Movie Review: Wreck-It Ralph
On Boxing Day, my husband and I took the kids to see Wreck-It Ralph. Our six-year-old daughter chose the movie. Our eight-year-old son wasn’t that interested, but we inflicted it on him anyway.
Wreck-It Ralph is a bad-guy in a video game who destroys the building that Fix-It Felix fixes. He is ostracised by the people of Niceland when life in the video game continues after all the gamers leave. The movie follows his struggle to prove himself and find acceptance by winning a gold medal in a different game. His efforts throw the gaming arcade into chaos. Vanellope Von Schweetz, a glitch in the ‘Sugar Rush’ game, becomes his fellow protagonist in her own struggle to be accepted as a race driver. Fix-It Felix discovers both love and rejection in his own character journey.
So how did it rate as a family movie? Very well in fact. All of us enjoyed it, even our son. It suits both boys and girls. I liked the anti-heroes and the anti-bullying and pro-acceptance-of-different-kinds-of people stances.
Vanellope is a great character. She’s an antidote to the more traditional Disney princesses my six-year-old daughter loves. She’s independent, makes her own fashion, thinks for herself and tries to save herself. She is short with dark-hair in an untidy ponytail, as opposed to impossibly tall and slender with remarkable hair. She does not seek a handsome prince as the panacea to her miserable life. Nor are there any actual handsome princes in the movie.
The movie promoted values that I want to encourage in my kids, without preaching. In fact, though the plot is light and fun, it brought a tear to my eye – and to that of my husband.
Towards the end there is a fun scary bit that might frighten some very small or sensitive kids, but it doesn’t last long. It didn’t disturb my six-year-old daughter.
I liked the twist on the ‘toys-come-to-life-when-you’re-not-there’ premise where the ‘video-games-come-to-life’. Us adults also enjoyed the Starship Troopers influences and the Donkey Kong graphics that Wreck-It Ralph himself is based on.
Kid’s movies such as The Incredibles and Up were more memorable in my opinion, but Wreck-It Ralph is very good. I recommend it if you’ve got kids at a loose end these school holidays.
