, we learn throughout the story that she is, in fact, a broken individual lashing out at a world that rejects her existence and who fights to find her place, to a degree that puts Ralph to shame. I somewhat hope Disney decides to make her one of their official princesses, but I know that’ll never happen since she has too much of a personality. Also, she had striped stockings, which is awesome. Though, much of the effect is lost on such a little girl.

Wreck-It Ralph had lots of funny moments. I was literally LOL’ing at certain times, to use modern parlance. I did notice that the two audience demographics (hopeless geeks and young children) were laughing at completely different things, but I’ve come to expect that from these sorts of movies. Another little thing that made me giggle was during the credits. It started off with what sounded like Owl City, and this song played as most of the little kids and their families shuffled out. After this song, it switched over to, no joke, a J-Pop theme song for Sugar Rush from AKB48. I thought, “okay, they’re catering to the geeks now.”

To sum things up, Wreck-It Ralph is an awesome movie and everybody who has played a video game at some point in his or her life should go out and see it. I give it a solid 9.8577768/10.23. I’m already looking forward to Wreck-It Ralph 2: The Wreckoning.