Wreck-It Ralph
Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 American animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It was directed by Rich Moore (in his feature directorial debut) and produced by Clark Spencer, from a screenplay written by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee, and a story by Moore, Johnston, and Jim Reardon. John Lasseter served as the film’s executive producer. Featuring the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch, the film tells the story of the eponymous arcade game villain who rebels against his "bad guy" role and dreams of becoming a hero.
This article is about the film. For the franchise, see Wreck-It Ralph (franchise). For the soundtrack, see Wreck-It Ralph (soundtrack).Wreck-It Ralph
- Rich Moore
- Phil Johnston
- Jim Reardon
Rob Dressel
Tim Mertens
- October 29, 2012 (El Capitan Theatre[2])
- November 2, 2012 (United States)
United States
English
$165 million[5]
$496.5 million[6]
Wreck-It Ralph premiered at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles on October 29, 2012,[7] and went into general release on November 2. The film was a critical and commercial success, grossing $496 million worldwide against a $165 million budget and winning the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature, as well as receiving nominations for the Golden Globe and Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.[8][9][10] A sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet, was released on November 21, 2018.
Plot[edit]
Whenever Litwak's Arcade closes, the video game characters leave their in-game roles and socialize via a power strip called Game Central Station. One evening, Wreck-It Ralph, the villain of platform game Fix-it Felix, Jr., visits a villain support group called Bad-Anon, expressing frustration with his assigned role. When Ralph is excluded from his game's 30th-anniversary party, he decides to win a medal, believing he will be respected for doing so. Upon overhearing that the first-person shooter Hero's Duty awards medals, Ralph sneaks into Hero's Duty and steals a medal after making it past insectoid monsters known as Cy-Bugs.
Ralph accidentally launches himself in an escape shuttle with a Cy-Bug inside and crash-lands in the confectionery-themed kart racing game Sugar Rush. With Ralph gone, his game is labeled "out of order" and put in danger of being unplugged. Fix-It Felix, Jr. himself leaves the game to find Ralph, allying with Sergeant Calhoun, the heroine of Hero's Duty. Calhoun tracks the Cy-Bug, as Cy-Bugs behave as a virus once outside their game. Felix worries Ralph will meet the same fate as Turbo, the protagonist of the racing game TurboTime, who became jealous of a newly-installed RoadBlasters cabinet's success and tried to take it over, resulting in both games being unplugged.
In Sugar Rush, racer Vanellope von Schweetz steals Ralph's medal and uses it to buy her way into the nightly race that determines which characters will be playable the next day. King Candy, the ruler of Sugar Rush's world, forbids her to race, as she is a glitch that teleports erratically. Vanellope promises to get the medal back if Ralph helps her win; he helps her build a new kart and teaches her to drive inside Diet Cola Mountain. Meanwhile, Calhoun and Felix arrive in Sugar Rush, where they fall into "Nesquik-sand", work together to escape, and begin to fall in love.
King Candy hacks into Sugar Rush's source code and retrieves the medal, giving it back to Ralph. He claims that if Vanellope becomes a playable character, her glitching will lead to Sugar Rush being labeled out of order and unplugged, and Vanellope, unable to leave the game due to being a glitch, will die. Ralph decides he cannot allow Vanellope to race, and destroys her kart. Meanwhile, Calhoun abandons Felix when he unintentionally reminds her of her late fiancé, who was killed by a Cy-Bug during their wedding. Felix is imprisoned by King Candy's assistant, Sour Bill, while Calhoun discovers that the Cy-Bug has multiplied exponentially.
A despondent Ralph returns to Fix-it Felix, Jr., but the game has been evacuated. When he throws the medal on the screen, Ralph notices that the Sugar Rush cabinet displays Vanellope as a playable character. Realizing King Candy lied, Ralph returns to Sugar Rush and interrogates Sour Bill, who reveals that King Candy damaged Vanellope's code. King Candy's edits to the code also have ensured no one but himself knows Vanellope's true role. However, if Vanellope completes a race, all of King Candy's changes will be deleted, as the game will reset itself. Ralph frees Vanellope and Felix from prison. Felix fixes Vanellope's kart. Vanellope belatedly enters the race, but the Cy-Bugs emerge and start destroying the game. Calhoun, Felix, and Ralph help evacuate the characters.
Unaware of the Cy-Bugs, King Candy attempts to ram Vanellope off the track, causing them both to glitch. The glitching unmasks King Candy as Turbo, who secretly took over Sugar Rush after surviving the unplugging of TurboTime. Vanellope flees as Turbo is devoured by a Cy-Bug, which fuses with him into an insectoid monster. As glitches cannot leave their games, Vanellope is unable to evacuate. Remembering from Hero's Duty that a beacon will draw and destroy the Cy-Bugs, Ralph battles Turbo and collapses the Mentos roof of Diet Cola Mountain, creating a glowing eruption that lures and destroys Turbo and the Cy-Bugs. Vanellope rescues Ralph and crosses the finish line. The game resets, revealing her as the true ruler of Sugar Rush, though she keeps her glitching ability, considering it an advantage.
Ralph returns to his game, content with his role as a villain and finally respected by his fellow characters. Felix and Calhoun marry, and Ralph watches Vanellope become Sugar Rush's favorite character.
The cast also includes the Fix-It Felix Jr. Nicelanders, Edie McClurg as Mary,[14] Raymond S. Persi as Mayor Gene,[17] Jess Harnell as Don, Rachael Harris as Deanna,[14] and Skylar Astin as Roy; Katie Lowes as Candlehead, Jamie Elman as Rancis Fluggerbutter, Josie Trinidad as Jubileena Bing-Bing, and Cymbre Walk as Crumbelina DiCaramello, racers in Sugar Rush; Phil Johnston as Surge Protector, Game Central Station security;[18] Stefanie Scott as Moppet Girl, a young arcade-game player;[14] John DiMaggio as Beard Papa, the security guard at the Sugar Rush candy-kart factory; Raymond Persi as a Zombie, Brian Kesinger as a Cyborg (based on Kano from Mortal Kombat) and Martin Jarvis as Saitine, a devil-like villain, who attends the Bad-Anon support group; Tucker Gilmore as the Sugar Rush Announcer; Brandon Scott as Kohut, a soldier in Hero's Duty; and Tim Mertens as Dr. Brad Scott, a scientist who is Sgt. Calhoun's deceased fiancé in Hero's Duty (voiced by Nick Grimshaw in the UK version but not in the UK home release).
The film features several cameos from real-world video game characters including: Tapper (Maurice LaMarche), the bartender from Tapper;[19] Sonic the Hedgehog (Roger Craig Smith);[14][18] Ryu (Kyle Hebert), Ken Masters (Reuben Langdon), M. Bison (Gerald C. Rivers), and Zangief (Rich Moore) from Street Fighter II;[1][14][20] Clyde (Kevin Deters) from Pac-Man;[21] and Yuni Verse (Jamie Sparer Roberts) from Dance Dance Revolution (specifically X2).[22]
A character modeled after dubstep musician Skrillex makes an appearance in the fictional Fix-It Felix Jr. as the DJ at the anniversary party of the game.[23]
Production[edit]
Concept and story[edit]
The concept of Wreck-It Ralph was first developed at Disney, in the late 1980s, under the working title High Score. Since then, it was redeveloped and reconsidered several times: In the late 1990s, it took on the working title Joe Jump, then in the mid-2000s as Reboot Ralph.[39][40]
Release[edit]
Home media[edit]
Wreck-It Ralph was released on Blu-ray Disc (2D and 3D) and DVD in North America on March 5, 2013, from Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment.[63] The film was made available for digital download in selected regions on February 12, 2013.[64] Wreck-It Ralph debuted at No. 1 in Blu-ray and DVD sales in the United States.[65] Wreck It Ralph was released on 4K UHD Blu-ray on November 6, 2018.[66]
Reception[edit]
Box office[edit]
Wreck-It Ralph grossed $189.4 million in North America and $281.8 million in other countries, for a worldwide total of $496.5 million.[5][6]
In North America, the film debuted with $13.5 million, an above-average opening-day gross for an animated film released in November.[67] During its opening weekend, the film topped the box office with $49 million, making it the largest opening for a Walt Disney Animation Studios film at the time.[68][69] The film fell 33% to $33 million in its second weekend, finishing second behind newcomer Skyfall.[70]
Critical response[edit]
The review-aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 87% of critics have given the film a positive review, based on 194 reviews with an average score of 7.4/10. The site's consensus reads: "Equally entertaining for both kids and parents old enough to catch the references, Wreck-It Ralph is a clever, colorful adventure built on familiar themes and joyful nostalgia."[71] On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 38 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[72] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.[73]
Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars and wrote, "More than in most animated films, the art design and color palette of Wreck-It Ralph permit unlimited sets, costumes, and rules, giving the movie tireless originality and different behavior in every different cyber world."[74] A. O. Scott of The New York Times wrote, "The movie invites a measure of cynicism—which it proceeds to obliterate with a 93-minute blast of color, noise, ingenuity and fun."[75] Peter Debruge of Variety stated, "With plenty to appeal to boys and girls, old and young, Walt Disney Animation Studios has a high-scoring hit on its hands in this brilliantly conceived, gorgeously executed toon, earning bonus points for backing nostalgia with genuine emotion."[3] Betsy Sharkey of the Los Angeles Times said, "The movie's subversive sensibility and old-school/new-school feel are a total kick,"[76] while Justin Lowe of The Hollywood Reporter wrote, "With a mix of retro eye-candy for grown-ups and a thrilling, approachable storyline for the tykes, the film casts a wide and beguiling net."[77] Conversely, Christopher Orr of The Atlantic found it "overplotted and underdeveloped."[78]