We went and saw Wreck-It Ralph on Sunday afternoon, and it was much better than I thought it would be. Not that I thought it would be bad or wouldn’t be good or enjoyable, but I just figured…eh, kid movie…old video game references…Disney…probably just a “Toy Story” wannabe. Probably for the first hour, that’s true. The game of “spot the game references” was pretty much all-consuming. But then it morphed into a version of the classic Disney “know thyself and ye shall be happy” story that, goshdarnit, ain’t so bad.
To be honest, as much as I love John C. Reilly, Ralph could probably have been played by any number of dudes from Ray Romano to Seth Rogen. He did a fine job, but there really wasn’t much there for him to distinguish himself as a unique voice. What really perked my ears up was the rest of the main cast. Jane Lynch as a no-nonsense, “Call of Duty” type soldier was her typically awesome self. And I don’t think that anyone else could have (or should have) played the over-the-top positive Fix-It Felix besides Jack McBrayer.
I don’t know if Sarah Silverman has done much cartoon voice acting in the past, but if you told me that her part was ghost-played by Tress MacNeille or Tara Strong, I wouldn’t argue. She nailed the mix of sugar rush and smartass that Vanellope von Schweetz needed to cut through the Bratz doll cuteness of her character.
Finally, the biggest surprise of them all was the absolutely dead-on Ed Wynn impression by Alan Tudyk! Yep, that Alan Tudyk…Wash from Firefly. He was great as King Candy, practically chewing up the screen and spitting out the animated Alice in Wonderland’s Mad Hatter and Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins. I never would have guessed it was him.
Sure, it’s “just” another cute Disney animated film that’s good for kids and adults, but I don’t see anything wrong with that.
My daughter really wants to see this one so it’s likely that we’ll be headed to theater-land to do just that! Your review makes it seem like I might enjoy it!