Wreck It Ralph: The World's Most Endearing Bad Guy

Pixar, how do I love thee?
Let me count the ways:
Your mastery of humor
For kids and adults the same,
While dazzling us with great effects
The result is never lame.

O Pixar, thou great beacon
In the sea of dark,
Where stupid animation
And potty jokes live,
Make our movies great again
With HD, humanity, and wit.

I mean, really there was no other way to express my love for this sweet production company. Wreck-It Ralph is nothing but awesome. Compared with Pixar's other sentimentally heartbreaking movies (anyone else have puffy eyes for days after seeing Up?), this one was pleasant, sweet, and ADORABLE. What's cuter than a big hulking clumsy guy who just wants a hug (says the girl who dates a tender-hearted, 6'4 ex-offensive lineman). It is absolutely impossible to single out any one thing about this movie without busting out a great big smile. Feel-good awesomeness, ladies and gentlemen.

Seriously, this has fun written all over it.

As I'm sure everyone in this country has seen from the trailer, the plot follows Ralph, an unhappy bad guy in a game called Fix-It Felix Jr. The game revolves around Ralph wrecking an apartment complex and his good guy counterpart Fix-It Felix being controlled by the player to fix all the damage that he has done. At the end of each game, Ralph is thrown from the top of the apartment complex into a mud puddle on the ground. As we learn in the beginning, Ralph is upset that he gets treated poorly by the other characters in the game and just wants some recognition (and also a medal....or a pie...).

I mean, who doesn't want a pie? (Happy Thanksgiving by the way, guys!)

After a confrontation at the anniversary party of his game, Ralph goes AWOL and sets off to find a medal to prove to the others in his game that he's not all bad. On this mission, Ralph visits a game that looks like a cross between Halo and the movie Starship Troopers, and then another game that looks like a cross between Mario Kart and Candy Land.

Kandy Kart?

The structure of the plot revolves around learning how to accept people that aren't like ourselves. While Ralph bonds with a glitch named Vanellope Von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman, brilliant.), Felix gets close with a strong-willed commander of the game Hero's Duty. Facing opposition from the other characters in her game, Vanellope knows what its like to be an outcast and she and Ralph form a snarky yet loving friendship. As for Felix (voiced by Jack McBrayer, genius.) he learns that bad guys aren't always necessarily bad guys.

I mean SO FREAKIN CUTE

Clever clever dialogue, some tearjerker moments (I mean, come on, what'd you expect?), and some hilariously awesome characters (look for the devil dogs that help King Candy, I was cracking up). I think Nick and I were laughing harder than the majority of the children in the packed audience. (Also, a bit off topic, but it was so nice to sit in a full theatre for once! So often it's me and Nick and like ten other people...)

So many fellow cinephiles!

The Pixar moniker has triumphed once more. Get your butt out there and remember what movie magic was like during the golden years of Aladdin and Beauty and the Beast.

10 outa 10. Pixar, you keep on keepin' on!

Scots and Gingers and Bears--Oh My!

Bill and I hit up the Frank Theater in Rio Grande last Wednesday in pursuit of a certain Pixar movie that just came out last week: Disney and Pixar's Brave. I know, I'm awful, it took me a while to get around to writing this one because I was running back and forth between Philly and home a lot last week and this week and whenever I'm home I have the delusion that I'm on vacation. So OBVIOUSLY I couldn't write a blog post when I was on vacation...

But I digress. As usual.

So really having nothing to go off of from the preview except for that looping phrase, "If you haad the chaance to cheenge yer feet...would yew?" I was just kinda putting my faith into the Pixar logo, as so many of us do.

Or is it "Breeeeve"?

The plot of the film, if you got the vibe from the previews better than I did, is that Princess Merida is being forced to choose a husband with which to rule her father's kingdom. The three neighboring clans (who don't get along very well) all come bearing their sons in hopes of winning a competition and therefore Merida's hand. But Merida is an unruly and adventurous teenager who doesn't feel ready to be married. Kept in line by her proper mother, despite taking more after her father, Merida is dying for the chance to just be herself and live outside the princess rules that weigh her down.

In order to change her fate (cheenge her feeet), Merida is led by whisps (mystic Scottish things that look sort of like oversized misty water drops) to an old witch that can help her change her mother. But the results of the witch's help leave Merida with something that she had never asked for, and now she has to fix what she's done before it becomes permanent.

Or I guess they kind of also look like jellyfish...

So, first of all, let me get the obvious out of the way and just say: holy crap this movie is gorgeous. I don't know how the hell they pack so much detail into their sets while maintaining the mysticism of the era and adding cartoon-like characters that nonetheless are heartbreakingly realistic and wonderfully hilarious. Also the fiery vibrance of Merida's hair in contrast to the lush green of Scotland's landscape really reels her in as the focus of this movie. Lighting, sounds, and design are all breathtaking in this film. Once again, Pixar, well done. Ya did good, kids.

You really have to click on this sucker to do it justice...

In terms of plot, I was pleasantly surprised at how much the movie made sense after being a little befuddled about the vague, adrenaline-filled preview. I understand now that they wanted to keep the plot a bit under wraps as this movie is shorter than most Pixar ventures at only an hour and a half. However, I will say, that Pixar must be used to taking their time with plot points because this one took a small while to get going. You kind of end up feeling like they set out to make an epic adventure, but shortened it in the name of the children watching. No offense, Pixar, but I think you should've either kept the length or just  gotten right into the real story a little bit faster. Everything ends up being kind of necessary, but...I dunno, it just felt a little off its game. I think also, after re-watching the preview, that Brave sets itself up to be an epic adventure tale of GARGANTUAN proportions when really it ends up being an above-par folktale that really centers on the children audience for once. (Also, for the weepy, don't worry there aren't any heartbreaking scenes like in Finding Nemo's beginning or like in Up! when Ellie finds out she can't have kids. So that's good.)

In short, this film isn't bad at all, but its brevity leaves a little something to be desired for the older crews. For kids' films in general it's a beautiful adventure tale, but for Pixar, it seems to be down there with Cars.

7 and a half outa 10.

OMG, I forgot! If you need a reason to see this, though, please PLEASE see it for the ADORABLE short that prefaces the film. It's literally one of the cutest things I've ever seen. Seriously.