OVP: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Film: Wreck-It Ralph (2012)
Stars: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Adam Carolla, Alan Tudyk, Mindy Kaling
Director: Rich Moore
Oscar History: 1 nomination (Best Animated Feature)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 4/5 stars

It's tough finding your place in the world, and this is something that Disney seems to constantly be reminding us.  Every Disney princess wanted to find something beyond her own castle-every character from Pinocchio to Simba is trying to figure out what they really want.  Even the villains struggle with it (the Evil Queen clearly had issues with aging, Jafar with being second best, Cruella with her limited wardrobe).  In the grand tradition of that tried-and-true plot, we have Disney's latest hero (and also, villain), Wreck-It Ralph.

The film tells the tale of an arcade villain, Ralph (Reilly) who wants something more than the treatment he gets as the villain.  Constantly thrown off the roof of the apartment he has been destroying for thirty years and never once given a medal (or a thank you) for his vital role in the game, he feels ostracized and wants to prove the villagers of his game that he, and not just Fit It Felix, Jr. (McBrayer), the game's hero, deserves some credit.  And so he sets out in search of a medal, and we are given a dizzying look at the games of this arcade.

Though the plot is pure Disney (accepting yourself, unlikely friendships, whimsically deceptive villains), it borrows than a little from Disney's younger, cooler kid sibling Pixar.  The film's characters, while not quite of the dazzling, seamless beauty of Pixar's films (you can say a lot of things about Brave, the film critics found a bit middling this past summer, but you can't say it wasn't stunningly beautiful), still manage to pop and bubble visually on the screen.  I seriously felt like I should have an insulin shot during their time in Sugar Rush, and you have to love the tongue-in-cheek attitude the film takes with Hero's Duty, clear send-up of the
soap opera style melodrama of games like Call of Duty.

It also steals from Pixar's oeuvre by filling Wreck-It Ralph's vocal lineup with actors that seem perfectly fit for their respective characters.  Granted, they did this as well for The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, but it's so refreshing in the animated world that they're casting based on talent and not based on random "whomever is hot right now in the entertainment industry" sort of casting (cough Taylor Swift cough).  Reilly, Silverman, Lynch, and McBrayer's characters all fit their on-screen personas like a glove, and this goes a long way in establishing the onscreen chemistry between the characters-when the actors are already comfortable in thier own shoes, they can play off each other better.  Of the four, I have to give the biggest props to Silverman, whose standup and comedy specials indicate a strong affinity to juvenile humor, and she seems right at home in the body of a bratty "glitch-y" preteen (I mean that as a compliment).

The film isn't perfect, as indicated by the slight lack of the star above.  Pixar did this film in a far more heartbreaking way seventeen years ago in Toy Story, but not every film needs to be a masterpiece, and this film has so much going for it-spunk, pizzazz, and tons of heart-that it doesn't really matter.  It's a movie you must catch in theaters, whatever your age, and it's a movie that keeps you guessing (I will readily admit to not seeing every twist and turn going on in the final third coming, and that was a welcome surprise in an animated feature).

And I shall now turn it over to you-what were your favorite parts of Wreck-It Ralph?  Do you think it will make Oscar's cut?  And in what has been a much stronger year than last year in terms of animated films, what has been your most beloved thus far?