when Ricky Ralph first came out the turn
those being thrown around a lot is that
it was the Roger Rabbit of video game
movies and from the advertising it kind
of looked like that he's still kind of a
Donkey Kong ish knockoff suddenly in
with all these really famous characters
there's Bowser there's a bunch of street
fighter guys there's the ghost from
pac-man nothing like this has ever been
done in a movie at least not with video
games it really was the equivalent of
seeing Mickey Mouse and Bugs Bunny
together it was so surreal
however we're I'm Roger Rabbit a lot of
these characters keep popping up
throughout the entire film in this one
it's only the first couple minutes
because of this there was definitely
crowd of people that kind of fell ripped
off I mean the commercials they showed
every scene that had a video game
character in it so when you actually
watch the film there's practically
nothing left I kind of like those people
want a little bit more of them but the
good news is the story characters were
so good that you almost don't notice
much like Roger Rabbit the story can
completely hold up on its own even if
you didn't have those characters in
there the main leads and ideas are more
than enough to keep it afloat the film
starts off in an arcade where there's an
old 80's game called fix-it Felix the
villain of the game is wreck-it Ralph
kind of a Donkey Kong style character
that doesn't get much respect little do
we know there's a whole video game world
going on right under our noses
characters use the plugs and wires to
all meet up in one location to shoot the
talk nonsense all that good stuff
but Ralph's like a lot of video game
villains is not feeling very loved he's
feeling underappreciated as the bad guy
of the game and once more attention for
the important work that he does so he
starts game hopping to find some way to
get his reward the only thing he can
figure is that if he got a medal somehow
that would mean that he's done a great
deed so he travels into one of the much
more violent video games gets his medal
but loses it in another one along the
way he comes across a glitch named
vanellope who lives in kind of a mario
kart world where nobody likes her either
so they make a deal with one another if
Ralph can help her get in the game and
get the appreciation she deserves she'll
help him get his metal back and get him
the appreciation he deserves
but there's an even bigger conspiracy
going on between villain side characters
and all sorts of craziness that might
result in the end of the video game
world as we know it I'm really impressed
how even though it's kind of a
complicated story when you get down to
it they explain it in a very simple way
the film is very good at throwing in
different surprises and turns around
every corner in explaining how the world
works for warp zones and cheat code you
can actually change your identity and
anything about your environment really
the movie takes total advantage of
what's given to them it isn't just using
popular video game characters it's
totally embracing the idea of what they
have incorporating both the retro games
of the past and the newer games of today
roll the clever writing and satire
though there's also a very heartfelt
story between vanellope and Ralph this
is the focus of the film and yeah I
would like to see a few more video game
characters this really is where the
attention should be the voice acting in
this is beyond pitch perfect I mean talk
about getting the best people to match
these characters john c reilly is the
big doofus who has a heart of gold Sarah
Silverman's the smart aleck little brat
Jane Lynch is the badass commander with
a backstory so funny I tear not ruin it
here the list goes on this is one of
those movies that does so well in
combining really great humor in with the
story that's telling they almost go hand
in hand like something that's a pretty
funny Joe can also be a major plot
device the explanation about why
Penelope has to be kept out of the game
is actually both really funny and really
heartbreaking even though these are just
videogame characters and you play them
all the time you really get wrapped up
and what they're going through you want
to see Ralph get his medal you want to
see vanellope win the race you want to
see all sorts of good things happen to
them and overcome evil and all along the
way you're getting these great in jokes
that you don't need to know in order to
follow it but it just makes it all the
more enjoyable if you do I say my only
hang-up with the film is that we get a
little bit of that for scene where the
good guy has to be bad in order to not
hurt the other good guy and it's okay
not a misunderstanding or liar reveal
story but you know the drill just when
they're becoming the best of friends one
of them has to do something really mean
to hurt the other one but it's also in
order to save them and honestly if it
hadn't been done a million times before
it probably
have worked fine here I mean they do
explain everything pretty well but you
just know after their little fight and
moping and doping around one of them has
to come to a realization and go back and
say they're sorry and then we can begin
the climax I know we need conflict I
know we need drama but we also need a
little variety and this has been done a
lot of times before the climax itself is
also a little mundane
I mean at first it's great starting off
with this raise and people jumping on
top of other cars and stuff but then you
go into this fight on top of a mountain
with one of the characters turning into
a big monster and it's not awful it's
just again we've seen this a million
times and there isn't anything bad do to
it but honestly those are small gripes
Ricky Ralph has really likeable
characters a very clever setup and a
story environment that makes you realize
you don't need as much of the gimmicks
as you thought you would yeah it's neat
to see Zangief yeah it's neat that they
reference Lara Croft but that's not what
the movies about nor should it be what
it's about
it's about a connection between these
two polar opposites who also happen to
be Outsiders and so they find a way to
band together
oh well throwing in some really funny
side characters and some really great
humor you may not get as made classic
characters as you want but you'll
definitely get a whole bunch of new ones
that are just as good
you