Wreck-It Ralph

★★★★

(2012)

In a world, much like Lassiter's Toy Story, the heroes and villains in a games arcade full of classics, both old and new, come alive once the premisses are closed for the night. It's a simple and obvious jumping off point for any Pixar or Disney film; A secret world behind a very public and popular one. But where Woody and the gang seemed blissfully content in their inanimate nature, the video game creations in Rich Moore's film are controlled, locked down and some of them are even horribly depressed.

One such character is Ralph (John C Reilly); A sweet brute destined to play the villain in his world for all time. He attends support group meetings for other down and out bad guys and, driven to win a gaming medal to prove himself to the snobbish good guys in his world, he heads off into the Halo like game accidentally unleashing a virus that could threaten all of the games at the arcade. He accidentally finds himself lost in Sugar Rush; An eye-poppingly colourful and gratingly twee racing game like Mario Kart rendered by cake makers where he meets a young outcast and wannabe racer, Vanellope (Sarah Silverman). Of course there is more to the young girl than meets the eye and Ralph soon finds himself helping her race.

It's a film ripe with nods and winks, filled with recognisable sound effects, fantastic cameos and bursting with brilliantly voiced and well-rounded CG characters. Reilly is perfectly cast as Ralph, his slow and sweet monotone is beautifully balanced by the sugar sweet and seriously sarcastic Silverman and Alan Tudyk's over the top King Candy (the true villain of the piece). Though Ralph slightly over stays its welcome in the Sugar Rush section of the film and the references and jokes make way for the obligatory emotional punch (a surprisingly effective one at that), Wreck-It Ralph is a fine animation indeed. Pure nostalgic fun, a must for any gaming fans out there and a spectacular watch for kids.