Wreck-It Ralph 
Starring: (voices of) John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch, Jack McBrayer, Alan Tudyk, Mindy Kaling, Ed O'Neill
Directed By: Rich Moore
Rated: PG
Run time: 108 mins
Genre: Comedy/Animation/3D/Family
Opens November 2nd
By Lisa Minzey of The Reel Critic.com
If you always wondered as a kid what video game characters did in the arcade after hours, Disney's new animated film Wreck It Ralph answers those burning questions.
Thirty years ago, before home gaming consoles were in every home, children and teens would spend a vast majority of their paring playing video games in the arcade. Back in the day, Fix-it Felix was THE game to play. Styled in the same look as Donkey Kong or early SuperMario Bros, the "villan" of the game was Wreck -It Ralph (John C. Reilly -voice), a freakishly tall, big handed man, weigh in over 600lbs. He lives in the trash dump next to a high rise condominium that he climbs to wreck. The people that live in the high rise call out to Fix-it Felix, Jr. (Jack Mc Brayer- voice) to fix the damage that Ralph incurs to their home. Once Felix fixes the building everyone is happy, and he wins a medal and Ralph gets tossed off the building into a puddle of mud. Believe it or not, this would have been a fun game to play back in the 1980's before other games consuls came out like Sega, the various Nintendo systems or XBox.
Fast-forward 30 years, and the characters of the game and arcade are celebrating their anniversary, but no one invited Ralph. Feeling singled out for being his villainous self, he crashes the party (literally) and makes a scene, claiming he can get a medal and be a good guy for once. No one believes him, to even his support group for villan characters. Ralph is determined to prove them all wrong, and when an opportunity to win a medal in another game presents itself, he takes it. Unfortunately, it's in a game that is way out of his league, Hero's Duty. His team leader Calhoun (Jane Lynch - voice) reprimands & belittles him, so Ralph decides to go his separate way to get that medal. Meanwhile, back at the Fix It Felix game, when Ralph doesn't show up as the arcade opens, an out of order sign is placed on the game. In the game world, this is a kiss of death. If Ralph doesn't come back to the game, the whole game will be out of commission, leaving all the characters homeless.
Back in Hero's Duty, Ralph gets his medal, but ends up causing a bigger mess, launching himself and a cybug in a tiny spaceship into another arcade game, Sugar Rush. This game is a total 180 from the previous game, more of a Candy Land meets Mario Cart racing game. Ralph ends up losing his medal to a little girl, Vanellope Von Schweetz (Sarah Siverman - voice). She is the outcast of her game because she has a glitch in her programming, causing her to have spaz fits, making her unfit for racing. She takes Ralph's medal as an entry for the race and will give it back only if he helps her get the perfect race car to race with. Can these two misfits work together to get what they want or will time run out on Ralph for good? Will Felix be able to find Ralph and bring him back before arcade opens the next day? Can Calhoun get the cybug back to her game before it spreads like a virus, putting all the games out of commission permanently?
If you grew up in the arcades, playing the early video games or are a gamer fan in general, this is film a delightful walk down memory lane. Children of all ages will revel in the story, graphics and enjoy how the characters from games old and new are incorporated through out the movie. This is a brilliant concept that was fun to watch. Be sure to catch this in theaters when it opens Friday November 2, 2012.
