Short Round: Wreck it Ralph (2012) ****/*****
Over the course of its existence, Walt Disney Animation Studios has seen its biggest success stories come from movies about princesses, talking animals, retellings of classic stories, or — what is usually the case — a mix of more than one of those three options. It’s a bit of a departure from their M.O., then, that they bring us Wreck It Ralph, a movie about a video game character who smashes stuff looking to bust out of his role as arcade villain. Fortunately, I can report that the was a risk well taken, as Wreck It Ralph is probably the most exciting offering that Disney Animation has brought us since their most recent, 90s-era golden age.
The reasons the film succeeds are myriad. One of them is the excellent world-building that gets done. The film’s writers and director have created a rich, exciting world where all of an old-school arcade’s playable characters are able to jump from machine to machine and interact with one another, and by the time you reach the end credits, you’re left with the feeling that you’d love the chance to explore said world even further. Part of the film’s success comes from its talented voice cast. John C. Reilly is charming, vulnerable, and affecting as the oafish lead, and top-notch comic actors like Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, and, especially, Alan Tudyk offer him strong support as the secondary characters. Mostly though, Wreck It Ralph works because it tells a relatable, human story that has big stakes for its well-established, likable characters. It’s action-packed and fun all the way through, it all builds to an exciting climax, and it’s really just blockbuster movie writing at its finest.
The only complaint that can be levied against the film is that it doesn’t stand up, visually, to the stuff that the team at Pixar puts out. Time after time, whenever a new Pixar movie comes out, they manage to stun you not just with how much the technology of animation advances with every one of their features, but just how inventive and detailed their design work can get. Wreck It Ralph looks fine — it doesn’t feel outdated or cheap — but it’s hard to not imagine how much more rich and detailed this video game world could have been if it were handled by Pixar. This is especially the case seeing as Disney Animation and Pixar exist under the same corporate umbrella, and this year Pixar came out with Brave, a movie whose princess subject and Scottish setting didn’t allow the studio to get as inventive with their design as they’ve proven to be in the past. Given that straight forward princess tales are so clearly Disney’s forte, and inventive, experimental works are what Pixar has proven to be best at, you can’t help but think that both films and both animation houses might have been better off switching scripts. As is, Brave is a fine film, but one of the most boring things Pixar has done, and Wreck It Ralph is a fine film, but one that could have been exceptional in the hands of Pixar’s craftsmen.
