By Peter Hyle
For years, Disney has been known for their warm and lighthearted animations. Being the 52nd film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, Wreck-It Ralph seems to be keeping up the tradition. With the constant blasts of noise, color and laughter, the film is a true “feel good” movie that continues to impress.
The story centers around the rebellious arcade game villain, Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly), who one day hopes to be a hero. In pursuit of his dream, he travels through multiple games throughout the arcade via plug-in cords. On his journey, he runs into multiple characters from other games in the arcade, including Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman) and Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch), and inadvertently poses a dire threat to the entire arcade.
Along with the nostalgic feel throughout the entire film, there are some serious twists that caught me off guard. There are intense, heart-breaking scenes that aren’t expected from a Disney movie. Filled with moments that can make you laugh and frown, this movie goes way beyond my expectations.
With stimulating, colorful animation for children, and an interesting plot and character developments for adults, anyone can easily enjoy Wreck-It Ralph. Obviously, director Rich Moore was determined to give the film an authentic feel to it, adding real characters from real video games, making it even more enjoyable for older gamers.
As for the box office, Wreck-It Ralph was a definite hit, grossing over 127 million worldwide so far. On opening day, the film hit an above average mark of 13.5 million. As for the opening weekend all together, the movie topped the box office at 49 million dollars. This was the largest debut for Walt Disney Animation Studios since Tangled’s 48.8 million dollar opening.
But this isn’t the end for the character Wreck-It Ralph since Disney announced a tie-in game based on the film for the Wii, Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo 3DS. A game was also released as an app for the iPhone, iPod, and iPad. As if that wasn’t enough, Disney recently released browser-based versions of some of the featured arcade games in the movie, Sugar Rush and Hero’s Duty on their new official website.
As for a sequel, Moore has stated in an interview that he and Disney have ideas about another movie. Whether a sequel is released or not, the movie Wreck-It Ralph is a clever, familiar Disney movie that has impressed me more than I thought it would. This movie casts a very wide net and attracts an audience of all ages. Based on my experience, a movie as well put together as this one will not disappoint.