Film: “Wreck-It Ralph”

Rating: PG

Category: Animated

“Wreck-It Ralph” is definitely worth “placing your quarter” and to go see. This movie is worth all of your quarters.

In this animated comedy, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the main bad guy of the video game, Fix-It Felix Jr. in an arcade.  It’s been 30 years since the game was introduced and Ralph is done. He doesn’t want to be the bad guy anymore.

Ralph feels he’s unappreciated for his hard work. So he sets off to different video games in the arcade to show the rest of the characters in his game he can be the good guy.

But once Ralph leaves his game, the rest of the characters panic and the arcade owner has to put “Out of Order” on their game. With no one knowing what to do, Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer) sets out in search of Ralph in the hopes of saving the game from being unplugged.

All the games in the film are creative and fun. The fictional “Hero’s Duty” is essentially a combination of “Call of Duty” and “Halo.”  The main character, Sergeant Calhoun (Jayne Lynch), helps players win a medal and stop the Cybugs from taking over the galaxy. This game was the first Ralph visits to show he can be a hero.

Ralph also ends up in “Sugar Rush,” a racing game in a world of candy and sweets. There, Ralph meets a character named Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), who is only interested in racing others.

As a huge gamer, I was certain this film would be a disaster when I first heard Disney introduced the idea of portraying actual video game characters and games. But Disney didn’t let me down.

Each of the actual video game characters in this film were portrayed perfectly. Examples of characters they had were Zengief of “Street Fighter II,” Sonic The Hedgehog of the “Sonic The Hedgehog” franchise and Bowser from “Super Mario Bros.”

Disney worked hard to make sure they got these cameos right. They all had the right personalities, attitudes and, of course, features the characters actually do in their games.

The film’s animation was spectacular. Whenever the scene was in an 8-bit game, they would make it look 8-bit, while in high definition.

I love all the transitions and the creativity. From being in the game to the perspective of the arcade screen, it was all so well put together.

This film was very different from anything else Disney has done. I give this film a 4 out of 4 Grizzly bear paws for its creative and unique plot line, how well each cameo was placed and how great each character was portrayed and the animation.

Place your quarters ladies and gentlemen. It’s time for level two.

Read Marlena Granieri’s  review of “Skyfall” online  at www.thecalifornianpaper.com.