Wreck It Ralph (2012)

Ah Wreck It Ralph, the culmination of 30 years worth of video games. While The Wizard cashed in on the Nintendo craze, this one is more a children’s movie that tips their hat to some of the classics that came out over the years. There are hundreds of game references and dialogue appropriate for all ages. The movie is basically a behind the scenes world of what video game characters do when the arcades clear out. Think Toy Story only with arcade games. A whole generation had grown up with video games and this is something both them and their young children could enjoy. Written and directed by Rob Moore, it was released November 2, 2012. It was a smash hit but is it as good as advertised? Let’s find out.

*spoiler alert*

We open at Litwak’s arcade with someone dropping a coin into the game Fix It Felix Jr. A narration from Ralph (John C Reilly), the heel of the game, tells us his backstory. He was a giant living in a tree stump when movers bulldozed his stump to the garbage dump. He comes out and notices the forest he was living in has been replaced with a giant hotel. Enraged, HE’S GONNA WRECK IT! Its up to the hotel’s maintenance man Felix Jr (Jack McBrayer) to save the inhabitants from Ralph’s onslaught with his magic hammer. This is a reference to Donkey Kong/Donkey Kong Jr and a good one too. If the kid playing the game fixes it, Felix gets a medal and the inhabitants gang up and toss Ralph off the roof into the mud below. That’s just the game back story, now a graphic shows “30 years ago” meaning the game has been around since 1982….impressive run. Actually the plot tie in is that the game itself has been at Litwak’s for 30 years while other machines have come and gone. A sad part of life is that arcades have mostly died off due to home consoles improving over the years, but even if you find one the games are more recent than classic. Ralph even mentions who knows what happened to Asteroids and Centipede. Once Litwak (Ed O’Neil) closes the arcade, the game characters come to life ala Toy Story. Yuni Verse (Jamie Sparer Roberts, the casting director for the film) from Dance Dance Revolution tells everyone the cost is clear while Ken (Reuben Langdon) and Ryu (Kyle Hebert) from Street Fighter 2 stop fighting and agree to head to Tapper’s. Back to the hotel, Felix leads the Nicelanders (nice name, see what I did there?) for a post-game party while Ralph goes home to the dump and wishes for a better life.

When we finally see Ralph, he’s actually been telling his story at BAD ANON, a group therapy session for all the video game bad guys. Among the dignitaries are Bison (Gerald C Rivers) and Zangief (Rich Moore, the director of the movie) from Street Fighter 2, the Zombie from House of the Dead (Raymond Persi), Satan (Martin Jarvis) from Satan’s Hollow, Dr Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog, Bowser from Super Mario Brothers, Kano (Brian Kesinger, listed in the credits as ‘Cyborg’ for child protection purposes) and Smoke from Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3, Neff from Altered Beast, Mishaela from Shining Force, Beholder from Eye of the Beholder, 1011001 from Cyborg Justice and the host, Clyde (Kevin Deters) from Pac-Man. After Ralph is finished, Zangief goes next. He says that he crushes heads between his thighs like sparrow eggs and asked himself why he has to be a bad guy. He then realizes if he’s a good guy, who will crush heads like sparrow eggs? In one of the best lines he says “Zangief, you bad guy…but this does not mean you are bad GUY.” Ralph doesn’t get it so Zombie pipes in and says labels don’t define who you are and you must love yourself. Kano then jumps up and rips out Zombie’s heart like his finisher in Mortal Kombat. He says “Yeah, in here!” Normally that would be scary for kids but Zombie’s already dead so he’s unaffected. Clyde then asks why Ralph’s finally going to Bad Anon after years of saying no and Ralph answers its the 30 year anniversary of his game being released. Satan says congrats and Ralph says “Thanks Satan.” Satan “Uh..its Saitine…actually.” Ralph then declares he doesn’t want to be a bad guy anymore. This causes an uproar where Bowser shoots flames out of his mouth and Clyde turns blue like in Pac-Man. Kano tells him he can’t mess with the program and Bison asks if Ralph is “going Turbo.” That reference will be explained later. Ralph says is it so much to ask for something better like medals, pies and recognition and the Zombie answers “yesss.” Clyde tells him they can’t change who they are and Zangief tells him “one game at a time Ralph.” Then they hold hands and make the proclamation: “I’m 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.” The credits roll as Saitine tells Ralph to hang in there as Bison says he can’t do the snacks next week. In a cool graphic, little sprites of everyone are shown leaving the inner circle of Pac-Man where Clyde usually lurks. Ralph steals the cherry underneath before he leaves.

The next scene shows nearly every arcade and console game character in Game Central Station as Ralph gets stopped by the Surge Protector (Phil Johnston, the guy who wrote the screenplay actually) for munching on the cherry. Sonic The Hedgehog (Roger Craig Smith) does a PSA saying don’t die outside your own game or you won’t regenerate. Very important later actually. Ralph spots Q’Bert and his gang with a sign reading “Unplugged, please help.” Basically when a game is unplugged, the characters have to abandon their games and are homeless. Ralph gives part of his cherry to Q’Bert but gets stopped by the Surge Protector before he can make it back. Back at the hotel Felix and the Nicelanders are having a 30th anniversary party which is DJ’d by Skillrex himself and bartended by Jaxson De Box (from Snacks N Jaxson) if you look closely. Ralph gets jealous that Pac-Man was invited and decides to crash it. Some of the Nicelanders that freak out are Roy (Skylar Astin), Mary (Edie McClurg), Don (Jess Harnell) and Deanna (Rachael Harris). Felix, babyface that he is, decides to invite Ralph in for cake after Glenn the Turtle (Tucker Gilmore) from Frogger says its being served. One of the Nicelanders, Gene (also voiced by Raymond Persi), ain’t so nice and he’s miffed. After Ralph inadvertently kills Felix (he regenerates since its his game) an argument ensues. Ralph pleads his case that he just wants to be accepted for once, Gene telling him that he’s just the bad guy and deserves nothing. Ralph says Felix gets enough medals and deserves his own, then asks if he gets his own medal will he be able to live in the hotel? Gene says sure but that’ll never happen since he’s just the bad guy. Ralph gets mad and inadvertently smashes the celebration cake all over the place and all over Pac-Man too. Disgusted, Ralph heads to Tapper’s, yes the arcade game. Can’t think of a better hang out than that. Tapper himself (Maurice LaMarche) tells him to check the lost and found for a medal. While Ralph does that, he runs into one of the characters for a first person rail shooter Hero’s Duty named Markowski (Joe Lo Truglio). Apparently if you beat the game, you win a medal. Ralph then steals the guy’s suit and runs over Q’Bert on his way to join Hero’s Duty. There we meet Calhoun (Jane Lynch) the brash, outspoken tough as nails leader of the human resistance against the cybugs. Ralph screws up the shooter, Moppet Girl (Stefanie Scott) the nerdy arcade geek, and she storms off to go play Fix It Felix Jr after being told to beat it by some fat kid hogging the racing game Sugar Rush, more on that later. Ralph gets chewed out by Calhoun and he sneaks away as the beacon (think giant bug zapper) fries all the bugs. Anyway, with Ralph busy climbing the tower in Hero’s Duty, obviously he’s not in his own game so when Moppet Girl puts a quarter in, there’s no Ralph and no demolished building. Felix tries his best to improvise but then runs off screen to find Ralph. Moppet calls over Litwak who says they’ll have the electrician look at the game in the morning and if they can’t fix it, they’ll have to pull the plug. Litwak puts an out of order sticker on the game which causes the Nicelanders to realize that without Ralph, there is no game. They freak out and Felix does his best to calm him down when Q’Bert comes to visit with the news. Ralph has gone TURBO! What does that mean? More on that later.

So Felix hops over to Hero’s Duty where he almost gets shot up by Calhoun and her men (remember, if you die outside your game, you’re history). He explains to her that Ralph was supposed to be there when they hear a bang coming from the tower. Ralph has climbed all the way up and avoids a sea of eggs (ala Alien) to grab the medal. Once the medal is grabbed, General Hologram (Dennis Haysbert) appears and showers Ralph with praise for beating the game. While Ralph thanks the other holograms as he makes his exit, he steps on one of the eggs, causing it to hatch. The cybug attaches to Ralph’s face and he stumbles into an escape pod, which launches him clear out of the game, through Game Central Station and straight into Sugar Rush, a Candyland based racing game. Ralph and the fully grown bug get ejected from the pod, the bug falling in a pit of sugar while Ralph lands in a candy cane tree. He notices his medal is gone into another tree so he begins climbing. He’s interrupted by Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) the quirky, annoying, fast talking homeless bum of the game. After a brief exchange of insults, Vanellope beats Ralph up the tree and steals his medal. He falls into what appears to be a lake of green taffy. Back at the station, Surge Protector explains to Felix, Calhoun and her right hand man Kohut (Brandon Scott) that Ralph went to Sugar Rush. Calhoun explains to Felix that the bug doesn’t know its in a game so it’ll tear the game apart then every game in the arcade. Kohut explains to Felix Calhoun’s backstory of how a cybug ate her husband as they were getting married, which is why she’s as nasty as she is. Felix convinces her that he’ll go to Sugar Rush to fix it since that what he does.

Meanwhile in Sugar Rush, all the racers are lined up for a big race. Its funny how all the fans in the stands are gumdrops, popcorn, lollipops, etc. The MC is a sour patch kid, Sour Bill (also voiced by film director Rich Moore) and he announces the “rightful ruler, King Candy.” King Candy (Alan Tudyk) makes his grand entrance “Have some candy!”. The concept of the game is “new racers daily”. How can that be? Well apparently all the racers in the game have a race before the arcade opens and the first 9 across the finish line are the ones who will be selectable when the arcade opens. Some of the racers include Taffyta Muttonfudge (Mindy Kaling), Candlehead (Katie Lowes), Rancis Fluggerbutter (Jamie Elman), Jubileena Bing-Bing (Josie Trinidad) and Crumbelina Di Caramello (Cymbre Walk). Candy explains that its pay to play meaning anyone who’s won before has to give up a gold coin in order to enter the race. Kind of sucks for the ones that are never chosen and therefore, never win. That’s apparently Vanellope. When Vanellope uses Ralph’s medal to get into the race, everyone freaks out. Apparently because she glitches, everyone hates her. By glitches, she glitches like electronics do. Candy calls for security, a donut named Duncan (Horatio Sanz) and an éclair named Wynnchel (Adam Carrola), both dressed as cops, which is hilarious. Vanellope runs away only to be met by Ralph who’s totally covered in taffy. Everyone in Sugar Rush from security, to the racers to even the popcorn fans (and I don’t mean fans of popcorn, the fans ARE popcorn) freak out and run away. In chasing her, Ralph does what he does best…wreck everything. Before he gets to her, he gets trapped and encased in a giant cupcake. Vanellope gets away as Duncan and Wynnchel attack Ralph with nightsticks. Taffyta enlists Candlehead and Rancis to go find Vanellope as Candy restores order. He demands Ralph be brought to his castle.

At the castle, the guards outside are Oreos. They chant “Or-e-oh” which is a tip of the hat to Wizard of Oz and pretty clever too. Candy enters in his race car and has Sour Bill rip the taffy off Ralph’s face to identify him. He immediately realizes its Wreck It Ralph which was pretty odd. No one else in the game knows who that is but Candy does…wonder why? More on that later. Candy grills him and Ralph explains he won the medal in Hero’s Duty and just wants it back. Candy asks if he’s “gone Turbo” like Bison and Q’Bert mentioned earlier and once again I’ll explain later. Candy’s ready to battle but Ralph says “one of your little children of the candy corn stole my medal.” Candy realizes Vanellope used the medal to buy her way into the race and explains to Ralph that the medal is gone and nothing but code. Ralph says he’s not leaving without his medal and Candy says yes he is. He wants him out of the cupcake and on the first train out and if he ever comes back, he’ll be locked in the Fungeon. Yes, that’s how he says it. Candy drives off to find Vanellope as Duncan revs up a chainsaw, causing Ralph to freak out and scamper away. Ralph busts through the wall and escapes the cupcake. D and W call for the devildogs, haha. Ralph escapes and sees a crew of racers and runs off to try to convince one of them to give up the medal if they win. While hiding nearby, the crew surround Vanellope and her pedal pushing car (think Flintstones) and bully her around. Taffyta being the leader leads Candlehead, Rancis, etc in breaking her car and she shoves Vanellope into a puddle of chocolate…what a heel! Ralph can take no more and scares off the “rotten little cavities” as he calls them. Ralph confronts her and Vanellope explains she was going to give the medal back at the end of the race and if he’s that angry why doesn’t he go get another one. He says he won it in Hero’s Duty which causes back and forth “doodie” jokes. Ralph says she better get the medal back and she says unless he’s got a go-kart hidden in the fat rolls on his neck, she can’t. Ralph throws a tantrum and busts open a jawbreaker which impresses Vanellope. She then strikes a deal with Ralph to break into the go-kart factory and get her a new kart, for if she wins, she’ll give him the medal back.
Meanwhile Felix and Calhoun find the empty shuttle and speculate what the heck Ralph was thinking. Felix mentions he may gave “gone Turbo” and Calhoun asks what that means. FINALLY, I can explain it. Apparently when the arcade first opened, there was a racing game called Turbotime. The playable racer Turbo loved winning and being number 1. So when Roadblasters came out, Turbo got jealous. He left his game and purposely sabotaged Road Blasters, getting both games unplugged. Back in Sugar Rush, Calhoun and Felix get caught in the Nesquiksand (Ha!). Calhoun beats him up so the laffy taffy get long enough for them to climb to safety. All this was to set up rapport between Felix and Calhoun. Meanwhile below the surface, the cybug creates a nest.

Back to Ralph and Vanellope, they sneak by the security station guarded by Beard Papa (John DiMaggio). Useless information but Beard Papa is the real life mascot for a successful Japanese bakery, think Dunkin Donuts but in Japan. Anyway Ralph and Vanellope break in the factory and work together with various hijinks to make the car. The best being Ralph’s exclamation “UNDERPANTS? NOOOO!!!”. The car comes out looking ridiculous but Vanellope loves it. Finally Beard Papa wakes up and calls King Candy. Just as Vanellope and Ralph put the finishing touches, Candy and security appears. Ralph squirts the King with glaze and tells Vanellope to step on it. Candy “He just glazed me, get them!” Only problem is Vanellope doesn’t know how to drive much to the chagrin of Ralph. He manages to make the getaway using his hands and makes it to Diet Cola Mountain, Vanellope’s hangout. Ralph explains to Vanellope that he lives alone in the garbage and the medal was going to change that. Vanellope gets it because winning the race would do the same for her. Ralph jumps up and down causing an explosion. Apparently the lava is diet cola and the rocks are mentos….you get the idea. Vanellope gives her sob story about how everyone says she’s not supposed to exist and that she lives in this mountain like a homeless lady. Ralph asks why she sticks around and she says she’s not allowed to leave. Ralph then pounds out a racing course and now we get a montage. Vanellope learns to drive in a montage with Rihanna’s Shut Up and Drive for soundtrack.

Duncan and Wynnchel report back to King Candy that they couldn’t find them. Candy and Bill head to a secret room with a Nintendo controller for a safety lock (nice) and he punches in the Konami Code (double nice). Apparently its the code of the game. Candy searches through the code and finds Ralph’s medal, then applies it to himself. It should be noted everything in the game is connected through the code, except Vanellope which is discarded by the wayside. Another clue that something isn’t on the up and up, more on that later. Back in the fixed escape pod, Felix checks out Calhoun but calls her “dynamite gal” which is apparently what Calhoun’s dead husband Brad (Tim Mertens, the Editor of the movie) used to call her so she gives him the boot. Felix trudges up to Candy’s castle and Sour Bill answers. Felix says he’s looking for Ralph and Bill pulls a lever that drops Felix into the fungeon. Back to Vanellope and Ralph, they come out of the mountain and she wonders if the gamers will love her. Ralph assures her they will and she runs back into the mountain to get something. Just then King Candy shows up and after Ralph briefly chases him. The best part was Candy puts glasses on and Ralph just hits him with them. “You hit a man WITH glasses, that’s well played.” Ralph finally grabs a hold of him but Candy bribes him with the medal. Candy explains Vanellope can’t be allowed to race. If she does get in the top 9, gamers will choose her and she’ll glitch. She’ll glitch so much Litwak will think the game is broken and pull the plug. All the king’s subjects will be homeless and since Vanellope can’t leave, she’ll die with the game. Ralph argues that the gamers will love her but Candy counters with what if they don’t. Candy tells Ralph to talk her out of racing and he reluctantly agrees. Candy drives off and Vanellope runs out. Vanellope then presents Ralph with a makeshift medal that says “To stinkbrain, you’re my hero.” Ralph then uncomfortably tries to talk Vanellope out of racing and she’s shocked. She refuses so Ralph has to get nasty and smash up the kart, causing her to cry out. “You really are a bad guy!” before running off.

Ralph grabs his medal which is pretty much blood money and takes the train back to his own game. Only problem is, there’s no one left in the hotel but Gene. Gene explains that Felix went to find him but never returned. When he didn’t come back, everyone panicked and left plus Litwak is pulling the plug in the morning. Gene says he’s a man of his word and gives Ralph the key to the hotel since Ralph brought back a medal. Gene leaves and Ralph throws his medal up against the arcade cabinet screen, causing the out of order sign to slide a little off. When it slides, he can see the Sugar Rush machine and clutches his makeshift medal. Then he notices Vanellope’s picture on the side of the machine and starts putting two and two together. Back at Sugar Rush, Bill is sweeping up dust when Ralph confronts him on why if Vanellope was never supposed to exist, why is she on the side? Bill tries to escape but Ralph snatches him and says talk or get licked. Bill refuses and Ralph puts him in his mouth “Oh ho ho, they call you Sour Bill for a reason!” Ralph removes Bill and he’s ready to talk now. Vanellope WAS apart of the game but King Candy tried to delete her code. Bill says he’s also locked up everyone’s memory so they can’t remember why Vanellope isn’t supposed to be a glitch. Also, if she races and crosses the finish line, the game will reset and she won’t be a glitch anymore. So THAT’S why Candy is hellbent on keeping her out…but why? We got us a Scooby Doo mystery here but instead of a dog, we got Ralph to solve it. Apparently Vanellope was picked up by security and tossed into the fungeon with Felix. Ralph sticks Bill on a nearby lollipop and goes after them.
Meanwhile Calhoun is searching for the cybug when she drops down a hole and discovers the cybug has laid thousands of eggs, good grief. Down in the fungeon, Felix tries to smash the prison bars with his hammer….but since he fixes things, he just makes the bars stronger. Thankfully, Ralph busts in and makes the save. Felix rants and raves about the bad day he’s had and Ralph has no idea what its like to be a criminal. Ralph says that’s his life every day and that’s why he tried to be a hero for once. He begs Felix to fix the broken go-Kart and of course, Felix does. What a guy. They also break out Vanellope and everyone makes up….yay. Meanwhile the Random Roster Race is about to commence only Vanellope’s name is crossed out. Ralph, Felix and Vanellope are on their way though and Ralph explains she doesn’t have to win, just finish. She drops Felix and Ralph off at the start line and takes off. We then get a Mario Kart-esque free-for all where Candy and Taffyta’s crew wipe out the rest of the field until its just them and Vanellope. Taffyta tells Candlehead to ignite some cherry bombs and Vanellope kicks it into high gear. Taffyta taunts her until she glitches right in front of them, distracting the crew long enough for Vanellope to pull off a long jump while Taffyta and her crew plunge into a cupcake and out of the race. Down to Candy and Vanellope, we are interrupted by Calhoun knocking Ralph on his face. Calhoun says they’re dead meat and as Ralph tries to reason that the cybug died a whole SWARM of cybugs erupt and engulf the stands. Calhoun pulls out her rifle, jumps on her hoverboard and opens fire. She directs all the game’s subjects to the Station for safety. Ralph stands there like a crossing guard until he notices the finish line is open. If Vanellope can make it, the game resets and the bugs are gone. Only problem is the bugs are drawn by the finish line sign and eat the darn thing.

Meanwhile Candy and Vanellope go head to head which ends up with Candy plunging his car directly into Vanellope’s. He then gets up, pulls out his horn stick and tries to melee attack Vanellope. Back at the track, Ralph starts beating the crap out of various bugs when Felix tells him to look up at the screen. Vanellope manages to grab the stick and now Candy begins to glitch. Ralph and Felix are in shock as Candy reluctantly reveals himself to be…TURBO!!! You can hear good ol’ Jim Ross now… “Bah gawd, it was TURBO ALL ALONG! OH MY GAWD IT WAS TURBO!”. Candy/Turbo reveals he reprogrammed the game so he could race once more and he’s not going to let Vanellope ruin it. There ya go folks, THAT’S why Candy was hell-bent on keeping Vanellope out. Had she finished the race, the game resets, Candy goes back to being Turbo and most likely he’s thrown out of the game. Turbo tries to ram Vanellope into a wall but she glitches out of the way and he ends up driving right into the mouth of a cybug. Vanellope races to the finish line but I look up and there’s still 20 minutes left of movie time….uh oh. Sure enough another swarm of cybugs erupt and overrun the race track and Vanellope’s car, which veers offroad about a hundred yards from the finish line. Ralph and Felix grab her and say they have to get out of here, Vanellope pleading that she didn’t cross the line. As the cybugs engulf and eat the remainder of the track, Ralph reasons there is no line to cross now. Back at the game entrance, Vanellope can’t leave the game when Ralph tries to pull her through. Calhoun says she’s going to blow the place as Vanellope tells Ralph to leave without her. Felix asks what about the game and Calhoun says without a beacon, they can’t stop the bugs. Ralph remembers Diet Cola Mountain and takes Calhoun’s hoverboard. He tells Vanellope to stay with Felix and Calhoun while he goes to create a beacon. Suddenly the cybugs attack and Calhoun opens fire with Felix and Vanellope behind her. Ralph makes it to the top of the mountain and pounds away at the mentos. Just as he goes to deliver the final blow, he’s knocked backwards by a large tentacle. “Welcome to the boss level!” Turbo/Candy is now a giant cybug and he says that he’s now the most powerful virus in the arcade. He should thank Ralph but it’ll be more fun to kill him! A fight ensues where Candybug knocks Ralph around as Calhoun runs out of ammo at the entrance. She and Felix can leave but Vanellope can’t. Candybug uses its wings to grab Ralph and fly to the sky, making sure Ralph sees Vanellope bite it. Ralph then sacrifices himself as he breaks free from Candy’s grip for one final senton bomb. Vanellope then wades through the bugs after him using her glitching. He recites the proclamation as he plows into the mentos, causing them to fall into the soda, causing a massive explosion which causes a makeshift beacon. As Ralph plunges toward certain death, Vanellope appears with one of the other racing cars and catches Ralph just in time. Meanwhile the bugs all are drawn to the beacon, including Candy/Turbo, who is immolated. Since its not his own game, he’s deader than horse manure. Ralph lands in chocolate and the day has been saved. Felix kisses Calhoun on the cheek…who grabs him for a long deep one.

Felix fixes the finish line and Vanellope crosses it, resetting the game. Vanellope floats in midair and transforms into a princess. All the subjects and racers return as does their memory. Sour Bill with the lollipop still attached says. “Now I remember! All hair the rightful ruler of Sugar Rush….PRINCESS Vanellope.” Now you see why Turbo had to get rid of her when he reprogrammed the game. Taffyta begs for forgiveness and Vanellope decrees all those that were mean to her shall be executed, much to Calhoun’s delight. Taffyta starts crying as even Sour Bill looks confused but Vanellope says she’s just kidding. She also ditches her princess dress for the outfit she’s worn the whole movie. Wynnchel asks without a princess, who’d lead them and she said she will…just not like Candy. President Vanellope von Schweetz…good lord. Calhoun says the arcade’s about to open so Felix and Ralph must go. After a sob worthy farewell, Ralph and Vanellope exchange goodbyes. Taffyta and her crew embrace Vanellope as the “out of order” sign is taken off Fix It Felix Jr. Mr. Litwak jumps for joy as the game is fixed since Ralph is back. Back at Bad Anon, Ralph declares he’s taking it one game at a time to a much deserved applause. Ralph says the game’s the same but he’s finally getting positive attention from the Nicelanders. Plus, he got Q’Bert and the gang to help out on bonus levels to give them a home. Wouldn’t that be cool in real life to have Q’Bert assist Mario against Donkey Kong? Now Moppet Girl is the queen of the arcade and everyone gathers around her as she plays Felix Jr. He also had the Nicelanders and Felix build him a house and a shack for Q’Bert and his crew. Ralph was also best man at Felix and Calhoun’s wedding where there were no cybugs present to crash the party. Ralph says now the best part of his day is getting thrown off the roof because he has the best view of Sugar Rush and he can see Vanellope race. As he thought, the glitch makes her unbeatable and the gamers (Moppet Girl especially) love her. “I don’t need a medal, how bad can I be?” The credits roll with an amazing montage using 8 bit sprites of everyone in the movie.

Cast –

John C Reilly nailed it as Ralph. You can feel he was really into the character. Its his own voice but he was up to the task.

Sarah Silverman was perfect as Vanellope. Her annoying voice fit well with the annoying character. It also seemed like she had fun with the role.

Alan Tudyk stole the show as King Candy. You can barely tell it was him doing the voice acting which is a sign of a good actor. His voice mannerisms made the character what it was.

Jane Lynch KILLED IT as Calhoun. It was like watching an animated version of her with the volume turned up. I can’t think of anyone else that could have pulled the role off better than her. Outstanding casting decision.

Jack McBrayer is a staple of the modern Disney movies and he did well as the babyface Felix. His always positive nature brought a lot of gentlemanly aspects to the character that’s surprisingly lacking in modern film.

Ed O’Neil as Mr. Litwak was great even if it was only for a few speaking parts.

Dennis Haysbert as the General was great, even if he did sound too much like the State Farm character he plays in commercials.

Maurice LaMarche was more known as The Brain from Pinky and The Brain so to see him as the babyface Tapper, that’s pretty funny.

Markowski was actually veteran voice actor Joe Lo Truglio who was Lucky from GTA Liberty City Stories and Vermin in The Warriors video game.

Speaking of The Brain, Jess Harnell aka Wakko from Animaniacs has a one line role as Don the Nicelander. Don’s wife Deanna is voiced by Rachael Harris of Fat Actress. Mary was voiced by Edie McClurg, a veteran actress known mostly for Natural Born Killers and Ferris Buehler’s Day Off. Roy was voiced by Skylar Astin which is ironic considering he starred in a show called The Online Gamer. Glenn The Turtle was Tucker Gilmore who later worked on Frozen. Gene/Zombie was Raymond S Persi, who directed a number of Simpsons episodes over the years.

Duncan and Wynchell were Horatio Sanz of Saturday Night Live fame and Adam Carolla of The Man Show. If you a notice a pattern developing here, even the bit roles are or were A listers at one point.

Moppet Girl was 16 year old Stefanie Scott, who’s now known as Lexi from the tv series A.N.T. Farm.

Beard Papa was veteran voice actor John DiMaggio who’s credited on over 260 tv shows and movies.

Rich Moore directed and co-wrote the movie plus did the voices for Zangief and Sour Bill. Both sounded great.

Mindy Kaling was Taffyta which is hilarious considering some of the films and tv roles she’s worked on. Played a great heel in this one, even if it was only animated.

Candlehead was Katie Lowes, who’s a regular on Scandal now.

Rancis seemed to be the only male racer other than King Candy so he was voiced by Jamie Elman. Jamie was one of the kids in Johnny Mneumonic and was in the tv series American Dreeams.

Jubileena was voiced by Josie Trinidad, who actually works for Disney in the animation department.

Crumbellina was Cymbre Walk, who works for Disney as a casting associate.

Kohut was Brandon Scott, also known for his work on Grey’s Anatomy.

Brad, the ill-fated husband was Tim Mertens. Tim is more known for his Emmy award winning sound editing in various projects, including Rocko’s Modern Life, Pocahontas and Tarzan.

Clyde was voiced by Ken Deters, a storyline writer for Disney most notably Prep & Landing.

M.Bison was Gerald C Rivers, the same voice actor for Bison in the past few Street Fighter games. Good consistency.

Saitine was voiced by legendary British actor Martin Jarvis. He was in Titantic and the tv series Rings on Their Fingers.

Kano (Cyborg in the credits) was voiced by Brian Kesinger, who is an award winning layout artist.

Sonic The Hedgehog was done by Roger Craig Smith, a veteran voice actor for tv shows and video games. He’s been doing the voice for Chris Redfield for the Resident Evil series for the past 5 years.

Surge Protector was actually the film’s co-writer, Phil Johnston.

Ken was voiced by Reuben Langdon, a Hollywood stuntman and motion capture specialist. He also did the voice acting for Ken in the Street Fighter 4 video game along with Gerald C Rivers.

No surprise here but Ryu was voiced by the same guy who did it in Street Fighter 4, Kyle Hebert. Kyle’s also done lots of voice acting for shows and video games.

Yuni Verse was Jamie Sparer Robers, an awarding winning casting director. Meaning she casted this entire crew of A list actors and all-star voice actors.

Nudity – Ralph’s big hands and King Candy’s bald head.

Gore – Kano rips Zombie’s heart out…but he’s already dead so its all good. Animated green blood from the cybugs. Its a kids movie, what do you expect?

Soundtrack – Great actually. Had a mixture of everything from Skillrex to Kool and The Gang.

Language – None, its a children’s movie.

Final Thoughts:

Outstanding! One of the best movies I’ve ever seen. Why? It had it all. It was a perfect, easy to follow story with great voice acting, wonderfully written dialogue and it had something for everyone of all ages. Classic games, modern games, obscure games….everything was FUN. That’s the point of the movie, to have fun. It was cool enough for hardcore gamers but innocent enough to bring your children to. There wasn’t one pointless scene in the whole movie and it seemed like everyone involved did their best. The casting department deserved a big hand because everyone involved was an A-list actor or a veteran voice actor. Bottom line is the movie touched on two generations of gamers, the first and their children. If you’re looking for Casablanca, look elsewhere but if you want a good family movie or want to relax with some iconic video game characters, this one’s for you. I give it the perfect 10 out of 10. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with this movie that I can think of without nit picking. HIGHLY recommended!