by Karissa Barrows and Kevin Gaussoin, Editors

Like their Toy Story trilogy before it, Pixar’s Wreck-It Ralph exists in a world where once humans look away, our toys have lives of their own. This time instead of classic toys, we have a story of classic arcade video game characters. Ralph (John C. Reilly – 9, Walk Hard) is the villain of a thirty year old classic arcade game called Fix-It Felix, Jr. that hearkens back to arcade classics like Rampage, Crazy Climber, and Donkey Kong Junior. Ralph suffers from depression brought on by his lot in life; he is tired of being a bad guy living in a dump and would like some positive recognition. On the 30th anniversary of their game, Ralph confronts Felix (Jack McBrayer – 30 Rock, Phineas and Ferb) and the tenants of the building they wreck and fix daily and is told that if he earns a medal on his own, he can live in the building’s penthouse. Wreck-It Ralph tells the story of Ralph’s salvation.

And what a fabulous story it is!  After making his way into the video arcade’s new addition, “Hero’s Duty,” after hearing a medal was won just by “killing bugs,” Ralph encounters the abrasive Commander Calhoun (Jane Lynch – Glee, The 40-Year-Old Virgin), whose sole mission is to “make sure the player gets to the top of the tower,” since that’s where the medal is received.  After a bit of a mishap, Ralph finds himself in the nearby “Sugar Rush” racing game and meets Vanellope von Schweets (Sarah Silverman – The Sarah Silverman Show, Crank Yankers), an alleged glitch of the game who steals his medal to pay her competitor’s fee to race for the right to be one of the next day’s avatars.  Enter King Candy (Alan Tudyk – Firefly/Serenity, Tucker and Dale Vs. Evil) and a few dozen cameos by our favorite video game characters, and you’ve got yourself a damn good movie.

We laughed, we cried, Karissa’s son got a Wreck-It Ralph temporary tattoo (and is currently sporting it).  There was even an adorable animated short that showed before the movie started, in old Disney animation style, about a boy, a girl, and a cacophony of paper airplanes. Don’t be late to the movie, because you do not want to miss it.  Lynch’s performance was spectacular as usual, with far more emotional range than she normally gets to play.  McBrayer’s Fix-It Felix was hopelessly endearing.  Tudyk blew the field away with his portrayal of King Candy.  Reilly’s work as Ralph makes the viewer appreciate the actor’s ability as few have since his performance in Chicago.

All in all, Wreck-It Ralph is yet another Pixar masterpiece, appealing to all ages and all audiences as Pixar movies so reliably do.  For those of us who are gamers, especially those of us who grew up with games from 8-bit on up, the movie hits all the right nostalgic places and does nothing but add to how amazing the movie is as a whole.  We haven’t met a Pixar film yet that we don’t insist people see while it’s in theaters, and Wreck-It Ralph is certainly no exception.  The movie comes out today, so take your family!  Karissa’s two-year-old loved it!

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Wreck-It Ralph 5 out of 5 boss levels.

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