Wreck-it Ralph Directed by Rich Moore – A Film Review

American animation has been dominated in recent years (in cinemas) by two animation companies: DreamWorks and Pixar. So when an animated film comes from another studio it is always interesting to see how they are going to take visuals and story telling differently. Wreck-it Ralph (2012) comes from Disney’s animated studios which, although in the past having a monopoly over cinemas animated features, they have certainly had a sketchy record as of late.

Directed by Rich Moore who previously worked on such animated shows as Futurama (1999 - present), The Simpsons (1989 - present) and cult favourite Drawn Together (2004 - 2008), helms this film about a bad guy who just wants to be good for a change. Ralph himself is a video game character in an arcade game and has always been the villain. When the arcade closes all of the other characters go home to their apartments while Ralph lives alone in a dump. At an anniversary party for his game, Ralph interrupts and an argument ensues. In this everyone accuses him of being mean for constantly destroying things; unaware he has to do this for their game to continue. During this procession Ralph is told he can live with the others if he gets a heroes medal.

This then sets up the rest of the film with Ralph attempting to prove he is good while others stand in his way. It’s a basic adventure story in many ways. Yet the characters seem to have a real flare about them here. There’s times when the humour is slightly childish but the characters feel genuine to the story. There is growth and development as Ralph meets other characters including those from games no longer in circuit. Others appear hostile, yet some remain friendly. Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) is a glitch that wants to be a racer in a Super Mario Kart like game. Although they don’t get along at first, there feelings begin to grow to more positive towards another. At first acting antagonistic, eventually they decide to help one another to try and achieve each other’s goals.

Although this so far may just seem to outline a basic action adventure, it is in fact the character relations and the animator’s love for video games and the world they have created that puts it beyond this. Even with an at times, casual use of childish humour, the film stands out for the whole family.

Again, even though the structure of the narrative is very basic, this kind of structure can (and does) at times work to a stories advantage. Wreck-it Ralph wont change cinema as an art form, it wont change animation or storytelling in general, but what it does is tell a story well, and with enough passion and sentiment to make even the most cynical of us give it a recommendation.