Ashvegas movie review: Wreck-It Ralph

Review by The Isolated Moviegoer:

For 30 years, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) has been the villain in one of the arcade’s longest running video games, Fix-It Felix Jr.  Each day, he knocks down bricks and breaks windows of the same building so that the game’s titular hero (30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer) can use his magic hammer to repair the damage.  It’s a living and Ralph is good at his job, but from his brick-pile dump of a home, he pines for the life of a Good Guy.

Seeking solace with his fellow enemies, Ralph begins attending the Bad-Anon support group.  In these scenes, Wreck-It Ralph shows its smarts, wittily riffing on video game standards with top-notch inside jokes.  In the chairs around him, elevating the material with sincere advice on how to carry on, are a who’s who of recognizable faces, including Bowser from Super Mario Bros., a ghost from Pac-Man, Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, and both Zangief and M. Bison from Street Fighter.  The sight of these legendary baddies in such a ridiculous situation may appear built solely for arcade geeks, but the nuggets of wisdom they dispense (namely that being a Bad Guy doesn’t mean one is a bad guy) connect with nearly anyone.

Just as effective are the sight gags tied to the notion of the arcade still operating once the doors are locked.  Outside of the work day, characters go between games via electric cables, crossing paths in the depot of the surge protector and embodying the graphics of the games they enter.  Leaving the Bad-Anon meeting, the villains, despite their slick animation, are shown from a player’s perspective as 8-bit iterations within Pac-Man.  Some then unwind in Tapper, where the titular barkeep continues to sling grainy brewskies after hours.

Early scenes of Wreck-It Ralph are sprinkled with this winning balance of humor and visual in-references, but when the story has to go somewhere, the results are less successful.  After a character in his game promises Felix-like inclusion if Ralph somehow earns a medal, he hears of such a prize in the new first-person shooter game Hero’s Duty.  Donning the armor of one of its characters, Ralph sneaks into the violent game and, in his escape with the medal, accidentally unleashes one of its nefarious Cy-Bugs on the candy racing adventure Sugar Rush.  Learning of his rogue actions, Felix and Hero’s Duty tough girl Calhoun (Jane Lynch) race to intervene before the Cy-Bugs multiply and wipe out the entire arcade.

Crisis established, the film then spends way too much time in Sugar Rush’s pink, saccharine world, probably the least interesting locale in the arcade.  While there are a few fun riffs on candy culture (a pivotal plot point involves cola and Mentos), they’re surrounded by every bad candy pun imaginable.  Amidst such sour dialogue, Ralph has his medal stolen by the game’s outcast, a “glitch” named Vanellope von Schweetz (a murderously squeaky Sarah Silverman), who will return the treasure if he helps her win an important upcoming race.  Their odd couple relationship is intended as the film’s heart and the means by which Ralph accepts who he is.  Such a change is expected in this kind of film and the road there has its occasional charms, but any significant emotion is negated by the myriad diabetic annoyances of Sugar Rush.

Revving up its energy for the kiddies, Wreck-It Ralph turns into a generic rescue and redemption story, made extra painful by Reilly’s regular oomphs and yelps as he stumbles through the forgettable candyland.  Still, the film is meant for a pint-sized audience, and the surplus of animated laughs and thrills will certainly appeal to them.  Parents, many of whom grew up with the film’s more famous characters, should find enough visual perks and in-references to stay occupied, making for a decent family afternoon at the movies.  Anyone else should look elsewhere.

Grade: C

Rated PG for some rude humor and mild action/violence.

Wreck-It Ralph is currently playing at the Carolina Cinemas on Hendersonville Rd.