There's no one I'd rather be than me! (Wreck-It Ralph in review)

     As you all know, I love video games, and I love Disney animation. These have to be two of my favorite subjects to talk about in general. In 2012, they made a movie that actually combined these two things, called Wreck-it Ralph, and my hype levels were over the moon. In the first trailer, it showed scenes of Zangief from Street Fighter, Bowser from Super Mario Bros. (who hasn't been in many arcade games as far as I'm aware, but I'm still happy to see him), and Clyde, the orange ghost from Pac-Man, and I was blown away. How could a movie like this even be possible? I'm happy to say that the movie ended up being even better than I hoped it could be! Classic arcade characters everywhere you looked, references to video game lore, the list goes on and on. On top of this, the story was great and very relevant to me as well as many others. That's why today, I would like to talk about this movie and why it means so much to me and so many others. We're going into the world of the arcade cabinet, so let's buckle up!

He's Gonna Wreck it!

    Wreck-it Ralph is a smart premise to begin with. Our main character, Ralph, is the villain in an arcade game called Fix-It Felix Jr. It's clearly a Donkey Kong clone, with Ralph being a clear stand-in for the giant monkey and Felix being the Mario or Jumpman character. Ralph destroys an apartment building and Felix has to fix it while dodging bricks that are falling from up above. The game always ends with Felix and the people who live in the building throwing Ralph off of the roof, and Felix receiving a medal. Our story begins on an important anniversary of the arcade cabinet, and Ralph is tired of being the villain. He shows up to the party celebrating the occasion, much to the chagrin of the others, and things quickly get out of hand. Ralph ends up ruining the party by well, wrecking things, of course. The building isn't exactly made for someone his size, and many of the residents are not very nice to him, as they view him as just a villain. I should mention that while all of the people of the arcade game live in the nice apartment building, Ralph lives in a dump that's really just the pile of bricks that are swept away after every game. Ralph runs away from the game and is determined to get a medal so that the people who live in the building will let him be part of their fun too. 

    It's here where the movie nails the game references, once he leaves his game, he goes to Game Central Station. There are tons of classic gaming icons hanging around in here. Sonic (from Sonic the Hedgehog) is giving a PSA about not going into games that you don't belong in, because if you die in a game that's not yours, "Game over, permanently!" Street Fighter characters are around, talking to the chef from Burgertime, there's a scene that takes place at Tapper's bar, with the titular Tapper giving advice to Ralph about a way that he could get a medal, and of course, the real show stealer, the villain support group, which I'll talk about in a little bit. Ralph goes into a new game that was recently plugged in, called Hero's Duty, and tries to get a medal, and does, but ends up messing up things in the game, and accidentally brings an element from that game into another game, Sugar Rush. Sugar Rush is pretty clearly a Mario Kart type game, but entirely centered around candy themed characters.  I won't spoil exactly what happens, but it shows exactly why different game elements shouldn't mix.

    Ralph loses his medal that he got from Hero's Duty somewhere upon entering Sugar Rush, and he begins a whole quest to get it back, with the help of the lovable and glitchy Vanellope von Schweetz, an outcast from the game due to how she glitches out, but she feels "in her code" that she's meant to be a racer, just like the other characters. The vast majority of the heartfelt moments of this movie take place between Ralph and Vanellope as they're both cast out for various reasons, but together they learn that their differences can be strengths, even if the rest of the world doesn't see them in that light. It's through this relationship that Ralph finally understands what Zangief means when he says "You are a bad guy, but that doesn't mean that you're a bad guy!" It's simply the role that he was cast in for the game, and unfortunately, all of the residents of Fix-it Felix Jr. view him in that regard. It's no wonder he had such a complex about the medal.

Not just one, but two plots!

    The B-plot of this movie is also one of a cute and unlikely pairing that works out really well. Without Ralph in the game, Fix-it Felix Jr. is put out of commission in Litwak's Arcade, because there's no villain, and therefore, the game can't start up. Felix has to find Ralph before the arcade machine gets unplugged permanently and all of the residents are left homeless. Felix hears from Q*Bert (from the arcade game Q*Bert) that he saw Ralph going into Hero's Duty, and so he heads off on a quest to find his work acquaintance in the different game. Upon entering that game, he meets Sgt. Calhoun, a no nonsense blonde soldier who is in charge of the efforts against the villainous Cybugs. Felix instantly falls head over heels for the her, though she constantly blows him off. She agrees to help Felix on his quest so that she can give Ralph (who gave her a hard time earlier on in the movie) a piece of her mind. They end up going on a pretty wild adventure themselves, also through the world of Sugar Rush, and in their time together, Calhoun learns that despite Felix's small stature, his big heart and his ability to fix anything with his father's magical hammer make him much more worthy of the title of "hero" than her game would have ever given him credit for. There's not as much to this plot as the first one, of course, but it's still a lot of nice character development sprinkled in here.

"I am bad... and that's good."

    The heart of the movie really goes along with the question of identity. Who gets to decide one's identity? Is it up to circumstance, are you born into it, or what? More than that, this movie asks the question of what can you do when you're created to be an identity that you don't like? Ralph doesn't like to be the villain, which is the crux of the whole movie. He's a nice guy, deep down, but he's the guy who has to wreck the building. That's his whole job, and the whole reason that anyone else is in the game to begin with. Ralph isn't alone in this struggle though, as seen in the scene with Villains Anonymous. It's a support group for the villains of these different games, and a tragically humorous scene. We see Dr. Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog, Satan from Ghosts and Goblins (though it's pronounced Sa-teen, as he points out), and M. Bison from Street Fighter among many others. The fact that these villains, which have always shown nothing but sheer delight in their games, are sad enough about their roles to create a whole support group for it says a lot about them. It's a bad time to be hated by people, even when it's your entire perceived identity, but these villains choose to live "one game at a time." We see Ralph really struggling with this idea at the beginning of the movie, longing to be loved by all of the people in his game, instead of feared and hated by them, but throughout the course of the movie, he learns that it is a necessity for the good of the game. Ralph learns that it's not all about him, the most important thing is to think of others, and how they feel about his actions. It doesn't matter how society feels about you as a whole, but with the people who really care about you, they may give you a medal of your own. Sure, it won't be as shiny as the one that you may be rewarded for saving the day, but just for being yourself and a good friend, that medal is worth far more.

    As I close out this very short review, I'd like to repeat the line that the villains say at the end of every meeting. "I am bad, and that's good. I will never be good, and that's not bad. There's no one I'd rather be than me." It can be hard dealing with certain times in our lives, friends. It may seem a lot easier to just run and create a whole new identity somehow, but the people who truly care about us will understand if we talk to them. It's all about what we do with what we're given. It's not good to just completely give up based on the circumstances given to you by the universe, but just find enjoyments based on what you can. For instance, Ralph ends the movie by making peace with all of the residents of his game, they all start being much nicer to him, even though the game doesn't change much, it's different because he has friends. As the movie ends, Ralph states that his favorite part of the day is whenever the people lift him up to throw him off of the rooftop, since he can see the arcade (especially the Sugar Rush) machine, where Vanellope is happy and thriving, following the events of the movie. It's his favorite part of the day because, as he says, "If that kid out there likes me, how bad can I possibly be?" A beautiful sentiment for what has become one of my favorite Disney animated movies, for sure.

    Thank you so much for reading my review of Wreck-it Ralph, friends. I know I got a bit sappy or cheesy in this review, but there's something about it that is just undeniably heartwarming about this movie. I was perfectly content with the idea of this game just being a bunch of video game easter eggs, but I got a whole lot more than I bargained for. I hope you liked this movie as much as I did, it's one where the message has sunken in more as I've gotten a bit older. I hope you'll share some of your thoughts about this movie wherever you can, because I think it's a great time and that it's not talked about enough. I don't think the second movie was quite as good, but I still enjoyed that one as well, and thought it was a fun time. Especially the Disney Princess scenes were great, even if they didn't exactly fit into the movie as smoothly as they may have. I hope you're having a great week, and thanks again for all your support. Until next time, I'm Jonathan, a Self-Proclaimed friend, and I'll talk to you again soon. I hope there's no one you'd rather be than you.