Review: "Wreck It Ralph" is cute nod to classic video games

"Wreck It Ralph" G
Disney and Nintendo seemed to team up in this friendly homage to the classic video games of the 1980s, most notably Speed Racer and Donkey Kong, whereas the lead is a brooding giant of a villain, a Donkey Kong spoof, and the other is a smart mouthed all around hero type in overalls, a Mario spoof. The giant, named Ralph is sad because he always must be the villain and wreck the building in his game, so that the hero, Fix it Felix, can repair it with his magical hammer. This goes on for years and when it comes time for the 30th year of this game, the villain is depressed and runs away, fearing that he will never measure up to the heroes of other games, but determined to get a hero medal anyway. He and other game players may pass in and out of the games through the arcade wiring but can allegedly be killed if they enter another game they're not part of. Ralph enters Heroes Duty, an obvious spoof of Call of Duty, where he steals a medal and then tries to hide in a cutesy Strawberry Shortcake meets Candyland race game, also a nod to Speed Racer, called Sugar Rush. Then he meets an insanely hyper moppet who longs to defeat the king of the game and win, so both team up, but havoc ensues without Ralph back in his world. This sort of Tron for Tots is a cute little movie that will be fun for the family. Also some of the newcomer voices are surprisingly similar to classic characters of yesterday. The cameos by actual game characters are also fun, such as Sonic and Robotnix and the Street Fighter guys from Capcom. The visual style is enough to entertain modern audiences and kids whop had no idea who the older characters are. No doubt there will be tie ins as invented new games out there called Wreck it Ralph and Sugar Rush. They did not exist in the 1980s.
Review by Adam Browne