by Kevin Gaussoin and Karissa Barrows, 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 sweet movie.

Lynch’s performance was spectacular as usual, with far more emotional range than she normally gets to play in her “daytime job” on Glee.  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.

Audio & Video

Like we’ve come to expect from all Disney films, particularly the Pixar ones, The Blu-ray editions of  Wreck-It Ralph bring all the audio and video magic into our home theaters. Do you have 3D equipment? Wreck-It Ralph is enhanced by beautiful 3D imagery, but it does not rely on it. And both Blu-ray versions showcase the amazing artwork and animation in this film. Who knew cartoon candy could be so lifelike it made you salivate?

As per usual, Disney delivers amazing sound in this release as well. You want the highest quality 7.1 digital audio, so here you go: Wreck-It Ralph carries on the Disney tradition of bringing the best voice actors, sound effects, and music to your home theater–probably not in person, but who knows? Maybe you have some crazy voice actor bait in your house.

Special Features

Like when we saw Wreck-It Ralph in the cinema, the Blu-ray release contains the Academy Award winning Paperman, the same adorable animated short that showed before the movie.  Paperman‘s style is evocative of classic Disney animation, about a boy, a girl, and a cacophony of paper airplanes. Beyond the list below, this release also includes a clever “hidden” special feature dubbed Disney Intermission. To access it, simply hit pause while the movie is running and instead of a still screen, you’ll be greeted by @Nerdist Chris Hardwick who has clearly been curling easter eggs and caffeinated beverages, ’cause that nerd’s biceps are nearly as conspicuous as his enthusiasm for showing us Wreck-It Ralph‘s easter eggs that mostly consist of shout-outs to classic video games.

• Bit By Bit: Creating The Worlds Of Wreck-It Ralph  – A tour of the different video game worlds of Wreck-It Ralph featuring interviews with the creators.
• Deleted & Alternate Scenes – Keep in mind that these are mostly just storyboards with voiceovers and that they were cut for good reason.
• Video Game Commercials – In the Toy Story-ish “real world” that surrounds the digital world of Wreck-It Ralph, the arcade that Ralph lives in has been around for decades, so what television commercials might the owner have run on local channels to bring kids to his arcade? These are some hilarious ads referencing the game launches of Fix-It Felix, Jr., Sugar Rush, and Hero’s Duty.

Overall

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 naturally all this nostalgia adds 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.  We feel the same way about owning the Blu-ray editions, and recommend you add Wreck-It Ralph to your collection.

Rating:
ComicsOnline gives Wreck-It Ralph 5 out of 5 gold medal high scores.

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