Wreck-It Ralph

Specialty Other Disney
#141

Kinda just throwing myself in here mid-conversation, sorry ;~; (I’ll redeem myself in a little bit, I promise)

but man oh man, I am head over heels in love with this movie.

I probably seem like an awful excuse of a Pixar fan per the last few years, but I did manage to see Brave this year, and I can honestly say that I was far more enraptured with the story and characters of Wreck-It Ralph.

Part of my love for this movie is the personal emotional connection to some of the characters and bits of the storyline, particularly Vanellope. She reminds me so much of a character of mine, and I just made a bunch of connections to my story and pieces of WiR (it didn’t hit me until I got home; at which point I literally sat on my bed sobbing because it got me right in the feels), so there’s that.

I went into this movie honestly knowing little about it, besides what I’d seen in the trailers and featurettes and such. I was pleasantly surprised at how well-rounded the story was, and how it managed to be fun without being stupid, and heartfelt without being melodramatic.

I think the only part of the movie I wasn’t too fond of was the part where [spoil]Sgt. Calhoun and Felix were trapped in the Nesquik Sand, and the whole thing with her inflicting pain on him to get some cheap laughs. It did aid their cause, obviously, since the Laffy Taffies were attracted to “funny” things, but it seemed like a fairly cheesy way to advance that part of the story.[/spoil]

To be honest, I didn’t expect [spoil]the King Candy/Turbo reveal at all, and I was pretty upset when it was revealed because I felt pretty stupid! How could I have not seen it? - the whole racing thing should have been my hint.[/spoil] But that’s the thing about this movie: I felt that all the details and subplots were equally attended to and rounded out, with every end being nicely tied by the close of the film. I didn’t leave the theater feeling empty, which is kind of how I felt with Brave (I suppose it’s because I did have some expectations for that movie, and probably hoped it would be more spectacular and sweeping than it actually was.)

Another thing I loved was [spoil]Calhoun and Felix getting together - saw it coming from some of the things I saw previously, but it didn’t feel like a forced pairing. I liked the correlation of Calhoun’s first husband and Felix; how she hadn’t been treated that way since her husband was killed. Even though he was attracted to her from the get-go, Felix’s proclivity to fixing things seemed to lead him straight to the heart that was broken.[/spoil]

Gosh, there’s so many things I loved about this movie - I shouldn’t try getting into all of it one post. it’s long enough already :laughing:

I love the point that Leirin raised about the cameos and TRON in particular. The focus was mainly on arcade games, after all!

On that note, I found myself pointing out and actively looking for various references with my siblings towards the beginning of the film, but as it progressed I was sucked into the story more than anything, and looking for cameos really didn’t feel important anymore. There was a few minutes where the candy references seemed one on top of the other, but the cameos and references in general didn’t feel in-your-face or out of place, and Disney did an excellent job of finding the balance between too much and too little.

Overall, an excellent movie; honestly one of the best animated films I’ve seen in quite a while. I’d recommend it to anyone - video game fan or not. :slight_smile:

little chef

#142

I am going to ignore this adaptation of TRON and say in defense: because there have been many video games adapted from Disney properties, that would have given Disney the liberty to put more than a handful of Disney characters into this film. Not even TRON was significant enough in video game history to be placed into this film; and if it was, it would have been under the interest of Disney advertising themselves more than anything.

#143

Hey guys - I went to see WIR again today, and my friend said there WAS a Tron reference! I didn’t catch it personally, but he says that [spoil]one of the arcade games in the opening montage from 30 years ago to present day was TRON.[/spoil] Has anybody else noticed this?

#144

^ Yep! I paid more attention to background detail at my most recent viewing and noticed that.

#145

It’s gonna be REAAAALLLY fun to screencap this movie when the DVD comes out. xD

#146

I think I might have caught that! Do you mean [spoil]when it shows the footage going by quickly from then to now in the arcade? I do think I remember seeing a TRON machine…[/spoil]

Also, when Felix and Calhoun are talking before entering Sugar Rush, there are two little princess characters that we see in the background that look kind of like Cinderella and Belle to me.

#147

I guess the Friend should actually get on and explain himself. Oh wait… :wink:

So I wish I could tell you exactly where in the film this is, but [spoil]there’s one shot that looks down the Game Central Station. At the very end, on the right, the sign above the socket reads “TRON”.[/spoil] I’ve tried to screencap it using a cam version of the movie but no cam version out there is good enough to read it. :stuck_out_tongue:

I guess while I’m here I should say what I thought of the film. To be brief, I thought it was great. Apparently it wasn’t that surprising that I’d like this film, seeing as how I’m a bit of a “Retro Gamer”, however I went into this movie still with the intention of seeing a well-made film with a lot of heart and that’s what we got. What makes this especially appealing to me is the World building that the film does - it tries to explain the logic of the world in a way that makes sense (as long as you don’t think about it too much) and opens up the idea of so many concepts that could be explored if they planned on doing a sequel or TV show (Not that I’m saying that I want those per say).

As for the plot itself, it takes a while to really get to the gold, but when it does it really shines. Unlike many others (and to many people’s surprise) I actually found the first 25 or so minutes of the film to be weak, giving a rather shallow reason for Ralph to go on his adventures (With the vain hope that what he accomplishes will somehow win him respect from the Nicelanders). Things got much more interesting when Ralph has a character to relate with. The film gets even better when it goes into the backstory of Vanelope and her problems, which creates a conflict for Ralph.

I will add quickly here that the villain here is great. The movie hints at who it will be numerous times, but some like myself might find ourselves so caught up in the film then we won’t notice this on our first viewing and are surprised by it.

Last but not least, I guess I should cover the reasons one might not like this film. Well, if you go in expecting them to game jump a lot, you’ll be sorry to hear it’s only 3 worlds we actually spend any time in (Even though the film does cover 6 if you include Game Central Station, [spoil]Tapper’s and Pac-Man[/spoil].) Also, if you’re expecting any real Video Game characters to actually do stuff and have lines, then you’ll be disappointed. Only [spoil]Sonic, Zengief barely and Q-Bert[/spoil] actually offer anything that has to do with the story. If you don’t like Sara Silverman then you might have a hard time getting past the fact that she plays a little girl and has a LOT of lines. Lastly, you might be disappointed if you were expecting the whole movie to have video game characters and references, because the second half of the film really lays low on them.

This film really is for everyone. Just because it has Video Game characters in it does not mean you need to know who they are to understand the movie. They are only there to help world-build, to make this feel like a legitimate video game world. The actual core of the film lies in the Fictional characters they have created to exist within the setting of Video Games. Similar to Toy Story, just because they are Video Game Characters / Toys does not mean that it defines their personalities. It simply sets the limitations that they must face. Beyond that they are still likable, reliable characters.

I’m not guaranteeing you’ll like the film, but I at least hope you give it a try sometime. It really warmed my heart, and I hope it does the same for some of you.

#148

I actually thought Ralph’s shallow reason for fleeing his game carried significant weight towards the film’s story and moral that it’s trying to teach. [spoil]If Wreck-It Ralph is a gigantic self-esteem story of misfits trying to fit in, often times in real life these types of people are led to believe materialistic possessions is what’s going to gain them respect in a society (Example, the person that buys a nice car and the nice clothes just to show off). I think the point of Ralph seeking a gold medal was his shallow belief that something materialistic will somehow make everyone accept him. As we both have seen the film, that was NOT the case when he finally got it. When he got back to the penthouse he learned that through his selfishness, things were worse and the entire Fix-It Felix Jr. game community have left, leaving his game even more depressing than it ever was. Ralph’s coming-of-realization was that he worked for some stupid gold medal to gain him nothing. To redeem himself he realized he had to fix things and help Venelope win the race. After Ralph actually doing good deeds and abandoning his medal, is when the world started to see him for who he was. The ending was beautiful, when Ralph went back to his game, and NOTHING changed. He was still the villain in his game still doing the same thing. The only thing that changed for him, was his attitude, and I thought that was a beautiful way for the film to say “Just be yourself and love yourself for the way you are.” I think the film’s moral was nailed perfectly.[/spoil]

#149

^Agree with you 100% on that, Disney_Guy :slight_smile:

#150

I’m not saying that the Medal searching was not important to the film’s story or moral, I’m simply saying that it was not as interesting to watch as the later half, to me at least. The film tries to fix that (I can Fix it!) by giving us tons of neat things to look at, such as introducing us to most of the locations of the film and throwing cameo’s and references to Video Games all over the place. And I appreciate that it does this, and it is fun to look at, but really that does not make for an interesting enough story to me. I’ve read and heard some people wish this was the entire plot of the film, but to be honest with you if that would have been the case I would not have enjoyed this movie nearly as much as I did. It’s the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope and how it builds that makes this film great to me. [spoil]Also, the Villain was awesome.[/spoil]

P.S. A better cam came out yesterday but it’s still impossible to make out “TRON”. Sorry, we might just have to wait for the home release. :confused:

#151

^ I also agree with the relationship between Ralph and Venellope being another wonderful part of the story. [spoil]Much like Ralph, Vanellope too is suffering acceptance issues, and she too is caught up over the idea of materialistic accomplishments winning her acceptance (Winning the race was her thing). I think it is the combination of these story elements that made the narrative a winner for me. The beginning focus was on materials, then it transitioned into two misfits working together towards a goal. Amidst them working together, they are the first characters of their kinds to accept each other and see each other as people. That’s when the pompous materials leave the character’s interest.[/spoil]

#152

[spoil]Well, I didn’t really feel that Vanellope wanted to take first place, mainly that she wanted to race like the other kids. I doubt she believed her peddle-kart would actually win her first place. It felt more like she wanted to get first place after Ralph helped her get her kart.

I did love that the message about ‘it’s what’s inside that counts’ didn’t suddenly get exposited in one of those ‘I learned something today’ moments. When push comes to shove, we really see Ralph making a difference without thinking twice, in his attempts to get Vanellope to become part of the game, or even trying to save her.[/spoil]

#153

Would folks hate me if I said, I didn’t like wreck it Ralph?.. :confused:

#154

Hate? Not at all. But I’m curious as to why. XD

#155

No, not at all! It’s called having an opinion. You just don’t share the same as mine. I admit I’m a bit curious as to why you didn’t care for it, but I certainly won’t be trying to convince you otherwise. :stuck_out_tongue:

#156

Well for starters…I didn’t really like the characters, I found Vanellope to be quite tiresome after a time. Fix it Felix character didn’t really stand out to me either, same goes for many of the other characters. Wasn’t impressed by the soundtrack either.

I did like seeing bowser in the film though.

#157

Wholehearted agreement here with folks who pegged Ralph as a Pixar-quality film from WDAS. Loved it all…original story, riotous colors and designs, excellent character relationships, and welcome surprises. The VG references were amusing, but far more interesting were the Rules of the World, which kept with internal VG technical aspects from various eras, and which the creative folks consistently followed throughout–especially when the Rules yielded intriguing plot points. Summary: top to bottom, first-class work from Disney! Kudos and hurrahs all around!

#158

^Well said!

What I liked best about the universe, as you mention, was the creative portrayal of it, which is largely what kept me so entertained. There are so many little touches to this movie and I’ll only be noticing more on future viewings. :smiley:

#159

I’m a sucker for worlds within the real world. That’s one of the reasons why I loved the first 30 minutes so much.

#160

Saw the movie this morning! Loved it! Can’t wait to see it in English.