Wreck-It Ralph

Animated films are typically reserved for the summer audiences i.e. kids out of school, others on vacation, etc., but Walt Disney can't help themselves with producing an animated film about an anti-hero game jumping in "Wreck-It Ralph".

Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) longs to be loved as his game's perfect Good Guy, Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer). Problem is, nobody loves a Bad Guy. But they do love heroes... so when modern first-person shooter game arrives featuring tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch), Ralph sees it as his ticket to heroism and happiness. So he 'game jumps' into the game with a simple plan-- win a metal-- but soon wrecks everything, and accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens every game in the arcade.
As Ralph inadvertently ends up in Sugar Rush, a candy coated cart racing game lead by King Candy (Alan Tudyk), he runs into Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a young troublemaking 'glitch' who might just be the one to teach Ralph what it means to be the Good Guy, which is more than getting a metal. But will he realize he is good enough to become a hero before it's 'Game Over' for the entire arcade?

Others to round out the cast are Adam Carolla as Wynnchel, Mindy Kaling as Taffyta Muttonfudge, Vanellope's nemesis, Joe Lo Truglio as Markowski, Ed O'Neill as Mr. Litwak, Dennis Haysbert as General Hologram, Edie McClurg as Mary, Raymond S. Persi as Gene/Zombie, Jess Harnell as Don, Rachael Harris as Deanna, and Skylar Astin as Roy.

This was well directed by Rich Moore who is a virtual newcomer to feature films-- he has a ton of TV and shorts to his credit. And, where most animated flicks usually have two directors to share the responsibilities, Moore handled this solo, also to his credit. He should go far. It was written by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee based on a story by Moore, Johnston, and Jim Reardon. It was a cute premise. Wreck-It Ralph is basically a take on the old '80's arcade game, Donkey Kong. This even had that sort of '80's look type of animation for arcade games which was well executed by Disney Animation Studios.

But after seeing this, and you're yearning for more animation, not to worry, because Dreamworks Animation is releasing "Rise of the Guardians" soon, and Disney is re-releasing "Monsters Inc. in 3D" in December. With the small exception of some incohesiveness in script-- too many people involved-- it was visually stunning, looked great in the 3D format, and the ride was well worth the price of admission.

Out of 4 stars: 3                     Rated: PG                      101mins.