WRECK-IT RALPH: Game On

Note: Mild spoilers can be found in this review. - Zack

Translating video games into film is never an easy task. Especially for the Walt Disney Company. Their first venture into the world of gaming was in 1982 with the sci-fi adventure film TRON, starring Jeff Bridges. Then came Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time and TRON: Legacy from 2010. All three films weren’t box-office blockbusters but found life after theaters on Blu-Ray/DVD. It seemed as though Disney couldn’t break through to gamers. So they decided to Wreck their way through to gamers. Walt Disney Animation Studios, headed by John Lasseter, released a new kind of video game movie, Wreck-It Ralph.


In the arcade game “Fix-It Felix Jr.”, Wreck-It Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) is a regular guy with enormous size and strength stuck doing the same old shtick: destroying an apartment building only to be thwarted by Fix-It Felix Jr. (voice of Jack McBrayer). He confesses to his fellow peers that he doesn’t want to be a bad guy anymore. Everyone believes that Ralph is crazy; that he should just accept what he is, no matter how hard it seems. At a 30th anniversary for the game, one of the apartment tenants sarcastically tells him the only way he could be a hero is if he wins a medal like Felix.

Undeterred, Ralph jumps from his own game to another game: a next-gen first-person shooter game called “Hero’s Duty”, led by the no-nonsense space Marine, Sgt. Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch). After being terrified by the new, “scary” world, Ralph gets his medal but before he can return to his own game, he is accidentally propelled into another game world: the kart-racing game, “Sugar Rush”.

Once there, Ralph meets a bratty little girl named Vanellope Von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman) who steals his medal for payment into a race to be on the roster for the arcade players, headed by the goofy King Candy (voice of Alan Tudyk). After settling their differences, Ralph and Vanellope reluctantly team up to get a new kart for her to race in so she can get his medal back. Meanwhile, Felix has noticed Ralph has gone missing and joins Sgt. Calhoun in tracking him down. They realize that Ralph’s game-jumping has caused a potential travesty that could bring down the whole arcade. Still, no one realizes there is an even more dangerous threat lurking in the shadows.

Like The Muppets a year ago, I find myself unusually conflicted in my opinion of this film. I’m not afraid to say I liked it, I just can’t say I loved it. The first hour of the film is hilarious (not on par with The Emperor’s New Groove which moves at a faster pace): all the great cameos and all the great jokes are there. Who would’ve guessed Disney would okay a film with a zombie getting his heart ripped out and the phrase, “Thanks, Satan”? Fantastic.

But the problems really start with “Hero’s Duty”. After a brief battle, Ralph decides not to regroup with the rest of the troops and climbs up the tower for his medal. At the top, he’s able to get the medal. WAY TOO EASY. It might be unfair to compare this film to Raiders of the Lost Ark, but I’m gonna do it anyway: it makes you care more about the character if you see him work hard to get what he wants. Ralph simply climbs the building and gets his medal. No booby traps. No predicaments. I realize it would have made the movie longer include them, but at least it would have sold me on being a real game.

And then we get to “Sugar Rush” and Vanellope. Sigh. I have nothing against Sarah Silverman. I wouldn’t consider myself a fan of hers. The only thing I’ve enjoyed her in was her two-part episode on “Star Trek: Voyager”, “Future’s End”, portraying a 20th century astrologer who comes across members of the Voyager crew. Other than that, I’ve not seen most of her comedy career (yes, I know she was in School of Rock, but I didn’t enjoy her in that). The ending involves the reset of the game and the reveal that Vanellope is actually a princess. In a movie about video games, in a time when Disney is doing their damndest to appeal to boys by buying Marvel and Lucasfilm (did notice a few Star Wars references in the film), why on Earth include a plug for Disney Princesses? WHY?! It’s so grating to get this far into the film and then suddenly have the film shift more towards girls. Can Disney NOT make an animated film without including a princess of some kind? (You: “Winnie-the-Pooh.” Me: “Shut up!”)

One good positive I can say is I did genuinely not see the final reveal of the true villain of the film coming. Was it scary to me? No, not really. It was genuinely creepy, but if I was a five-year-old sitting in that audience? I’d be scared out of my mind! Yeah, maybe they should have lost the other “persona” of the character and just make the character flat-out scary, but it was fine to me. Hearing that voice threaten to kill Ralph was a nice contrast to his appearance. So I suppose in that way, it works. At least we have an animated Disney villain who does not die due to falling.

In all, I can say that the pros of Wreck-It Ralph outweigh the very noticeable cons. It’s a good film that *could* have been great. There’s been talk of a sequel; naturally, the film was Walt Disney Animation Studios’ biggest opening ever at $48 million. If the problems I’ve mentioned above are no longer there, it will make for a much better film. Wreck-It Ralph has genuine laughs and genuine heart, but it does not present itself to its audience as they thought it would be rather than what it wants to be.

P.S. The short "Paperman" is nothing less than beautiful. Why can't Disney animate a whole movie like this? It'd be fantastic!

P.P.S. Stay until the end of the credits.

The Mouse Strikes Back

The unthinkable has happened.

"There's no going back. You've changed things. Forever."

- The Joker (Heath Ledger), The Dark Knight (2008)

"Whoa, this is heavy."

- Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox), Back to the Future (1985)

"You've just taken your first step into a larger world."

- Obi-Wan Kenobi (Alec Guiness), Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope

Back in 1977, George Lucas could not have been more depressed. He had been in the middle of this science-fiction picture that seemed doomed to fail. The actors found it hard to take seriously, the special effects were late and unimpressive and the crew often mutinied against him. After it was all finished, 20th Century Fox began printing the film and sent it off to theaters. Then came May 25th, 1977. The day Lucas' life changed forever. Star Wars was the greatest film phenomenon anyone had ever seen. Soon, sequels followed - Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back and Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi. Both films were massive box-office hits, which provided millions of dollars in merchandising. In the 90s, after assisting Steven Spielberg with the visual effects in Jurassic Park, Lucas saw that computer generated graphics had finally become acceptable to continue with his vision of future Star Wars films.

Then came the prequels. Fans around the world revolted against George Lucas, blaming him for devaluing their favorite film series. Midichlorians, Anakin Skywalker, Jar Jar Binks and Darth Vader screaming the word, "NOOOOO!" all irritated fans to no end. There seemed to be no pleasing them. Lucas then allowed "Robot Chicken" and "Family Guy" to spoof the Star Wars films; giving others a chance to take a shot at his failures but also allow them to pay tribute to his successes. 5 years after Revenge of the Sith, a new Star Wars film came to theaters; but with a twist. The CG-animated Star Wars: The Clone Wars was released in later summer 2008 to dismal reviews, but it helped launch a massively successful animated TV series under the same name. This helped to win back old fans and got new fans. This seemed to be the course Star Wars had been fated to for the near future. Of course, in the Star Wars universe, things have a way of changing...

On October 30th, the Walt Disney Company announced that they had made a deal to acquire Lucasfilm Ltd. and their family of companies including Industrial Light & Magic, LucasArts and Skywalker Sound. In addition, this deal included the highly lucrative Star Wars and Indiana Jones franchise and characters. This was the biggest acquisition by Disney since their purchase of Marvel Entertainment in 2009. In the below video, George Lucas discusses what led him to this decision, putting long-time film producer Kathleen Kennedy in charge of Lucasfilm and his impending retirement.


WAIT. WHAT DID THEY JUST SAY?! A new Star Wars film?! Episode VII?!

"The last Star Wars movie release was 2005's Revenge of the Sith - and we believe there's substantial pent-up demand. In 2015, we're planning to release Star Wars Episode 7 - the first feature film under the 'Disney-Lucasfilm' brand. That will be followed by Episodes 8 and 9 - and our long-term plan is to release a new Star Wars feature film every two to three years."

- Bob Iger, CEO of The Walt Disney Company

So let me get this straight. George Lucas, the man who created Star Wars, who has been saying for years, "There will never ever be Episodes 7-9. When I said that in the '70s, I was kidding. I didn't realize I'd be the same age as Mark, Carrie and Harrison," has now given up all say to the franchise he created to one of the biggest corporations of all time? And they're planning to make more of the most beloved science-fantasy film series of all time?

My initial reaction was like this:


("What's going on? Is this a joke? Episode 7?! Come on, that's never happening. Somebody's hacked into Disney's mainframe or something.")
But then the validity was solidified.

And then my reaction was like this:

Let's face it. There's no better home for Star Wars than Disney. Lucasfilm wasn't going to do anything major with Star Wars other than "Star Wars: The Clone Wars". Disney will take the reins from Lucas (willingly) and implement it in all the ways they can. This means all new merchandise: toys, video games, comic books, etc. Did Disney have to start making more Star Wars movies now that they have Lucasfilm? Absolutely not. They simply could have held onto the endless moneymaking that could come from all the licensing from Star Wars. But they were interested in keeping the saga alive for the future generations (and continue making money from it).

It's like when Disney bought Marvel three years ago. Fans revolted, thinking Disney was going to water down their characters into family-friendly babies. Instead, they put an actual Marvel comics writer (Whedon) in charge of their biggest film, Marvel's The Avengers. The Hulk didn't become Mickey Mouse. Black Widow didn't become Hannah Montana. The film made $1.5 billion and was embraced by fans worldwide. Disney and Marvel are committed to taking their characters and making them international phenomenons. 

Disney and Lucasfilm can finally start making a brand new Star Wars theme park. The reason we haven't gotten anything outside of "Star Tours" and the "Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular" stateside is because Lucasfilm reportedly signed an agreement with Disney that said they could never open a Star Wars/Indiana Jones theme park in the United States. Now that they're together, all's fine and anything is on the table. I'm still waiting on that Tony Stark Expo, by the way.

What can Disney to satisfy these angry fans? Well, for one thing they can release the original, unaltered trilogy in high definition on Blu-Ray. And I'm not one of those fans who are enraged at ALL the changes Lucas made to the series. The only ones that bother me:

• R2 hiding behind more rocks. It makes no ounce of sense, how would he have gotten behind there? (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope)

• Greedo shooting first. When even Lucas is wearing a "Han Shot First" shirt and doesn't change the scene back for the Blu-Ray, that's just wrong. (Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope)

• Darth Vader yelling "Noo!" picking up the Emperor and tossing him over the side. I get that the movies are meant to be poetic, but by this point it makes Vader look stupid. (Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi)

Only problem is, Fox still holds the "in perpetuity" rights to Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. They hold all the rest of the movies until May 2020. Now, Disney can always throw down a lump sum of cash, but Fox has been burned by Disney before: Chronicles of Narnia, anyone? Still, there have been some hints that Fox is willing to let bygones be bygones and play nice. I'm sure they'd ask for a cut of the profits. Still, there is some doubt as to whether Lucas would surrender the original 1977 prints. If he's willing to sell off the entire Star Wars franchise, what more worth does the original film prints have for him?

Now that there will be a brand new Star Wars film for the first time in a decade (unless one counts The Clone Wars), of course everybody wants to know who will be in the movie, what the new story is, and who will direct the film. I was pleased to hear that Mark Hamill and Carrie Fisher were the first ones told about Lucas agreeing to have the sequel trilogy made. Hamill seems to be interested in coming back as Luke Skywalker. This is great, considering that by Jedi, Luke is no longer whining about, "going to Toschi Station to pick up some power converters" (which makes for a funny joke in "Robot Chicken"). He's a mature warrior who is ready to face his destiny. Seeing Hamill over the years just goes to show you his quiet wisdom and wry sense of humor. And of course, being the best voice for the Joker ever. He could easily pick up the character today.

Something refreshing to know about the new Star Wars films is that Lucas will be contributing story ideas, but beyond that, he'll have no real power. What does this mean? It means we're going to see a whole new direction for Star Wars. Uncharted territory. It won't be based on books, video games or anything authors have come up with. Luke, Leia and Han will be facing new adventures at the hands of whoever gets chosen to write the film.
The last major thing to wonder about the next Star Wars movie is who will be in the director's chair. With Lucas out of the pictures, hopefully the movies will move in a much faster pace ala J.J. Abrams' Star Trek. Yet all the names that have been thrown around from Brad Bird to Matthew Vaughn will not be chosen. Why? Because they are already busy!! This was a SURPRISE announcement. Most of everybody's suggestions are already in the midst of making new films. The Disney/Lucasfilm announcement stressed that the new films would be made with the involvement of "the new generation of filmmakers". So literally any director born after 1970 is eligible. But, really, let's not kid ourselves. Who in their right mind would take this job? Seeing all the trouble George Lucas has had to put up with for the last 25 years, and the amount of fanboys' eyeballs that would be following your every movement. It's not easy to think about.

Still, if Disney takes the same approach with Lucasfilm that they did with Marvel and Pixar, we're all in for a big surprise come 2015. Unless Max Spielberg decides he suddenly wants to do Jaws 19.