A Medal for the Bad Guy: A Movie Review on Disney's "Wreck-It Ralph"

For those of you who lived during the 1980's and 90's, you might remember the old arcade games popular during those decades (Pac-Man, Super Mario Brothers, etc.). Disney took these arcade games, as well as some more modern-styled ones, and created a family cartoon about the secret lives of the characters. What if a person in one game traveled through the plugs to another game? The result was Wreck-It Ralph. It featured the voices of John C. Reilly (playing Wreck-It Ralph), Sarah Silverman (playing Vanellope von Schweetz), and Jack McBrayer (playing Fix-It Felix, Jr.).

SUMMARY

   Wreck-It Ralph is the villain in a "retro" arcade game named Fix-It Felix, Jr. He is tired of being the bad guy and wants to be able to live among the inhabitants of the game in their skyscraper. When he realizes he must get a medal to be "accepted," he ventures to another game in order to find one. He enters a modern science-fiction game and accidentally brings the monster bug from that game to the world of Sugar Rush. He meets a glitch named Vanellope von Schweetz who dreams of becoming a winning racer. As the story progresses, the world of Sugar Rush is overrun by the evil bugs from the Hero's Duty game. Ralph must, ironically, fix the problem he created.

CONTENT

   Although this was a fun movie, there are a few things that should be addressed. The violence is mainly found in the Hero's Duty game and whatever scenes in which the bugs are found. It could scare young children, but the rest of the movie is rather mild in this area.

   Felix makes a remark about how a female soldier looks "High Definition" (apparently meaning "beautiful" to the game characters). There is a scene where the two kiss and their entire relationship throughout the movie is really plain strange.

   There is also crude humor throughout the movie (included restroom jokes), especially between Ralph and Vanellope.

   The concept that good and evil are equal is surprisingly able to squeeze its way into this film. The games are presented that good can't be in games without evil, and vice versa. Also, towards the beginning of the movie, Ralph attends an Anonymous Meeting for villains (led by a ghost from Pac-Man). One of the characters present is portrayed to be like Satan, just with a slightly different pronunciation. When this meeting ends, the villains hold hands, bow their heads, and speak as if they are praying (this came across to me as offensive). At the end of the movie, Ralph says that he is bad, that is good, and it is who he is. The belief of self-actualization even comes in, as Vanellope says at one point that she has to "focus and concentrate" to control her glitching.

   With that said, there are also some good things about this animated feature. Themes of loyalty to one's friend is shown between Ralph and Vanellope. Also, a lesson in doing one's duty is also portrayed (though Ralph says his duty is to be the villain).

   If your family is looking for something to watch for a "movie night," this is a good choice. All movies have their faults (many have more than this one), but this one is fun and creative.

GENERAL INFORMATION

Length: 101 minutes

Rating: PG (for some rude humor and mild action/violence)

Director: Rich Moore

Producer: Clark Spencer

Music: Henry Jackman

Year of release: 2012

Audience: Children, Family