movie review wreck it ralph

Programmed to be the bad guy

"Wreck-It Ralph," the latest Disney animated feature for families, begins with a creative brainstorm: The movie occurs mostly inside the worlds of several arcade-style video games, providing an excuse for the backgrounds, ground rules and characters to constantly reinvent themselves. The title is inspired by its hero, one of those clumsy, misunderstood big guys who dreams only of being loved.

For Wreck-It Ralph, this will never happen in the universe he inhabits, the Fix-It Felix Jr. video game. Shown in animation only a generation advanced from Pac-Man, Ralph is a muscular freak who has only one function, using his fists and feet to pound holes in a high-rise apartment building. Then it's Fix-It Felix Jr., a handyman with unlimited skills, to the rescue. Winning the hearts of the Nicelanders, the residents of the building, Felix is regularly invited to their high-class parties, while Ralph is relegated every night to the town junk yard.

Ralph's depression is invaluably conveyed by the voice dubbing of John C. Reilly , who can sound put-upon almost by his very nature. Felix, voiced by Jack McBrayer , from "30 Rock," is cheerful, high-spirited and helpful, even if trapped in the identity of Goody Two-Shoes.

After decades of this existence, Ralph yearns to escape, and that's the excuse for the movie to break free from the sameness of its game. Ralph journeys through power cables and a surge projector to a place named Grand Game Central, where characters can visit. Warning: Although the rules allow them to die casually and frequently inside their native games, if they die outside, it's curtains.

Ralph hears of a game named "Hero's Duty," where troops are led by a sergeant (tough-sounding Jane Lynch ) in shooting down the Cybugs that are the scourge of all games. He wins a big gold medal and hopes it will make him look good to the Nicelanders. Ralph's next stop is a teeny-bopper game named Sugar Rush Speedway, which seems painted entirely in the colors of those cheap bright candies sold on Valentine's Day (remember the pink and yellow hearts reading "I Love You?")

The big deal here is Vanellope von Schweetz ( Sarah Silverman ), who embodies some glitches and isn't too skilled at handling the game's race cars, but she sure wants to be. She's discouraged by the stuck-up, bratty King Candy ( Alan Tudyk ). Then there's a big showdown involving hordes of Cybugs.

More than in most animated films, the art design and color palette of "Wreck-It Ralph" permit unlimited sets, costumes and rules, giving the movie tireless originality and different behavior in every different cyber world. Wreck-It Ralph, who seems not a million miles separate from Shrek, makes a lovable guide through this arcade universe.

I have a complaint, and it's my usual one: The whole movie comes down to an interminable high-velocity race and chase scene, perhaps timed to match the moment when the kids in the audience have consumed so much pop and candy they're having their own sugar rush. That can get old real fast for the adults, and heaven help those parents whose children insist on viewing the DVD over and over and over and over again. I suppose that goes with the territory.

Roger Ebert

Roger Ebert was the film critic of the Chicago Sun-Times from 1967 until his death in 2013. In 1975, he won the Pulitzer Prize for distinguished criticism.

Wreck-It Ralph

• Jane Lynch as Calhoun
• Sarah Silverman as Vanellope
• Jack McBrayer as Felix
• Ed O'Neill as Litwak
• Alan Tudyk as King Candy
• John C. Reilly as Ralph

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Wreck-It Ralph Reviews

Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee’s script finds sad, trapped, silly characters locked inside their programming and desperate to escape, and in these energetic and colorful settings, losing yourself in their struggle for freedom and acceptance is effortless.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 21, 2022

"Wreck-it Ralph" sets the table nicely but almost squanders it’s originality and cleverness with its frantic and occasionally numbing midsection.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/5 | Aug 21, 2022

Even if "Wreck-It Ralph" is off a little in pace and organization, the movie has creativity, originality, and spirit to spare.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Jun 26, 2022

Wreck-It Ralph is a ton of fun.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4 | Mar 24, 2022

Wreck-It Ralph, like its title character, is an out-of-nowhere winner for Disney Animation.

Full Review | Feb 11, 2022

Incredibly creative, making nonstop jokes via several angles of video game spoofing.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 2, 2020

It's a winner.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/4.0 | Sep 27, 2020

In a vacuum this is a fun enough movie, and there are all the heartwarming moments you expect from a family cartoon. The chief problem is that, at every single juncture, it's also predictable and never shows anything beyond the most obvious levels.

Full Review | Original Score: C+ | Jul 11, 2020

Grab those quarters (one roll is $10....the average price of a movie ticket) and get on the Sugar Rush ribbon highway to fun and climb the leaderboard with Wreck-It Ralph!!

Full Review | Nov 27, 2019

Fun, sweet and joyous, Wreck-It Ralph is brilliant and not one to be missed.

Full Review | Original Score: 4/5 | Nov 26, 2019

Never bludgeons over the head with the message either, instead giving us a smartly crafted and highly entertaining film that is as pleasing for children as it is for adults.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 6, 2019

Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee's screenplay is heartfelt, especially as the relationship between Vanellope and Ralph develops, sprinkled with just enough gaming references to appease the hard-core gamer.

Full Review | Apr 11, 2019

So some things to like but overall just not my cup of tea I suppose... Not everything needs or should be made for my interest and tastes. I can deal with that.

Full Review | Original Score: C | Feb 21, 2019

The arcade is just window dressing for a sugar rush of child-friendly product placement.

Full Review | Original Score: 2/5 | Feb 9, 2019

The script allows Ralph an evolution that is rare even in live action, going from grumbling nemesis to true hero without ever losing his Hulk-smash giant fists.

Full Review | Original Score: A- | Jan 30, 2019

Reilly seems made for voice work. He turns his 8-bit Ralph into a man with a 32-bit heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Dec 20, 2018

All in all, it's a sweet animated adventure with heart.

Full Review | Original Score: 7/10 | Dec 11, 2018

Ralph Breaks the Internet, a more complete film with a bigger and more evolved story to share, doesn't need parlor tricks to keep viewer interest.

Full Review | Original Score: 3.5/5 | Nov 26, 2018

Sweet without being saccharine and clever without being too full of itself, its both a light-hearted romp and a serious examination of what it means to be a hero.

Full Review | Original Score: 8/10 | Nov 2, 2018

The film is begging for a sequel, and I will be first in line if it does indeed get made.

Full Review | Original Score: 8.5/10 | Nov 1, 2018

Movie review: ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ scores big

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It’s not just the joystick junkie in me that admires “Wreck-It Ralph,” Disney’s wacky new comic adventure with a lovable lug of a video game character at its center. The movie’s subversive sensibility and old-school/new-school feel are a total kick.

Its 3-D animation antics are colored by an ‘80s-era arcade look that is retro deluxe, while its antihero’s destructive tendencies have him working a very au courant 12-step program.

John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer voice the anarchy that is about to hit one particular arcade in capital fashion. Though the film is theoretically set in present day, everything about it evokes the not-too-distant past when a quarter would buy a kid a lot of time on a computer game and the arcade was still considered a cool hangout by the adolescent set.

PHOTOS: Familiar ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ baddies

A bit like “Tron,” the film exists mostly within the games themselves. The various good guys and bad guys live ordinary lives when the kids aren’t there making the moves. The film is far more clever in playing off our connection to everything that is wired in this world — a kid’s crushing disappointment when a game is on the fritz is a classic moment.

But “Wreck-It” digs deeper, without getting too heavy, about the ways in which the electronic world has redefined human interaction — the isolation it can breed, the inculcation of a winner/loser class divide, the very social strata that turn out to be remarkably fragile when someone resists.

Consider the games that define “Wreck-It Ralph.” The action shifts through three, each with a distinctive visual style and cultural subtext. It starts with Ralph’s (Reilly) home base, a simple one called “Fix-It Felix Jr.” that is built around the big guy’s demolition skills and Felix’s (McBrayer) mess-fixing magic hammer. Even the character design is working-class — Ralph bulked up, Felix smaller but equally efficient.

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Not far away is the hyper-violent, and hyper-styled, war game “Hero’s Duty.” Here all the bodies are hard, especially Sgt. Calhoun’s (Lynch), a svelte soldier in skin-tight fatigues who has never met a man she didn’t want to order around.

And then there’s the movie’s sweet spot — the anime-influenced “Sugar Rush” — a go-cart extravaganza built out of mouth-watering confections so enticing it will make your teeth hurt. There lives a spunky little glitch (think of it as a computer version of a character flaw) named Vanellope von Schweetz that Silverman milks for all it’s worth. She wants her shot at winning a race, but the game won’t allow “glitches” to compete and there’s a mean-girl group around to make her life miserable. Vanellope keeps pixelating at the most inopportune times — maddening when it’s happening on your laptop, genius in the way it keeps the story rocking. She’s about to enlist Ralph in her game-changing efforts and a fragile friendship will be born. The testing of their bond does much to shape events in the film, but it will take Ralph a little time to get there.

Ralph’s journey begins, as so many do these days, with a little soul-searching during a support group session with other arcade villains. After 30 years in the demo game he’s having second thoughts. Destruction is only his day job, but at night Ralph is still on the outside looking in. He feels miscast and misunderstood.

So he sets out for a game that he can win, and a gold medal that he can claim — certain that’s the key to acceptance back home. His going rogue sets in motion all sorts of problems with Felix and Sgt. Calhoun in hot pursuit — “hot” being the operative word for their surprisingly sizzling connection.

There is great attention to detail in the creation of Ralph’s universe — both in design and in intent. Take the transit system that runs through the electric cords — not only does it look cool, it allows the characters to break out of their own boxes. And who doesn’t need that on occasion? Game Central Station — grand and meticulously conceived — is the gateway to the inner-arcade world. Echoes of a certain New York City Beaux-Arts terminal are surely intended and is but one of many delicious visual allusions.

The ever-present fear for the game pieces is that a bug will corrupt their system, a fear that soon threatens to become reality. From the invading bug and the way it spreads to the computerized innards of the games, the animators have had a field day.

Despite “Wreck-It Ralph’s” mind-boggling visual range, the film’s major asset is its humanity. First-time feature animation director Rich Moore never loses sight of that as he revs up this fast-moving film. Guess those years spent on “The Simpsons” didn’t hurt. Written by Phil Johnston, whose first feature was last year’s smart real-people comedy “Cedar Rapids,” and Jennifer Lee making her feature debut, the script never sacrifices the central story for a joke either. That choice makes room for a lot of heart to work its way in around the comedy with Reilly and Silverman, both excellent, doing the heavy lifting on that front.

More culturally connected and a tad racier than we usually see in the Disney brand, “Wreck-It Ralph” does a terrific job of providing enough oomph and aaaahs for adults and plenty of giggles for kids inside its artfully wrapped animation package. Whether the presence of Pixar’s John Lasseter at the studio’s animation helm or the new kids on the filmmaking block are responsible, the film blows in like a fresh 21st century breeze.

MPAA rating: PG for some rude humor and mild action violence

Running time: 1 hour, 33 minutes

Playing: In general release

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'Ralph': An 8-Bit Hero With Plenty Of Heart

Scott Tobias

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) grows tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix Jr., the "good guy" star of their game, and sets off on a quest to prove he's got what it takes to be a hero. Walt Disney Pictures hide caption

Wreck-It Ralph

• Director: Rich Moore
• Genre: Animation
• Running Time: 93 minutes

Rated PG for some rude humor and mild action/violence

With: John C. Reilly, Jack McBrayer, Sarah Silverman

(Recommended)

Watch Clips

'Not Going Turbo'

Credit: Walt Disney Pictures

'Not From Here'

After a very long engagement that began with the original Toy Story , Disney finally made an honest woman out of Pixar in 2006, when it paid the requisite billions to move the computer animation giant into the Magic Kingdom. But Disney's spirited 2010 hit Tangled made it abundantly clear that Pixar had a say in the creative marriage: The story of Rapunzel may be standard Disney princess fare, but the whip-crack pacing and fractured-fairy tale wit felt unmistakably Pixar. From now on, it would seem, Mickey Mouse and Luxo Jr. might remain separate icons, but they're marching under the same banner.

With that in mind, see if the premise of Wreck-It Ralph sounds familiar: A collection of synthetic characters — some new, some recognizable and beloved by people of all ages — are playthings for children, but they come to life and interact when nobody else is around. Replace the toy box with the arcade machine, and Wreck-It Ralph is basically a repurposed Toy Story movie, suffused with the same mix of adventure and nostalgia and themes of friendship and the existential crises that come with age. A cynic might dismiss the film as reheated leftovers.

But that cynic would be wrong, because those leftovers are delicious.

Directed by Rich Moore, who had a hand in several all-time great Simpsons episodes ("Marge vs. The Monorail" and "Cape Feare" among them), Wreck-It Ralph is pop nirvana, a headlong rush through classic arcade games and Nintendo standards that's not too busy playing spot-the-reference to keep from paying off in laughs and heart. It may deploy the Pixar formula shamelessly, but the world of video games — particularly for those who feel affection for them — is uniquely immersive, and Moore and his team of animators have evoked it with equal parts sweetness and wit.

Adding another character to his gallery of ingratiating lugs, John C. Reilly voices Wreck-It Ralph, the 8-bit villain of Fix-It Felix Jr. , a 30-year-old arcade favorite that bears a striking resemblance to Donkey Kong . He doesn't mind hurling debris at Fix-It Felix ( 30 Rock 's Jack McBrayer), the chipper young go-getter with the magic hammer, but the "bad guy" label stays with him after hours, when the kids have gone home and the characters inside the game are still shutting him out. After commiserating with various other video game villains — including one of the ghosts from Pac-Man , who hosts "Bad-Anon" meetings — Ralph vows to shed the label by infiltrating another video game and winning one of those "Hero" medals that so frequently adorn his rival.

Wreck-It Ralph succeeds in part by building carefully conceived, elaborately detailed video game worlds. Disney hide caption

To that end, Ralph ventures into Hero's Duty , a modern first-person shooter game that couldn't be further removed from the quaint mechanics of his 8-bit home. (The differences in the way characters from separate gaming eras move are one of the film's most subtle, distinct pleasures.) But his adventures eventually land him in Sugar Rush, a Candyland cart-racing game, where he teams up with Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a fluttering "glitch" who dreams of glory but lives in exile from the tyrannical Willy Wonka-type who lords over the circuitry.

Wreck-It Ralph is overstuffed with narrative business — a major subplot sends Felix in pursuit of Ralph with the Lara Croft-like heroine of Hero's Duty , voiced by Jane Lynch — and the borders and safeguards that rule its world-within-a-world are similarly dense. But none of it gums up the film's relentless momentum: A lot of thought has been put into how Ralph might interact with the gibberish-spouting Q*bert or the beer-slinging bartender from Tapper , and the story moves fluidly between several richly imagined gaming environments, all connected by a power strip that serves as Grand Central Station.

Though it's full of touches certain to tickle stand-up arcade game fanatics — the Pac-Man Fever team of Buckner & Garcia contribute the closing-credit song, and the many bleeps and music cues on the soundtrack have been ported over from decades-old classics — Wreck-It Ralph makes good on the core relationship between Ralph and Vanellope, a villain and a glitch who come together as outsiders in their own homes, exiled by their peers. Gaming nerds can certainly relate. (Recommended)

• Cast & crew
• User reviews

Wreck-It Ralph

Ralph is tired of playing the role of a bad guy and embarks on a journey to become a video game hero. But he accidentally lets loose a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade. Ralph is tired of playing the role of a bad guy and embarks on a journey to become a video game hero. But he accidentally lets loose a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade. Ralph is tired of playing the role of a bad guy and embarks on a journey to become a video game hero. But he accidentally lets loose a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade.

• Phil Johnston
• Jim Reardon
• John C. Reilly
• Jack McBrayer
• 512 User reviews
• 377 Critic reviews
• 72 Metascore
• 33 wins & 42 nominations total

Top cast 71

• Taffyta Muttonfudge

• General Hologram

• Root Beer Tapper

• Moppet Girl
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• Production, box office & more at IMDbPro

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Did you know

• Trivia Unlike most animated films, the principal actors regularly recorded audio sessions together in the same room, a situation which led to a lot of improvising.
• Goofs After Vanellope resets the game by crossing the finish line, the race track still has King Candy's logo and face from the earlier track.

King Candy : [puts on glasses] You wouldn't hit a guy with glasses, would you?

[Ralph yanks the glasses off and breaks them over Candy's head]

King Candy : You hit a guy *with* glasses. That's... that's... well-played.

• Crazy credits After the credits finish rolling there is a final shot where the Disney title card has an arcade "Kill Screen" with 8-bit versions of Ralph, Calhoun, and others walking around broken game stages.
• Alternate versions Also shown in a 3D version.
• Connections Edited into Zenimation: Cityscapes (2020)
• Soundtracks Celebration Written by Ronald Bell , Claydes Smith , George 'Funky' Brown (as George Brown), James 'JT' Taylor (as James Taylor), Robert 'Spike' Mickens (as Robert Mickens), Earl Toon , Dennis D.T. Thomas (as Dennis Thomas), Robert 'Kool' Bell (as Robert Bell), Eumir Deodato Performed by Kool & The Gang Courtesy of The Island Def Jam Music Group Under license from Universal Music Enterprises

User reviews 512

Even better than i hoped.....

• jediguitarguy
• Oct 25, 2012
• How long is Wreck-It Ralph? Powered by Alexa
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• What are the "rules" of living as a video game character?
• Do the characters travel through classic home consoles?
• November 2, 2012 (United States)
• United States
• Hotstar (Indonesia)
• Ralph el Demoledor
• Walt Disney Animation Studios - 500 S. Buena Vista Street, Burbank, California, USA
• Walt Disney Animation Studios
• Walt Disney Pictures
• See more company credits at IMDbPro
• $165,000,000 (estimated)
• $189,422,889
• $49,038,712
• Nov 4, 2012
• $471,222,950
• Runtime 1 hour 41 minutes
• Dolby Digital
• Dolby Atmos
• Dolby Surround 7.1

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