WRECK-IT RALPH pre-release discussion

Aroo!

 

Great to hear!

 

Also, you had 777 reputation.

 

NOT ANYMORE!!!

I want this movie to be good. That's probably wrecking (HA!) how I'll view it, but I don't care.

Man, that is encouraging to hear. My ass will be in the theater for this, to be sure.

Very pleased about this news!

I'll watch it, I saw the poster at the bus stop today and it was pretty intriguing.

This was a ton of fun.  I don't know if it's quite great, or if it is comparable to Pixar at its best.  There are portions of it that have a manic quality that is more akin to Dreamworks' animated movies.  It's also got a bit of a filthy sensibility (though it is still family friendly).  None of these are marks against the film. 

 

There is a portion of the film where it begins to feel a bit aimless (there are two separate threats that eventually meet up at the climax), but it's always clever and funny.  And by the end, there were portions that got me a bit misty-eyed in its delivery of the story beats that we know must come.  It comes together in a very satisfying way.

 

The film does a fantastic job making the most out of the video game world.  The references to classic games are mostly loaded in the front of the film to bring us into that world.  But as the film goes along, it invests us into the fictional games created for the film (Fix It Felix, Sugar Rush, and Hero's Duty). 

 

Heartily recommend.

 

EDIT:  Also, make sure you're in time to see the beautiful short in front of the film.  PAPERMAN.  It's a fantastic step forward in creating CG animation that is truly starting to have the life and fluidity of classical hand-drawn animation (which I felt really bounded forward with TANGLED).  Unlike TANGLED, this short puts the effort to make it look hand-drawn as well.

Edited by mcnooj82 - 10/19/12 at 12:35pm

Oooh, I've heard good things about Paperman. Sounds like I'll have an extra reason to check out Ralph when it is released.

Great review guys!

 

My theory about the absence of Mario (and the teasing of his appearance) was that of Tim's. 

 

The film gave me a bit of a surprising gut punch as:

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

Yeah, that moment caught me off guard.  Some more of that and the movie would have ALL MY LOVE.  As it is, it's a highly satisfying crowd pleaser I'd have no problem seeing again.

Really glad to hear that the film works. Subject-wise it always sounded like it was made for me, but was half-expecting a rush job. Awesome to hear that it's not.

I can already tell we're going to have a knife fight over BRAVE the next time you're in town.

Josh is right though, RALPH is the goods. Flick's going to eat parents' money.

God damn I loved this movie. Bring tissues, there's a few gut punches here, but it ends happy.

"When can I see you again?"

As soon as fucking possible.

So, best video game movie since Scott Pilgrim, then? Sign me up!

 

One question: PLEASE tell me it doesn't end with a fucking dance party. I know that's not usually the habit with Pixar or even Disney films (and even DreamWorks has been moving away from it), but I'm fucking SICK of that trend.

This blows Pilgrim out of the water.

They don't really compare, to be honest. They're about video games the way that Shaun of the Dead and Dawn of the Dead ('04) are about zombies. I guess you could say that Ralph is the better video game film, but they're such different pictures with such different aesthetics and sensibilities that that seems like a minor distinction.

 

Honestly, for me, Ralph is the best Pixar movie Pixar didn't make, and easily my favorite animated movie of the year. (Grant that my sample size is small between this, The Lorax, and Brave.) It hits some major high points, and the moment Nooj references in his spoiler tag post to me calls to mind the ending of

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

 

Really fantastic. Can't wait for people to make this one a box office winner.

Great call on the spoiler comparison.  Don't think it comes anywhere near the "moment we all love" (what does?) but it is reminiscent and is still a great moment.

No, it doesn't, but it has echoes of that moment and it works amazingly well in its own context. If that other moment didn't exist, this moment might become that...moment? I don't know. Something like that?

That's really interesting to hear, Josh. And actually it doesn't surprise me at all, though it does make me happy to hear that Moore tried that idea and abandoned it instead of just shoehorning it into his film.

Yeah, that's a great story about storytelling choices. 

 

I suppose "I'm gonna wreck it" could've worked, but I'm REALLY glad they went with something so much better instead, because what they used had the feeling of a prayer.  The fact that it's a little more drawn out lets that emotional moment maintain a high longer.

Thought the trailers looked less than appealing. Glad to see it seems to be more than simply "LOOK, LOOK!!! IT'S YOUR FAVORITE VIDEO GAMES, GUZIE!!!!"

 

Good, I wasn't the only one who felt this way.  It's not at the top of my list of films to see, but I won't dismiss it outright if the opportunity comes up to see it.

LOOOOVED THIS SO MUCH. Seriously, that was a better Pixar movie than Brave (and I still liked that!). But it also felt like its own, new smart-ass yet still heart-felt thing. Laundry list time!:

 

-This is the best-LOOKING CGI Disney film since they made the switch, yes, even more than Tangled, which admittedly is more "elegant". But maybe because Ralph isn't trying to impress as much on a "Look at the pretty!" level, I found the look more interesting and intriguing, especially with the variety of games. And Sugar Rush... honestly, I felt like it was trying to give me diabetes. In a weirdly good way, though. The character animation is also fantastic on every level, particularly since characters with vastly different design styles have to interact extensively, and it all feels seamless.

 

-The voice cast is of course top notch. I was thrilled when they announced John C. Reilly for the title role; I've loved the big lug for years, and was excited by the prospect of him doing an animated character that seemed tailor-made for him. I daresay it's now one of my favorite performances from the man. Sarah Silverman manages a surprising depth and sadness with Vanellope; I knew she could be funny, but there's a real desperation and need in the character that she attacks wholeheartedly. Felix is definitely my favorite Jack McBrayer performance, and the character journey he goes through is one of the most intriguing. As for Jane Lynch... yeah, she's getting close to overexposed, but I can't pretend to care. I love her even more in animation, and her Calhoun is the most purely entertaining character in the movie.

 

-Speaking of, the surprising hilarity of her tragic backstory reminded me very much of Futurama's predilection for cosmic, comedic cruelty. Honestly, the two big reveals about her were the biggest laughs in the whole film for me. And of course where her storyline with Felix goes is alternatingl

 

-King Candy really is a surprisingly great villain, isn't he? Between Alan Tudyk's dedicated, zealous acting and the deftly handled writing, I honestly didn't see the reveals about the reprogramming or his true identity coming. And his Cybug form was scary as shit.

 

-How the fuck did it take this long to get Ed "Al Bundy" O'Neill into an animated movie? I liked his brief bits of voicework as Mr. Litwack.

 

-The echo of the bad guy creed was a lump-in-throat moment, yeah, but the harshest was absolutely when Ralph wrecks the car he made with Vanellope. I mean, DAMN.

I also liked how they got around the potentially harmful theme of "don't every try to change what you do." It's more like "If you have people you care about, you can get through a sucky job." And even that changes by the end since the Nicelanders seem to recognize that treating Ralph nicer is a good idea.

Is this worth watching in 3D?

I guess?

 

Honestly, I kinda had to think about whether I saw this in 3D.  Hahahaha

 

So... I guess not?

 

If you like 3D (which I do in general), go for it.

 

If not, see it in 2D.

I honestly can't think of any way this could've been improved in 3D at all.

 

nooj, as well as anyone else: any thoughts on Paperman? I thought it was GORGEOUS, and very sweet.

I spoke about PAPERMAN in one of my earlier posts in the thread.

Ah, gotcha. Yeah, it's great stuff, my favorite Disney short since Ballad of Nessie.

I absolutely loved this.  I was surprised how emotional it was; I was really invested in the Ralph/Vanellope relationship.  Great voice work by everyone, Silverman, in particular.  

 

I'm going to have to demand action figures for both Duncan and Winchell.   Those two killed me every time they showed up.  

 

The unhappiest people in Hollywood right now:  the producers of the upcoming CANDYLAND movie, who utterly just had their lunch eaten by this film.  

Dunkin and Winchell were great, but it was Sour Bill that just killed my audience.

 

And the four-frame way that the Nicelanders moved (I think a big part of why that got the reaction it did was that like half of the animation team was in the midnight 3D screening at the Arclight Sherman Oaks, based on where the applause broke out during the credits).

 

Moore did direct "Jurassic Bark".

Well, yeah, but there it was more like "soul crushing". Here you recognize that they're playing her backstory at least partially for laughs.

The two food cops reminded me of Henson characters for some reason. Anyone else get that vibe?

 

Also, Buckner and Garcia's return over the second part of the end credits was GLORIOUS. Their title song is going to be stuck in my head for WEEKS.

I agree with the Henson comparison. If you're going to have a one-joke character, make it one good joke.

That Owl City song is catchy as anything.

Oh yeah, everyone should see this. This script is excellent. It has that Pixar genius, in that every single thing gets paid off in satisfying and surprising detail. Stuff that doesn't feel like exposition ends up being crucially important, and every single thing comes together in a perfect structural bow at the end. The world of Sugar Rush is gorgeously rendered, and I'd recommend the 3D for this alone. Kids will love this, and I expect a series of Wreck It Ralph films to come, likely with diminishing returns.

 

If there's anything that holds it back, it's that it does often feel like an amalgam of things that worked before. It has a lot of Toy Story DNA, and also a fair amount of Shrek and Monsters Inc. This does make it feel somewhat like a product, which Brave, for all it's issues, never did. But it is a superbly made product, the Christmas gift every kid wants. 

One of my favorite little exchanges:

"Anything to declare?"
"I hate you."
"I get that a lot."

 

Also, both myself and the geek friends I was with lost it over the barely-glimpsed "Aerith Lives!" graffiti. Much like Pixar, this will definitely benefit from the Blu-ray freeze frame treatment so I can catch all the in-jokes.

I was the only one laughing at the Skrillex cameo as DJ, but since they put him in the film, I'm assuming he did the killer dubstep soundtrack in Hero's Duty.

 

That's a game I'd like to play.

That is correct. And you can play versions of Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush on the offical website.

Holy Shit, Paperman! We need a film made in this style right now.

Loved this movie so much ... I need to see more of these characters and this world.

 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

From Joshua's interview with Rich Moore, how awesome would it be for them to find a legitimately great story-based reason to bring Mario into the world?  I really admire their restraint in not just stuffing the movie with the big characters, since from the sound of it, they could've easily done it.

I was kind of surprised that after ...

 

 

Warning: Spoiler! (Click to show)

I just got back from it. There is so much I love about it that I don't even know where to start, but weirdly I think my favorite thing about it is Calhoun's Southern-fried-colonel jabber, filtered through the same goofy profanity filter that Felix's exclamations get. I'm breaking down into laughter just thinking about it.

The performances are just great. I can't think of a single major character that doesn't absolutely nail it. I'm gonna have to give special mention to Sarah Silverman, though - I'm usually more or less indifferent to bratty-half-pint characters, when I don't actively dislike them. However, I didn't just not mind Vannelope, she's actually pretty much my favorite character in the movie, and I think a big part of that is Silverman's performance.

Of course, the other part is that she's really a likeable character, which brings me to: damn, but this movie has some good writing. There's a few points where it feels like they remembered "oh, right, we have to explain X, quick, fit that in somewhere," but overall it's really solid - and I'm awfully impressed that they managed to not only avoid making the issue of the characters' roles wind up as unintentionally fatalistic, they actually played it that way at the start and then turned it into something better by the end. Bravo for that, sirs. Also, I hope the screenwriters got paid like a million dollars, because I was laughing at just about every other line.

I wish the soundtrack had done a bit more with the chiptune-style stuff, but what there was was excellent, and the other genre-pastiche stuff was great too (Hero's Duty's dubstep, as mentioned above, had all three of us trying to keep from tapping the theater floor loud enough for the other moviegoers to hear, but I expect that when I get my copy of the soundtrack, it's going to be the Sugar Rush theme that worms itself into my brain - that, or Buckner & Garcia's absolute fantastic end-credits number.)

Also: I have now heard Alan Tudyk channeling Ed Wynn. (I'm pretty sure I mean that literally, and he actually summoned the spirit of Ed Wynn into himself.) My life is now complete.

Also also? Paperman was amazing. But I kept kinda half-expecting it to turn into the video for "Owner of a Lonely Heart."