WRECK-IT RALPH movie review

Story: Based on the classic video game, Fix-It Felix Jr. Wreck-It Ralph is the game's resident bad guy. For 30 years, when every player starts the game, Ralph does his job wrecking the building so Felix can fix the damages with the help of the player. But what happens in between when the game is over and until another player drops a coin in the video game? Unknown to us players, the characters are living secretly in their world called Game Central.

Poster courtesy of Disney Animation

Review: What I like about the movie is that the target audience are really the gamers like me. I have been playing video games like these in the days of Atari and at the arcade. I surely remember Fix It Felix. What's great about this movie is that Disney was able to arrange using real licensed game characters from different games like Street Fighter, Q-Bert, Sonic The Hedgehog and Super Mario Bros.

I enjoyed this movie because there are lots of cameos from licensed games even symbolic ones if you pay close attention. The punchlines of these licensed characters are hilarious. Of course not all licensed games were used. Instead, Disney was able to create fictional games to use like Hero Duty and Sugar Rush. Hero Duty is like a sci-fi first person shooting game in tradition of Doom or Quake were the player/s and the soldier characters led by Calhoun are tasked to kill the CyBugs.

Sugar Rush is like a girls' version of Mario Kart Race. Even though the movie has lots of gaming reference, non-gamers can still watch the movie. What also made it interesting is the story has some valuable insights that can relate to real life like how we treat other people and stereotyping them. The rules are quite simple. There are not cheat codes, no walk throughs and that each character has a role to play in this game called life. The movie is also ideal to watch for the whole family. There are no violent images, no graphic images, no vulgar languages and it's wholesome. Also included is the short film also produced by Disney Animation, Paperboy. It is done in classic Black and White that is ideal in the story's time period which is mid-20th Century. It was so simple that even without dialogue, you can grasp the story. It is like a boy-meets-girl but I guarantee you will like it. Wreck-It Ralph opens November 1 in Philippine cinemas and was released and distributed by Walt Disney Animation Studios. Game Over.

Paperman. Photo courtesy of Walt Disney Animation

I was able to watch it at Gateway Cinema at Araneta Center.