On its plot and voice cast alone, Wreck-It Ralph is a film that would have been an easy win for me.  I’m 28 years old and am a solid product of the video game generation. From the Nintendo Entertainment System through the Genesis, Super Nintendo, Saturn, Dreamcast, three generations of PlayStation and multiple Xboxes, people of my age know video games better than possibly even members of their extended family.  So, to sit down at a movie that is essentially all about gaming could have gone two ways - it could have been a perfect love letter to the format, or been an incredibly cloying in joke.

The latter result could have been incredibly easy to put together. String together dozens of video game references, slap on the 3D animation, and laugh your way to the bank.  I’m sure some lesser studios would have had zero issues making this film that way, but Walt Disney Animation Studios has created a film which is both a true love letter to gaming and a story in the classic Disney tradition.

The plot of Wreck-It Ralph is simple enough to describe.  Ralph (perfectly voiced by John C. Reilly) is the Donkey Kong-esq villain of a game called Fix It Felix Jr.. For 30 years, he’s smashed up a penthouse as the hero, Felix (played with just the right touch of aw-shucksness by Jack McBrayer), fixes the windows, saves the residents, and ultimately defeats Ralph. Again and again and again.  Then one day, even after seeking solace in the Bad Guys Anonymous support group, he’s decided he’s had enough of being the villain, and decides to prove himself as a hero in other games.

The excitement appropriately follows from there, and director Rich Moore (The Simpsons) and writers Jennifer Lee & Phil Johnson have crafted an amazing life for the characters of games.  The surge protector at your local arcade doubles as a train station called Game Central Station, where characters not only congregate and socialize (the 80’s classic Tapper serves as their bar), but characters can jump from game to game.  Two other arcade games take special importance in Wreck-It Ralph - the Gears of War-esq first person shooter Hero’s Duty, lead by a female super soldier named Sgt. Calhoun (Glee’s Jane Lynch)  and the saccharine Mario Kart clone Sugar Rush, which features a cast of hyperactive children, including Vanelope Von Schweetz (played by a snotty and hilarious Sarah Silverman).  Each game environment is perfectly rendered, and the animation styles and attention to detail do a wonderful job of separating each game world.  The characters in Fix-It Felix Jr. have bizarrely stilted animations, to indicate their 8-bit origins, the world of Hero’s Duty is dark and grimy, and the world of Sugar Rush is sure to cause a candy craving, with each environmental element perfectly rendered, from taffy to cookies and other assorted sweets.

What’s most interesting for me is how like most Disney films, the movie does push a message, but it’s far from the most traditional one.  Wreck-It Ralph pushes forth the idea that you truly can become anything if you put your mind to it - but, in a non-Disney twist, you’ll probably face some pushback from people who don’t understand your goals.  It’s a taste of reality not normally seen from the House of Mouse, and I really liked its implementation here.

While I have some minor discrepancies with some rather ham-fisted product placement (not to mention a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it cameo that made my eyes roll), I cannot deny how damn happy this movie made me feel. Wreck-It Ralph really is a great hero’s journey, and is a beautiful love letter to the world of video games. As soon as I left the theater, I was left with a huge itch to head to an arcade.  No matter your age, 8 to 80, chances are, you’ll love this movie. It’s a true crowd pleaser with beautiful animation and a real heart.

Also, much like Pixar’s features, Wreck-It Ralph gets a beautiful short before the film starts. Titled Paperman, it’s a brief, but wonderfully rendered black and white romance story, using new technology which provides 3D animation that looks like hand drawn content. It’s a beautiful short, and was the icing on the Wreck-It Ralph cake.