![\"\"](\"http:\/\/thelehighacresgazette.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/11\/wreck-it-ralph-205x300.jpg\" "\\"wreck")
<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 For the past year or so, I\u2019ve been fond of referring to bad kids\u2019 movies as \u201cjunk food\u201d. What I mean is that kids may enjoy watching the films but they won\u2019t be enriched or inspired by them. Now along comes \u201cWreck-It Ralph\u201d, an animated film that largely takes place in world of candy and treats. Wouldn\u2019t you know it, it turns out that the film is anything but junk food.<\/p>\nDisney has marketed the film by pushing the fact that it takes place inside the world of video games, which is true, though perhaps the film could have done a better job of explaining exactly how the characters respond to being controlled and affected by human players. Ralph (John C. Reilly) is the hideous villain of the game \u201cFix-It Felix Jr.\u201d where he is routinely beaten and humiliated by do-gooder Felix (Jack McBrayer). The characters drop their personas once their arcade closes, and while Ralph isn\u2019t exactly treated like a villain in his own game, he is treated like an outcast. He yearns to be the hero for once, or at least treated like one.<\/p>\n
In this world, video game characters can travel to other games via power cords. An important early scene sees Ralph travel to \u201cPac-Man\u201d for a meeting and then to a central hub crawling with all manner of familiar digital faces. To earn a reputation as a hero, Ralph sneaks over to \u201cHero\u2019s Duty\u201d, a violent shooting game where he narrowly evades the game\u2019s mutant bugs and militant leader Calhoun (Jane Lynch) in order to steal a medal. He halfway succeeds, getting the medal but botching his escape when he crashes his commandeered spaceship in a racing game called \u201cSugar Rush\u201d.<\/p>\n
It seems like about two-thirds of the movie takes place in \u201cSugar Rush\u201d, and I don\u2019t know why it seems to be so poorly represented in the film\u2019s advertising. It\u2019s a delightful world where everyone and everything is made of candy. If I were playing the game, I wouldn\u2019t even try to win the race, I\u2019d just go slowly and take in the delicious scenery. It is here where Ralph hits a snag when his medal is stolen by the precocious Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a wannabe racer who immediately cashes in the medal for entry into a race to be an official character in the game. She isn\u2019t normally allowed to be a part of the roster because a programming glitch occasionally causes her to blink out of focus. Ralph\u2019s only chance of getting a medal now is to help Vanellope win so she can earn a medal to give to him. This arrangement doesn\u2019t sit well with King Candy (Alan Tudyk), the egocentric ruler of the game with a hidden agenda.<\/p>\n
The voice acting is terrific. This is the kind of movie where you feel like the actors were cast and then the characters were written because it\u2019s impossible to picture anyone else playing these parts: Reilly as the loveable lug, Lynch as the hardened soldier, McBrayer as the picture of positivity (wait until he interacts with the Lynch character), and Silverman as the adorable mischief-maker with surprising emotional range. The unsung hero of the voice cast is Tudyk (as the villain, ironically), whose performance has a such a manic energy it sounds like he prepared by inhaling Pixie Stix for a month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWreck-It Ralph\u201d is cute, sweet, and all kinds of fun at once. Just try making it through without smiling and laughing. You\u2019ll fail, but you\u2019ll feel good failing. The few sad scenes hit the right notes too. It\u2019s weird to hear an entire theater go \u201cAwww\u201d at once, but it\u2019s nice to know you\u2019re surrounded by so many compassionate people. The film is the opposite of junk food; it\u2019s imaginative, touching, and above all, funny. With less than two months left to lose its lead, \u201cWreck-It Ralph\u201d is currently my favorite film of 2012.<\/p>\n
Four Stars out of Five.<\/p>\n
\u201cWreck-It Ralph\u201d is rated PG for some rude humor and mild action\/violence. Its running time is 108 minutes.<\/p>\n