Wreck-It Ralph Review

*First of all, I'd like to apologize for the lack of reviews over the last few months. Yes, I have seen more movies, which would be Ice Age 4, Frankenweenie, and Brave, and I loved each one, but as some of you know, I've had a hard time finding time outside of homework for such things. Now that I'm back from Disneyland, I've been trying to spend as much time editing as possible and so now that I've gotten a good few videos uploaded I think it's time I return here for a little while. Expect reviews on the other three movies soon, but I thought I'd start with this since it's the most fresh in my mind. This will not be a pros and cons review as I want to give a general review a try, and it will contain major spoilers. So let's get to it.*

A grand comedic and modern retelling of a classic fable.

A wonderful and colorful look into the future through the eyes of a child.

A indescribably phenomenal adventure of a dog trapped in the world of superheroes and TV shows.

An incredible interpretation of a well-known princess fairy tale.

This is what Disney's independent computer animation studio has given us thus far. As you can tell, not only have I loved each and every one of them, but they each have a nice, child-appealing, "Disney-like" theme to them. A tale intermixing classic 80's video games with those of recent years and of the modern day, in my mind, fit perfectly in the mix they had so far. But the question was, would it be as good as the others? I can say that it undoubtedly was.

When I first heard tidbits about this movie, I had a feeling I'd see it, but I wasn't desperately wanting to (like some of you out there ;]). I heard it was coming from people who had worked on Lilo & Stitch and Bolt, my two biggest Disney movie obsessions, so my expectations grew even higher for it. As I continued to see trailers, I wanted to see it. I wasn't dying to see it, I wasn't obsessed, but I did want to see it. Yesterday, I saw it, and though I honestly am not obsessed like many of you out there, when first asked my thoughts on it, all I said was, ".....I think I know why everyone's obsessed with it now." Why did I love it so much? Well, let's see.

The relationship between Ralph and Vanellope was nothing less than gold. It completely and entirely made this movie. One of the most emotionally striking plot aspects I've seen in a long time. For the first time in quite a while, I found myself choking back tears at at least three parts, and leaving the theater still trying to hold them back. It was incredibly sweet and heart-wrenching and fairly original.

On the topic of originality, the entire film was filled with it. Aside from Ralph and Vanellope, of course, the video game premise was something that was as of yet unexplored. Vanellope's independent subplot as well as Ralph's were stories that, to me, have rarely been touched upon before.

Now here's the spoiler, as well as the next best thing to the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope. King Candy. I'm gonna be fully honest when I say that I didn't expect him to be Turbo at all. Disney did a phenomenal job at concealing that. I never put the two together. I just thought Turbo was a way to explain Ralph's predicament and King Candy was just naturally bad. Frankly, it could've played out that way. Nothing would be wrong if it had. However, having added that made it all the more intriguing. I'm not lying when I say that my jaw literally dropped when I saw King Candy glitch into Turbo.

Those are the main concepts that resonated with me, but overall, it qualifies with what I believe to be a good film: tapping in on all the important aspects; action, drama, fun, comedy, and heart. It was loads of fun in a new, colorful world and, as I said, could be incredibly heart-wrenching (or should I say heart-WRECKING). Now remember, this is coming from someone who really has no particular interest in video games and is not big on movies about humans, but I came out loving it. This just goes to show that you needn't either of those interests to enjoy this movie, and I'm a living breathing example. If anything, my bias was towards it being Disney, but in the sense that "Disney's animation studio has brought us masterpieces before, I'm sure this will be one too" not like "It's Disney, so I like it." While the Disney fangirl psychological requirement to see every Disney animated film may have come into play, again, it's because Disney is so good at what they do that us fangirls do that.

So overall, I highly recommend it, no matter who you are. It's very satisfying for a Disney fangirl to see a new movie become part of the animated canon for the first time in more than a year, and welcome these great characters to our blessed family.

Stay tuned for more reviews!