Wreck It Ralph is the most entertaining animated movie since Toy Story

I know what you’re thinking.  What about Up, WALL E OR Toy Story 2 or 3?  Yes, I saw all of those and they are marvelous.  However, they weren’t as overall entertaining as Wreck It Ralph.

Wreck It Ralph takes place in the video game world and tells the story of what the characters in the game do when nobody is around.  Ralph is the bad guy is an 80’s style video game whose job is to destroy a building by punching it. As Ralph’s game is in an arcade there are dozens of other games for the characters to interact with during their off time.

Childhood favorites, coming to life when nobody is around-HA, this is just a Toy Story rip-off!  No, you may be thinking that, but it is not a rip off and that loose thread of similarity is the only thing that the two movies share.

Toy Story is about our toys that come alive when we’re not around and Ralph is about the characters in a video game that have their own lives’ when we’re not playing them.  Any Toy Story movie also makes me cry every single time I see it.  It is not that movies that make me cry aren’t entertaining, they are, just in a different way.

Wreck It Ralph plays it for laughs all the way.  The laughs are big, belly laughs with tears coming down your eyes.  When the movie is not funny it moves at a very brisk pace with sharp animation and just enough emotion to keep you involved-but not make you cry.

The animation really stands out when the movie jumps from game to game.  As each game was built in a different era, the animation style changes from game to game.  Ralph’s game is blockier; almost stop animation and Hero’s Duty looks current and edgy.   In Sugar Rush, a kid’s racing game the colors are bright, vivid and have a cartoonish landscape.  When the characters meet in Game Central Station they all look like they do in their game, which provides lots of ‘in’ jokes for gamers.

I don’t know much about video games and you’d do not need to in order to enjoy Wreck It Ralph.  Adults will recognize some of the classic characters like Pac-Man and Q’bert; but it’s the humor of the story, not the emotional relationship to them that makes Ralph so much fun.  Additionally, the classic characters are sight gags with a couple of jokes and aren’t a main device for the plot.

Wreck It Ralph is rated PG for some of the video game violence that happens in Hero’s Duty.  That scene is only a couple of minutes and then the movie goes back between video games.  There were plenty of kids in our theater who were 4 or 5, in addition to a couple kids who were 1.  Why do people bring a 1 year old to a movie?  Really people, plan ahead, find a babysitter and spend that extra money to enjoy yourself a bit more.

The 3D isn’t really necessary in Wreck It Ralph so you can watch it in plain ole 2D and enjoy it just as much.  This is a great example of a PG movie that adults can enjoy just as much as children.  They’ll want to watch it again and you’ll want to also.

Bonus:  There is an animated short story before the movie called Paperman.  There is no dialogue, just 5 minutes or so and simply beautiful  It has an anime feel to it and doesn’t need dialogue.  It’s a simple story with great animation that may make you tear up.