Wreck-It Ralph (2012)

Director:

Rich Moore

Writers:

Rich Moore (story) &
Phil Johnston (story) ...
(more)

Release Date:

2 November 2012 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Adventure | Comedy | Family

Tagline:

This November, he's exploring new worlds, he's meeting new friends... he's got ONE chance to play the hero.

Plot:

A video game villain wants to be a hero and sets out to fulfill his dream, but his quest brings havoc to the whole arcade where he lives.

Plot Keywords:

Arcade | Racing Game | Medal | Glitch | First Person Shooter

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar. Another 15 wins & 19 nominations

Cast

John C. Reilly	...	Ralph (voice)
Sarah Silverman	...	Vanellope (voice)
Jack McBrayer	...	Felix (voice)
Jane Lynch	...	Calhoun (voice)
Alan Tudyk	...	King Candy (voice)
Mindy Kaling	...	Taffyta Muttonfudge (voice)
Joe Lo Truglio	...	Markowski (voice)
Ed O'Neill	...	Mr. Litwak (voice)
Dennis Haysbert	...	General Hologram (voice)
Edie McClurg	...	Mary (voice)
Raymond S. Persi	...	Gene / Zombie (voice)
Jess Harnell	...	Don (voice)
Rachael Harris	...	Deanna (voice)
Skylar Astin	...	Roy (voice)
Adam Carolla	...	Wynnchel (voice)
Horatio Sanz	...	Duncan (voice)
Maurice LaMarche	...	Root Beer Tapper (voice)
Stefanie Scott	...	Moppet Girl (voice)
John DiMaggio	...	Beard Papa (voice)
Rich Moore	...	Sour Bill / Zangief (voice)
Katie Lowes	...	Candlehead (voice)
Jamie Elman	...	Rancis Fluggerbutter (voice)
Josie Trinidad	...	Jubileena Bing Bing (voice)
Cymbre Walk	...	Crumbelina De Caramello (voice)
Tucker Gilmore	...	Sugar Rush Announcer / Turtle (voice)
Brandon Scott	...	Kohut (voice)
Tim Mertens	...	Brad (voice)
Kevin Deters	...	Clyde (voice)
Gerald C. Rivers	...	M. Bison (voice)
Martin Jarvis	...	Saitine (voice)
Brian Kesinger	...	Cyborg (voice)
Roger Craig Smith	...	Sonic the Hedgehog (voice)
Phil Johnston	...	Surge Protector (voice)
Reuben Langdon	...	Ken (voice)
Kyle Hebert	...	Ryu (voice)
Jamie Sparer Roberts	...	Yuni Verse (voice)
Ava Acres	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Isabella Acres	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Bob Bergen	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Boat	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as Dave Boat)
Reed Buck	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Michael Carlsen	...	Additional Voices (voice)
David Cowgill	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jim Cummings	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Elizabeth Daily	...	Additional Voices (voice) (as EG Daily)
Debi Derryberry	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Will Deters	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Terri Douglas	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Sandy Fox	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Eddie Frierson	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Tyler Ganus	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Earl Ghaffari	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Emily Hahn	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jennifer Hale	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Daniel Kaz	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Dave Kohut	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Lauren MacMullan	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Mona Marshall	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Scott Menville	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Laraine Newman	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Paul Pape	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Cooper Reed	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Lynwood Robinson	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Trenton Rogers	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jadon Sand	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Kath Soucie	...	Additional Voices (voice)
April Stewart	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Fred Tatasciore	...	Additional Voices (voice)
Jennifer Christine Vera	...	Additional Voices (voice)
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Nick Grimshaw	...	Brad (voice: UK version)

Directed by
Rich Moore

Writing credits
Rich Moore		(story) &
Phil Johnston		(story) &
Jim Reardon		(story)
Phil Johnston		(screenplay) &
Jennifer Lee		(screenplay)
John C. Reilly		(additional story material) and
Sam J. Levine		(additional story material) (as Sam Levine) &
Jared Stern		(additional story material)

Produced by
Monica Lago-Kaytis	....	associate producer
John Lasseter	....	executive producer
Clark Spencer	....	producer

Original Music by
Henry Jackman

Film Editing by
Tim Mertens

Casting by
Jamie Sparer Roberts

Art Direction by
Ian Gooding

Production Management
Jeremy Costello	....	production supervisor
Brent W. Hall	....	post-production supervisor
Mike Huang	....	production supervisor: animatics
Kristen Kolada	....	production supervisor: editorial
Christopher Kracker	....	production supervisor
Brooke Randolph	....	production supervisor
Aria Stewart	....	production supervisor: environments

Art Department
Sarah Airriess	....	additional visual development
Dale Baer	....	additional visual development
Dan Cooper	....	visual development artist
Ricardo F. Delgado	....	visual development
Eric Goldberg	....	additional visual development
Mark Henn	....	additional visual development
Barry Johnson	....	additional storyboard
Suzan Kim	....	modeler
Brittney Lee	....	visual development artist
Minkyu Lee	....	visual development artist
John Musker	....	additional visual development
Zack Petroc	....	model supervisor
Joe Pitt	....	additional visual development
Bruce W. Smith	....	additional visual development (as Bruce Smith)
Chad Stubblefield	....	visual development modeler
Larry Wu	....	matte painter
Victoria Ying	....	visual development

Sound Department
Kevin Bolen	....	mix technician
Danny Caccavo	....	digital editorial services
Lori Castro	....	recording engineer
David Chrastka	....	sound assistant
Frank E. Eulner	....	supervising sound editor
David E. Fluhr	....	re-recording mixer
Ryan J. Frias	....	digital editorial services
Gabriel Guy	....	original dialogue mixer
Doc Kane	....	original dialogue mixer
Dmitri Makarov	....	digital editorial services
Greg J. Peterson	....	foley recordist
Gary Rizzo	....	re-recording mixer
Ronald G. Roumas	....	re-recordist
Gary Rydstrom	....	sound designer
Ric Schnupp	....	sound recordist
Corey Tyler	....	foley mixer
Stephen Urata	....	sound recordist
Angie Yesson	....	sound effects recordist
Luke Dunn Gielmuda	....	supervising foley editor (uncredited)
J.R. Grubbs	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
E.J. Holowicki	....	sound effects editor (uncredited)
Dee Selby	....	foley editor (uncredited)
Dennie Thorpe	....	foley artist (uncredited)
Jana Vance	....	foley artist (uncredited)
Marshall Winn	....	supervising dialogue editor (uncredited)

Special Effects by
Amanda Dyar	....	special effects

Visual Effects by
Sean Amlaner	....	stereo layout artist: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Sal Arditti	....	senior lighting artist
Jinyi Baird	....	lighter
Bob Bennett	....	visual effects animator
Jan Berger	....	character technical director
Jorge Bobadilla Jr.	....	senior lighter
Brett Boggs	....	effects animator
Corey Butler	....	lighting artist
Jesus Canal	....	character technical director
Chris Carignan	....	technical director
Tony Chai	....	effects technical director
Jeff Chung	....	lighting and compositing
Ian J. Coony	....	visual effects artist
Gregory Culp	....	lighting and compositing artist
Christian Cunningham	....	lighting and compositing artist
Eric Daniels	....	effects animator: crowds
Cheryl Davis	....	lighting artist
Peter DeMund	....	visual effects animator
James DeValera Mansfield	....	effects animator (as James DeV. Mansfield)
Ryan DeYoung	....	lighting artist
Kaori Doi	....	lighting and compositing artist
David S. Dunn	....	charater td
Ravindra Dwivedi	....	visual effects artist
Jesse Erickson	....	effects animator
Jack Evans	....	lighting and compositing technical director
Quentin Frost	....	lighting artist
Krzysztof Fus	....	modeler
Vijoy Gaddipati	....	general technical director
Mark Gelfuso	....	lighting artist
Allan Gersten	....	visual effects artist
Richard Gouge	....	lighting artist
Yasser Hamed	....	crowds technical director
Justin Hammond	....	senior lighting artist
Mike Harris	....	technical director
Christopher Hendryx	....	visual effects artist
David Hochstadter	....	stereoscopic artist: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Benjamin Min Huang	....	lighting & compositing
John Huikku	....	look development artist
John Huikku	....	procedural lead
Kelsey Hurley	....	assistant technical director
Katherine Ipjian	....	lighting artist
Sean Jenkins	....	CG supervisor
Yibing Jiang	....	look dev artist
Jongo	....	lighting artist
Shyam Kannapurakkaran	....	stereoscopic artist
Neelima Karanam	....	assistant technical director
Scott Kersavage	....	visual effects supervisor
Sam Klock	....	effects artist (as Samuel Gray Klock)
MacDuff Knox	....	visual effects artist
Lauren Kramer	....	stereoscopic artist
Daniel Kruse	....	digital lighter: Walt Disney Animation Studios
Dax LaFleur	....	technical animation technical director
Roger Lee	....	lighting and compositing artist
Hubert Leo	....	character technical director
Adam Levy	....	technical animation td
Shu Liu	....	fx artist
Andrew Lyons	....	effects technical director
Shannon McGee	....	senior lighting artist
Robert L. Miles	....	lighting supervisor
Cristian Moras	....	compositor
Cristian Moras	....	lighter
Jihyun Nam	....	effects animator
Anita Naufal	....	stereoscopic artist
Derek Nelson	....	lighting artist
Robert Neuman	....	stereoscopic supervisor
Jorge Obregon	....	lighting supervisor
Hendrik Panz	....	visual effects artist
Blair Pierpont	....	effects artist
Nicklas Puetz	....	character technical director
Katherine Reihman	....	lighting and compositing artist
Olun Riley	....	senior lighting artist
Edward Robbins	....	character technical director
Felipe Ruiz Reyes	....	lighting artist
Amol Sathe	....	lighting artist
Dave Scarpitti	....	stereoscopic artist
Wally Schaab	....	lighting artist
Mark Siegel	....	lighting supervisor
Darren Simpson	....	stereoscopic artist
Karen Smith	....	visual effects artist
Chris Springfield	....	lighting supervisor
Jeremy Sternberg	....	lighting and compositing artist
Fatema Tarzi	....	lighter
Shweta Viswanathan	....	assistant technical director
Zack Weiler	....	cloth and hair technical director
Thom Wickes	....	effects animator
Zhang Xiao	....	visual effects artist
Jaehyun Yoo	....	fx artist
Diana J. Zeng	....	assistant lighter
Tim Christensen	....	stereoscopic compositor (uncredited)

Camera and Electrical Department
Thomas Baker	....	stereo camera
Mark Henley	....	stereographer
Julio Macat	....	visual lighting consultant

Animation Department
Alberto Abril	....	animator
Shaun Absher	....	modeler
Alexander Alvarado	....	look development artist
Kelly Asbury	....	story artist
Audrey Bagley	....	look development artist
Joaquin Baldwin	....	layout artist
Jill Breznican	....	animation research library
Darrin Butters	....	animator
Carlos Cabral	....	character technical director
Sara Cembalisty	....	look development artist
Andrew Chesworth	....	animator
Youngjae Choi	....	animator
Glen Claybrook	....	character technical director
Jocelyn Cofer	....	animator
Rahul Dabholkar	....	animator
Claudio de Oliveira	....	animator
Thomas DesJardins	....	lighting artist
Paul Diaz	....	animator
Jed Diffenderfer	....	story artist
Renato Dos Anjos	....	animation supervisor
Rob Dressel	....	layout supervisor
Adam Dykstra	....	animator
Tom Ellery	....	story artist
Doug Engalla	....	animation research library
Jeffrey Engel	....	assistant animator
Nathan Engelhardt	....	animator
Isaak Fernandez	....	animator
Chadd Ferron	....	animator
Jason Figliozzi	....	animator
Cory Rocco Florimonte	....	layout lead
Michael Franceschi	....	animator
Alec Fredericks	....	character technical director: setup/rigging
Christopher Otto Gallagher	....	technical director
Jonathan Garcia	....	technical director
Minor Gaytan	....	animator
Paula Goldstein	....	lighting supervisor
Paula Goldstein	....	look developement artist
Adam Green	....	animator
Jennifer Hager	....	animator
Brent Homman	....	animator
Lyndsey Horton	....	character technical director
Leon Ingram	....	animation research library
Ke Jiang	....	cg modeler
Darrell W. Johnson	....	animator
John Kahwaty	....	rigging supervisor
Eryn Katz	....	modeler
Mark Kennedy	....	additional story artist
Si-Hyung Kim	....	layout artist
Bert Klein	....	animator
Dave K. Komorowski	....	character supervisor
Jon Krummel	....	modeler
Alex Kupershmidt	....	additional animation support
Matthew Kümmer	....	animator
Luis Labrador	....	senior modeler
Chelsea Lavertu	....	look development artist
Amy Lawson Smeed	....	animator
Andrew Lawson	....	animator
Hyun Min Lee	....	animator
Jang Chol Lee	....	matte painter
Kira Lehtomaki	....	animator
Cory Loftis	....	animator
Miyuki Kanno Long	....	animator
Adolph Lusinsky	....	director of look and lighting
Lauren MacMullan	....	storyboard artist
Stephane Mangin	....	animator
Kelly McClanahan	....	animator
Andre Medina	....	character designer
Brian Menz	....	animator
Terry Moews	....	layout artist
Rick Moore	....	layout artist
Mike Navarro	....	effects animator
Prothais Nicolas	....	animator
Marlon Nowe	....	supervising animator: crowds
Hyrum Osmond	....	supervising animator
Clayton Osmus	....	modeler
Zach Parrish	....	supervising animator
Daniel Martín Peixe	....	animator
Andrew Perez	....	assistant animator
Malcon Pierce	....	animator
Tom Pniewski	....	animation research library
Bobby Pontillas	....	animator
Mitja Rabar	....	animator
Svetla Radivoeva	....	animating assistant
Joel Reid	....	animator
Jared Reisweber	....	look development artist
Merrick Rustia	....	layout artist
Karen Ann Ryan	....	animation production supervisor
Wally Schaab	....	layout artist
Samy Segura	....	modeler
Chad Sellers	....	animator
Benson Shum	....	animator
Gregory Smith	....	rigging supervisor
Christian So	....	animator
Matt Steele	....	technical animator
Michael Stieber	....	character technical director
David J. Suroviec	....	character technical director
Matsune Suzuki	....	layout artist
Dan Tanaka	....	additional animator
Lindsay Thompson	....	assistant animator
Josie Trinidad	....	story artist
Rebecca Vallera-Thompson	....	assistant technical director
Richard Van Cleave Jr.	....	technical animator
David Wainstain	....	layout artist
Danny Wawrzaszek	....	animator
Christopher D. Williams	....	animator
Mark Williams	....	animator
John Wong	....	animator
Michael Woodside	....	assistant animator
Larry Wu	....	lighting artist
Larry Wu	....	look development artist
Hidetaka Yosumi	....	character technical director
Nasheet Zaman	....	lighter and compositor
Doug Bennett	....	animator (uncredited)

Casting Department
Terri Douglas	....	adr voice casting
Cymbre Walk	....	casting associate

Editorial Department
William J. Caparella	....	additional editor
David Condolora	....	second assistant editor
Danya Joseph	....	additional assistant editor
Alex McDonnell	....	assistant editor
Eliot Milbourn	....	digital intermediate colorist
Jim Passon	....	color timer
Julie Rogers	....	additional editor
David Thomas	....	digital cinema producer

Music Department
Alex Belcher	....	technical score engineer
Julian Bratolyubov	....	music preparation
Ashley Chafin	....	music production coordinator
Donna Cole-Brule	....	music business affairs
Stephen Coleman	....	orchestrator
Frank J. Garcia	....	score coordinator
Earl Ghaffari	....	music editor: production
Greg Hayes	....	score recordist
Jill Iverson	....	music production assistant
Andrew Kinney	....	orchestrator
Steven Kofsky	....	music production services
Fred Kron	....	musician: keyboards
Ernest Lee	....	music digital coordinator
Dominic Lewis	....	composer: additional music
Frank Macchia	....	music preparation
Tom MacDougall	....	music supervisor
Larry Mah	....	digital score recordist
Dave Metzger	....	orchestrator
Aaron Meyer	....	music preparation
Alan Meyerson	....	music scoring mixer
Shinnosuke Miyazawa	....	assistant music engineer
Chris Montan	....	executive music producer
Leslie Morris	....	music contractor
Satoshi Mark Noguchi	....	additional recordist
Michael O'Donnovan	....	principal musician: bassoon
Andrew Page	....	music production manager
Thomas Pasatieri	....	orchestrator
Daniel Pinder	....	score music editor
Jasper Randall	....	choir contractor
Larry Rench	....	additional orchestrations
Tim Rodier	....	music preparation
Peter Rotter	....	orchestra contractor
Patrick Spain	....	scoring assistant engineer
Armin Steiner	....	music recordist: orchestra
Andrew Synowiec	....	musician: guitar
Gary K. Thomas	....	orchestrator
John Ashton Thomas	....	orchestrator
Michael Zainer	....	assistant music editor
John von Seggern	....	additional score sound designer (uncredited)

Other crew
David A. Aguilar	....	senior software engineer
Marty Alchin	....	senior software engineer
Ross Blocher	....	training manager
Rik Bomberger	....	systems administrator
Scott L. Burris	....	principal engineer
Tracy Bovasso Campbell	....	head of training
Dan Candela	....	director of technology
Steve Carpenter	....	senior systems administrator
Marisa X. Castro	....	production assistant: stereo (as Marisa Castro)
Kevin C. Constantine	....	senior systems engineer
Patrick Danford	....	principal engineer
Nicholas Ellingsworth	....	production assistant: FX
Doug Engalla	....	researcher: amimation research library
Carlos C. Estiandan	....	technical supporter
Daniel Feiner	....	production finance lead
Kyle Gabriel	....	development coordinator
Evan Goldberg	....	technology manager: animation
Thomas Greer	....	senior systems engineer
Stephanie Hachem	....	production assistant: lighting
Dawn Halloran	....	technology coordinator
Kyle D. Hayes	....	senior software engineer
Paul Hildebrandt	....	senior software engineer
Jay Hilliard	....	systems engineer
James P. Hurrell	....	senior software developer
Joe Jiuliano	....	film and digital services director
Ronald L. Johnson	....	technology manager
Marc Jordan	....	principal engineer
Richard N. Kanno	....	senior software engineer
Frank William Knittel	....	finance
Douglas E. Lesan	....	senior software engineer
Matthew E. Levine	....	senior software engineer
Krispin Leydon	....	interaction designer
Ying Liu	....	senior software engineer
Julio Macat	....	visual consultant
Linda Y. Matsuoka	....	finance
Michelle McMillan	....	production assistant
Dayna B. Meltzer	....	technology assistant manger
Christopher D. Mihaly	....	senior software engineer
Colin King Miller	....	production finance lead
Uri Okrent	....	senior software engineer
John Robert Perry	....	senior software engineer
John C. Reilly	....	additional story material
Kimberly M. Rios	....	systems administrator
Trenton Rogers	....	voice cast
Garret Sakura	....	software engineer
Matthew F. Schnittker	....	senior software engineer
Steven Seed	....	senior systems engineer
Gabriel Stewart	....	digital transfers
Craig I. Takiguchi	....	Beard Papa courtesy of
Wendy M. Tam	....	senior software engineer
Meghan Veltri	....	software engineer
Justin Walker	....	senior software engineer
Brian Wherry	....	senior software engineer
Doug White	....	principal engineer
Howard Wilczynski	....	pipeline developer
Lisa S. Young	....	senior software engineer
Curtis Zinzilieta	....	principal engineer

Production Companies

• Walt Disney Animation Studios

Distributors

• Columbia Pictures (2012) (Philippines) (theatrical)
• Feelgood Entertainment (2012) (Greece) (theatrical)
• Forum Cinemas (2013) (Lithuania) (theatrical)
• Forum Hungary (2012) (Hungary) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Pictures (2013) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2013) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (Canada) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (Germany) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (France) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (Netherlands) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (Singapore) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (USA) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures (2012) (Venezuela) (theatrical)
• Walt Disney Studios (2012) (Japan) (theatrical)
• Buena Vista International Finland (2013) (Finland) (all media)
• Feelgood Entertainment (2013) (Greece) (DVD) (Blu-ray) (3D)
• Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (2013) (Germany) (DVD)
• Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (2013) (USA) (DVD)
• Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment (2013) (USA) (DVD) (Blu-ray)
• Zon Audiovisuais (2012) (Portugal) (all media)

Other Companies

• Atari Interactive  acknowledgment
• Capcom USA  acknowledgment
• Columbia Pictures Industries  acknowledgment
• Disney Interactive Studios  video games available from
• Food Fetish Catering  special thanks
• G-mode  acknowledgment
• Intelligent Media  international monitoring agency
• Konami Digital Entertainment  acknowledgment
• Muginoho International  acknowledgment
• Namco Bandai Games  acknowledgment
• Nestle Foods Corporation  acknowledgment (as Nestlé USA, Inc.)
• Newman Scoring Stage, Twentieth Century Fox Studios, The  music recorded and mixed at
• Nintendo  acknowledgment
• Paramount Pictures Scoring Stage M  music recorded and mixed at
• Pixar Animation Studios  thanks
• Sega  acknowledgment
• Skywalker Sound  sound post-production
• Sony Scoring Stage  music recorded and mixed at
• Village Recorder, The  music recorded and mixed at
• Walt Disney Records  soundtrack
• Warner Bros. Entertainment  acknowledgment

Also Known As:

"Sugar Rush" - Japan (English title) (imdb display title)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some rude humor and mild action/violence

Runtime:

108 min | Germany:101 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Datasat | Dolby Digital | SDDS

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #47944) | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Philippines:G | Portugal:M/6 | India:U/A | Singapore:PG | Switzerland:7 (canton of Geneva) | Switzerland:7 (canton of Vaud) | Australia:PG | South Korea:All | Ireland:G | Netherlands:6 | Hong Kong:IIA | Argentina:Atp | Peru:PT | UK:PG | France:U | Germany:o.Al. | Sweden:7 | Japan:G

Company:

Walt Disney Animation Studios

Trivia:

King Candy's safe is secured with a Nintendo Entertainment System controller. The password he enters (UP, UP, DOWN, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, LEFT, RIGHT, B, A, START) is a common cheat code used by game developer Konami in most of their titles, most famously in the game Contra.

Goofs:

Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When Wreck-It Ralph realizes he is in the Sugar Rush game he says, "This is the candy go-cart game over by the Wak-A-Mole." However, at the beginning of the movie, as the camera rolls away from the Fix-It Felix Jr. cabinet, the game next to Sugar Rush says Wak-A-Troll.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Wreck-It Ralph:My name's Ralph, and I'm a bad guy. Uh, let's see... I'm nine feet tall, I weigh six hundred and forty three pounds, got a bit of a temper on me. My passion level's very near the surface, I guess, not gonna lie. Anyhoo, what else, uh... I'm a wrecker...

Movie Connections:

References Meet the Robinsons (2007)

Soundtrack:

When Can I See You Again?

Even better than I'd hoped

Let me start by saying this: I am the ideal demographic for this movie. I am in my early/mid 30s, I grew up with videos games starting with the ColecoVision 30 years ago, which is, in the movie, when Wreck-It Ralph was released. I still play games. I have a four-year-old son who plays games. He knows who Pac-Man, Zangief and Sonic are, and you can bet that on top of that I know who Sheng Long, Tapper, Q*Bert and Burger Time are.

That's what makes me nervous about blanketly recommending this movie to everyone...not just that I'm obviously going to catch more references, in-jokes and cameos than the average movie goer, but that I'm going to recognize the archetypes they're playing off of and the mechanics they're referencing as the stories progresses.

It feels a bit like Mallrats, in that I'm so ideally in the target demographic for the movie's release that I'm not sure I can accurately gauge how it will be received by people outside of that demographic.

That said, I don't think you need to be a video game fan to enjoy this movie. It's a very well crafted movie with characters that are more Pixar than Disney. I was concerned that this was a "Disney" movie as I haven't seen a 3D CG "Disney" movie that can hold a candle to the Pixar and Dreamworks hits that I'm a huge fan of. And yet, for me, this movie was better than recent Pixar movies and better than Dreamworks movies, with characters and a story that felt worthy of of the Pixar name.

I even greatly enjoyed the animated short at the beginning. Again, something I would expect more from a Pixar film than a Disney film. The whole theater experience for this film was a delight, all the way through to the very, very brief bonus scene at the end of a credits, which is something you really, really need to be a gaming nerd to get. (Gamers who have seen The King of Kong: A Fistful of Quarters will definitely get it.) I went into this film with high hopes and expectations, and I was blown away. My wife, who is not a gamer at all, enjoyed the film, and when my four-year-old son was asked by her what his favorite part was, he replied, "Um... Every part! I liked the whole movie!" That he was able to talk to her and I in great detail about the plot and characters while I was able to appreciate the whole film to the level I did as an adult speaks volumes to me about how well this story was told.

If you played in arcades in the 1980s, if the games Q*Bert, Burgertime, Pac-Man, Street Fighter II and Sonic all mean something to you: You're enough of a gamer to appreciate all the references. If you have a youngster who's played video games, they're enough of a gamer to get the movie. And even if you aren't, while you may not relate to the subject matter the way I did, you're still in for an enjoyable story, with great characters, masterfully told.

Highly recommended, and a 10 out of 10 for me, as I expect this will be on both my son's and my short list of favorite movies for years to come.