Caught WRECK-IT RALPH at the dollar theatre this week, which was a very pleasant surprise. Much much better than I was expecting to be frankly honest. A friend of mine described this Disney animated production as a Pixar film that Pixar didn't produce and I agree. Carries their trademark of usually successful quota of humor, heart, high energy, stunning brilliant detailed imaginative CGI animation, and decently executing an intriguing concept. In fact this was a better 'Pixar movie' than the one Pixar released (BRAVE) this year.
Basically a reworking of TOY STORY except instead of toys coming alive, it's video game characters at an arcade which like WHO FRAMED ROGER RABBIT also gives an excuse for countless cameos by real video game characters from throughout the decades. (Glaring absence though is a certain Italian Plumber who loves mushrooms.) A Donkey Kong-type villain from an early 1980s 8-bit arcade game is tired of his gig (and being treated like shit by his co-workers) and decides to leave his game and become a hero somewhere else, mayhem ensues. I was particularly charmed when a character from a game produced from a more innocent time has to fend for himself in a HALO-esque mindlessly violent first-person shooter.
It's possibly the first American cartoon movie I've seen since Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES which afterwards I really would want to return to this universe and see what is beyond that rinky a dink arcade. (I suppose PC games, online gaming, and console systems of course.) And if the trade reports are correct, a sequel is happening.
