Boy has it been a while since I have written an article for this website. Well anyway, let's get to the punch. I just got out of seeing Wreck-It Ralph the other day and it sure was a lot of fun. The movie surprised me in many ways considering the abysmal track record that video game based movies have; especially if a film maker named Uwe Boll is involved in it. First off, I believe Disney took a huge risk in making a video game based movie considering the fact that those types of films almost always tend to suck. There have been a few exceptions where a video game based movie has done well for the most part, but so far none of them have been able to reach anywhere near critical acclaim, that is until Wreck-It Ralph showed up.
Wreck-It Ralph manages to show audiences that not only can a video game based movie work, it can also somehow manage to avoid all of the pitfalls that many of it's predecessors have fallen into before it. First off is exposition. Most video game based movies usually have to take it's time and stop progressing the story in order to explain the story's premise or explain story elements from the game to those who are unfamiliar to it. This leads to about ten minutes or so of explaining things from the game that people who have already played the game know. This tends to irritate gamers to no end and can result into leading the film into oblivion.
Another issue is the the view's of the game from the perspective of the director can be entirely different then those of the game's fans or it's developers. And that's where our friend Uwe Boll comes in. Sometimes the director will change crucial story elements in order to make it fit in his perspective. Little changes here and there to differentiate the film from it's source material is fine, but when you change a crucial story element from the game to add into the movie, it tends to alienate the game's fans. Those fans who are usually the first to see the movie get disappointed and tell their friends the movie is a piece of garbage. And before you know it, we suddenly get the cinematic equivalent of E.T. for the Atari 2600. And then you suddenly realize why they couldn't get the licensing rights to show Mario and Luigi in the film after what happened with the Super Mario Bros. movie.
The last issue is time. When you make a movie based on a video game, you are essentially squeezing fifteen to twenty hours of story and game-play into a two hour film. As such, a lot of information is going to be lost. The result is an audience that ends up confused rather than entertained if the story is not put together carefully. This rule is pretty much universal to any film that is an adaptation of another medium.
So how does Wreck-It Ralph succeed where many others have failed? Well, what keeps Wreck-It Ralph from becoming a literal wreck like all the other video game based movies out there is it's execution. Instead of being solely based on one particular game, it is actually a homage to video gaming in general, much like how Who Framed Roger Rabbit was to classic animation. Another thing that sets this film apart from the others is it's creativity. Rather then being bogged down by the continuity rules of an existing game, the filmmakers decided to base the movie around a game they made up on their own; those consisting of Fix-It Felix Jr., Heroes Duty, and Sugar Rush of which the majority of the film takes place.
Another thing that makes this film memorable is the heartfelt human emotion that we all come to expect from Disney as Ralph becomes sick of his job as a villain and goes off on a quest to show that he can be a hero. All the while he ends up meeting with Vanellope Von Schweetz and helps her to become a racer and save her game, all the while in a rush to get back home before the arcade re-opens.
Despite having some kind of dumb moments at times, Wreck-It Ralph was a lot of fun and something that other video game movies should take an example from. It's bright, it's colorful, and it's action packed. Not to mention, it's full of eye candy in the form of video game character cameos and references that will be a delight to fans of video games and fans of Disney animation alike. This is a true love letter to gamers and when it comes to video game based movies, Wreck-It Ralph scores above the rest!
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