Wreck-It Ralph.

Got a chance to see this, for free, in 3D this morning and although I'm not big on reviewing stuff in the cinema because I can't take notes at the time, when a film is this good, I feel the need to give my ten pence. Hope you enjoy!

Wreck-It Ralph was first developed in the 80s and was eventually shelved. It then spent every decade since getting reintroduced with a new name and then getting shelved again, until it finally came out last year. And trust me, despite the reworkings, you can really tell this all started in the 80s. Maybe it was for the best that it got shelved so much though, as this version of the concept was met by a positive critical reaction largely across the board. However, although I am as equally positive, I'm clearly positive in a very different way than many critics.

First, the plot. Wreck-It Ralph is about a series of arcade games connected together to form a world, the characters inside the games are actually alive and their roles in their games are their jobs. When the arcade closes they are free to explore each other's games, you do it when the games are running however and you commit the greatest sin, 'Going Turbo'. You 'Go Turbo' and the real people assume your game is broken and unplug it, which is the equivalent of dying. Even knowing this, Ralph, the villain of the game Fix-It Felix JR decides he is fed up of being the villain and 'Goes Turbo' in an attempt to find glory, causing havoc as he goes.

Although I don't really feel the 3D added a lot, Wreck-It Ralph is an absolutely stunning film. Each visual style realised just as brilliantly as the next, blended seamlessly together. Each world and art style it embodies are strikingly different and it shows impressive art direction that it all mixes so well and it doesn't just all clash. All of this really helps make the world of Wreck-It Ralph feel fully realised, despite its general wackiness. The concept of an arcade being an actual world where all the game characters have their own lives and personalities is a really great concept in itself but when it is executed this well, it becomes something else entirely. Something truly wonderful.

However, and a big one, the films scale is one that leaves me torn. I came into Wreck-It Ralph expecting an adventure film about a character hopping from game to game and that isn't what I got, at all. There is some game hopping to be had, for sure, but by the second act all the worlds have been introduced and most of the film takes places in a single one of those worlds. Why this leaves me torn is that despite it not being the epic game hopping adventure I had hoped for, this film still worked and I can't help but wonder if the precise focus of the film was the reason. No one really knows why but video games don't seem to cross mediums to film very well and perhaps if they widened the scope, the film may well have ended up collapsing in on itself, like so many other video game movies have done before it. As said though, that doesn't stop a bit of Cabin In The Woods syndrome, there is a world teased at here and enough to be satisfying but I couldn't help but crave more. So here is hoping for many sequels that do more exploration of this amazing world!

What probably also helps the film to is that iconic, pre-existing video game characters make cameos only. This probably sounds disappointing on the face of it but this means the film isn't shackled by existing mythos and a desperation to please fans of specific games. There are very few things that harm a film more than a film desperate to please everyone and resorting to fan pandering. This room it creates for the filmmakers is so huge Wreck-It Ralph turns out to be truly epic, even as the locations and cast get smaller and smaller with the central narrative getting simpler and simpler, the actual scope and scale of each scene gets even bigger. This all culminates in a third act so epic, it made my eyes water at the sheer awesome of it all. This is a film that really needs to be seen in the cinema to be fully appreciated.

However, yes another one, I find Wreck-It Ralph a strange beast. It's a kids film, allegedly, full of heart-warming moments, kid friendly darker content and bright vibrant colours but it's also a nostalgia film, something that seems utterly bizarre to be marketed at children. Many of the references went right over my head and I'm 21 years old, so I dread to think how little of this even older teenagers would understand, referencewise, least the little kiddies. And although the story and characters are engaging enough for the youngest of audiences, half the fun of Wreck-It Ralph is its love for video games and how many references it could fit in, most of which felt extremely obscure because it seemed to be more a love of the gaming childhood of the parents in the audience, not the kids. And although I was more than able to enjoy it on the few references I actually understood, my first remark walking out was, 'they still have arcades like that?'. So I'm not sure how much of this you could really appreciate if you were largely brought up on the PS2/Xbox or later as my first console was the Sega Mega Drive and I still had to scratch my head at a few of the cameos.

In a similar sense, the films themes also seem a little too old for the kids in the audience too. Wreck-It Ralph is largely a film about being different and learning to be okay with that. I know that is a classic kids movie theme but one I've never really understood why. I mean don't get me wrong it's a beautiful message and an emotional and hungover me may have shed a few tears by the end of this but I really didn't start to notice that people were 'different' until my early teens and it took me quite a few years to 'be okay with that'. Being an outcast myself, I felt right at home with Ralph but I wonder how many kids in the audience could say the same.

When I watch animated features like this, it leaves me baffled as to why anime dubs are so bad. Films like this make it clear that you can voice characters in English and it not be shit. When the film comes to largely a grinding halt for most of the second act, although at first jarring because of the velocity of the first act, the chemistry between the actors is so strong and the characters so well written in the first place, I really didn't mind. It's a mark of the best kids features, when the film can stop the rollercoaster ride for a few character moments without growing boring. You may be surprised by how small the roster of truly important characters end up being but each character is such a strong, deep character, backed by a brilliant voice performance you really will not mind. The characters in this film are awesome.

So do I recommend it? Reading back on my review, it's probably quite jarring how negative this seems to read after I introduced it with such positivity. I guess it's just strange how not for kids this film ultimately ends up being, when I think back on it. I mean it's an utterly fantastic film and one you need to go out and see but if you were planning on taking the kids, ironically I think you'll end up enjoying this a lot more than they will.

Think About It!

-Locke, the world's worst film snob.

What would you rate 'Wreck-It Ralph'?