Wreck-it Ralph opens tonight! I was lucky enough to see a screening a couple weeks ago and had a really good time. I’ll avoid specific spoilers until the movie is out, but in short, it’s often hilarious, has a great visual style, and is actually pretty touching at points. The first half of the movie is brilliant, as it sets everything up, but then the pacing changes abruptly in the final half and it at times feels like a different movie.
Because of it, it’s a really good film instead of a great one. But I do want to see it again, if only for the first half. Oh, and the whole Game Central Station actually gave me chills–brilliant idea with a brilliant set of rules governing the universe.
I just saw it! I thought it was absolutely awesome. All the little details they threw in there, both from known games and the ones they made up, really made it! The games they made up I really want to play, by the way. So full of awesome little things, and not just stuck in willy-nilly either! Everything worked by rules, everything had thought behind it, and it’s one of my pet peeves when 3D food doesn’t look appetizing, but theirs did
What I also really love is that the story felt true to the movie. Unlike other movies aimed at kids that sort of jam in the run-of-the-mill “I need to find myself and get away from my controlling parents and fall in love with a awkwardly charming teen boy/girl” meme, the story was really rooted in the world this movie built. Sure, they did stick in the popular anti-bullying thing and facets of finding oneself, but they really did engage me with an interesting story once it all came out; it wasn’t JUST an expression of movie plot clichés.
All in all an awesome movie; the most fun I remember having watching a movie this year. The only thing I didn’t like was about half the music (that one in-movie cameo was cute, though, without wanting to spoil anything). I think they could have done even more with a video-game inspired soundtrack (though they did do some, which was nice).
I’m gonna have to freeze-frame on that big station panorama scene so I can properly squeal at all the game nods (once I buy this on 3d blu-ray, which seems inevitable)!
I liked it a lot too, though I didn’t love it. The plot really is pretty typical. But it was a lot of fun and the world they built was interesting. I can see potential for sequels.
Liked it, but didn’t love it. As others have said, the plot was pretty paint-by-numbers (thankfully, all the stuff in the previews makes up the first part of the movie, and the rest is unspoiled… though not surprising).
I have the feeling if it wasn’t about video games, I wouldn’t have really given the movie a second thought.
I’m curious as to what people thought about the use of all the “real” video game characters that make cameos in the first half of the movie. Does it lend credibility? Or did it feel shoehorned in? Personally I felt a bit weird seeing characters like Zangief and Sonic show up, only to have the rest of the movie be all about the Ersatzs of Donkey Kong and Mario Kart. I guess it’s comparable to Toy Story - the only “real” toys in the first movie were Mr. Potato Head, Slinky Dog, and the Army Men, but they remained integral characters throughout the whole movie as opposed to just a cameo here and there.
I’m having some cognitive dissonance here…didn’t this movie come out, like, MONTHS AGO? I remember reading about it, seeing clips and trailers, months ago. I thought it was coming out on DVD or something now.
ETA: OK…just did a search and found trailers posted in June. So I’m not entirely crazy.
I took my son to see it today. I thought it was pretty good. I did like Game Central Station. I am finding that I don’t really recall the moments I found humorous, which to me means it was good but not great. Still, considering some of the stinkers that we have sat through for the kids, I’m happy we went to this one.
Did other theaters have the Paperman short just before? I was a little confused initially, thinking it was the start of Wreck-It Ralph. I loved the hand-drawn animation.
singular1, I am not a video game player, either. I think that, while that is the setting for the story, there’s no required knowledge of video games in order to enjoy it.
That’s good to know. I’ve been looking forward to this a lot, but I was hoping it wasn’t just going to bank on nostalgia and forget about having an interesting story. I don’t think I could recognize a video game character outside of Sonic the Hedgehog.
I’m going to see it with my nephews next weekend, and I hope they’re okay with Paperman. They sort of squirmed throughout La Luna (the short in front of Brave) this summer.
It is however CG that has hand-drawn elements, computers are doing amazing things with the hand made in-betweens, the animator lines made by hand were mapped to the 3D models.
