Wreck It Ralph

Video games have been around for a good few years now. Children of the 1970's will well remember shovelling ten pence pieces into amusement arcade machines that had graphics which are not at all sophisticated by the standard of more modern efforts, but had gameplay which kept you hooked. And which you never forgot.Nostalgia can never be underestimated.Wreck It Ralph is a CG animation movie which draws on those halcyon days for inspiration. Ralph himself [John C. Reilly] is the bad guy in a game called Fix it Felix Jr, wherein his efforts to destroy a fancy new apartment block are thwarted by an heroic good guy carpenter.For thirty years, the game machine has been present in an arcade. Decades which have seen other games come and go. Popular characters be forgotten. But in all that time, Ralph has been doing the same thankless job day in day out. This, like Toy Story, features characters who come to life when people aren't watching.After thirty years of being the bad guy, Ralph's having a life crisis. Looking for a little self respect, he breaks all the rules and leaves his game and gets into a much more modern shoot 'em up in an effort to get a medal. Doing so has consequences, and puts everyone in the arcade under threat.Can Ralph save the day? Or will he live up to his name?This is a bit of a movie of two halves. The first is fabulously inventive with an amazing amount of detail and sight gags, and some pretty clever comparisons of old and more modern graphics styles. Retro gamers will delight at some of the sights and characters on offer.The second half of the film, as Ralph gets involved with events in one particular game, and the struggles of Vanellope Von Schweetz [Sarah Silverman] to be treated with respect in a world that hates her. From this moment on the game references do rather vanish and the film becomes more story based. Vanellope is a character who starts off annoying but you have to bear with her as she mellows. The two have the kind of relationship where each learns life lessons from the other. Although retro gamers might be disappointed with this half of the movie, it is a very strong story and drama. It's also pretty well written with some excellent set pieces and some very good plotting. With a few moments that will surprise.You can see from the start this is going to be one of those 'just be yourself' movies. But the message is fine, and well delivered in a film that does offer a lot of fun for all generations. From the Space Invaders one to the X Box one.Do keep watching during the end credits, as the first half of these is animated, and uses a variety of graphic styles that gamers will enjoy seeing.The dvd has the following language and subtitle options;Languages: English, Italian.Subtitles: English, Italian.It begins with several trailers, but you can skip these via the next button on the dvd remote. All of them, along with a couple of adverts, are in the sneak peeks section of the dvd menu anyhow.The only extra is a short cartoon film called Paperman. A story of a man in a black and white city breaking convention to pursue a dream, it has a stunningly beautiful look to it, and some remarkable character animation. Thanks not least to the animation having been done over images of live actors. Short but beautifully sweet, it's probably not something younger children will appreciate, but anyone older and shamelessly romantic find it a beautiful piece of work that deserved all the awards it got.

Another Disney classic. Growing up playing video games in the late 80's and 90's meant i appreciated this so much. There's so many little jokes that are sound effects, or clever script writing hinting at games, and it merges the games and certain aspects of my youth and childhood into a great story. But the story is the best bit. In some ways it's the same as every story, especially disney stories, and is what you expect, yet thoroughly entertaining and moving. You don't need to know the games to appreciate the jokes or enjoy this movie, although i think i appreciated it in a way that my wife and son didn't. I know my gaming friends loved it a little more than my non-gaming ones, but it's similar to Toy Story, as you can still really enjoy Toy Story but have never owned the toys. It's one of the better Disney movies, and one of the best animated movies i've seen in the last few years. I hope you enjoy it as much as my family :)

My daughter watched this at the cinema with a friend when it was first out and came home raving about it, so I got the DVD for her.I have to say I am usually bored rigid in children's films and one has to be very entertaining for me to watch it all through. However, I really enjoyed this. There's nothing in it that I can see to worry or offend parents of younger children and yet there is a retro game theme running through it and plenty of humour to keep parents interested too. I really enjoyed the story and didn't drift off into boredom once. We watched it as a family and my husband enjoyed it too. Highly recommended.

Great film with loveable characters. Loved that fact that other famous game characters made an appearance like Sonic the Hedgehog, Pac-Man and the Ghosts, Bowser and many more. I loved the concept that not only do the toys come to life when we are not around so do the games. They made a villain or as they say 'Bad Guy' different to others as he doesn't want to take over the world, he wants respect.

I bought this for my 2 year old son, and he absolutely loves it... and so does mummy, its a good thing as my little boy is watching it about 3 times a day for the last month or two.I cannot stress just how good this film is, great fun for all ages and so witty and clever. Very funny and brilliant storyline.Seriously, buy it, you will not regret it I promise. =)

I took my 2 sons to see this at the cinema, and I'm not ashamed to say I loved it as much as they did. This is a film I'll watch again (if only to spot all the '80s era game characters and references)This is real family film, but my youngest was a bit upset when Ralph breaks the car up. Other than that, a brilliant film.

When I first saw that Disney was making a film based on videogames, I was conflicted. Sure, Disney have created some of the most timeless, beloved and classic movies of the past near-three-quarters of a century, but they could also screw it up horribly. And, as a gamer, I would know. This must be what Native Americans thought when they saw Pocahontas.Fortunately, I needn't have worried. This movie almost won an Oscar for a reason, people!Words cannot express with any genuine degree of accuracy how I feel about this movie. I only rated it five stars because that is the restriction Amazon has set; were it ten stars, I would give ten; a hundred for a hundred, etc.I won't go into an explanation about the basic plot and setting; chances are you already know it, and, if not, you can go find it in any other review. All you need to know from me is that it's a severe understatement that I completely, utterly and absolutely ADORE Wreck-It Ralph! And I whole-being-ly recommend it to absolutely everyone!!