Wrecking Has Never Been So Fun

Past the age of 12 or so, I never really was one for video games. I can count on one hand (maybe one and a half) the games that I actually loved playing as a kid. Don't tell my parents, but one of the most vivid memories I have from young childhood is pretending to be asleep while me and my brothers played Sonic with the sound off and trying not to yell at each other. The second you scream that your brother is cheating in the game, the illusion of sleeping angels explodes. Another memory I have is playing Street Fighter all day in my brothers room while we blared the greatest hits of Queen: Another One Bites the Dust goes perfect with that game. Combine that with a few days playing Zelda and a few group gatherings playing Mario Kart or Golden-eye that pretty much encompasses my entire video game life.

So when I first saw a trailer for Wreck-It Ralph, I was a little apprehensive. As I have mentioned before, I totally thought this sounded more like a Pixar movie than a regular Disney. But by the time that I saw that second trailer my mind was completely changed! I began eagerly anticipating the cute Disney-style humor and became extremely excited for what I could draw as the moral of the story. I am happy to announce that now after I have seen it, I was not disappointed in the least! However, I'm going to do things a little differently today. First, I'll give you a review of the movie, which I'm sure will make all of you want to get up off your hinnies and get to the theater. Then I'm going to have a share my thoughts on the beautiful message that some people might miss with this flick. Let's get wrecking!

First of all, let me say that you should never underestimate a Disney film as simple. While watching this film, you'll begin to be lulled into the idea that it isn't anything more than frivolous enjoyment with no twist, turn or reason. That is where you would be wrong. I was actually shocked by the ending of this movie. No, it isn't a "the whole thing is a dream" kind of ending. It is merely surprisingly complex to see how everything comes together to form a beautifully cathartic ending. Though this film may seem sweet and fluffy, it would take a Holy Hand Grenade to bring it down. ;)

Secondly, I would just love to sit in on one of Disney's writing sessions. How do they find such clever things to create out of so little? I will say that there aren't really that many "Oh my goodness, I may have just wet myself from laughing so hard" moments. This film doesn't need that. Instead, what we get is an overabundance of sweetly enjoyable wit that makes you warmly smile over and over again. Granted, there is a lot to draw on from the vintage video game world, but they wisely choose the best without forcing us to choke on the cliche.Whether it's a pie reference during a candy car race, a laffy-taffy love song, or the repeated use of "dynamite gal," you'll be warmly glowing with each piece of clever wit. (You'll get those references when you see the movie.)

Now, I know, so far I have described this movie as sweet and sappy, but that in no way should turn you off. If Disney is still the King of one thing it is creating films that are just are enjoyable for kids and adults. In fact, they may have erred in the favor of adults this time. Let's face it, they are talking about vintage video games that people my age played as kids. Your five-year old is probably going to have no idea who Zangief is. Most of those jokes will be just for you to enjoy, not your kids. But, hey, they'll still laugh along cause you are laughing. I will warn that some of the movie did go a little too far for younger audiences. A zombie gets his heart pulled out, the bad guy at the end is one of the creepiest in Disney history, and there is even a Satan joke thrown in. So the one age restriction maybe age 6 and under.

Overall, the acting is spot on. The animation is incredible. The humor is family-oriented. The plot is entertaining without being cookie-cutter obvious. The morals are great for any age. The emotion touching. The tension is knife-cutable. Mostly is just a solid hour and a half of entertainment. Now there is one this Alisa and I are divided on. Disney is back to doing short films at the beginning of their films just as Pixar has been doing for since their inception. I, for one, loved it and thought the short film was really cute. Alisa disagreed solely on the fact that she felt it was a Pixar thing and should remain such. You can decide for yourself. Go see the film!

-The Moral of the Story-
It all started simple enough, I'm sure. People need to make wise judgements. It's how we are able to choose between good and bad. Somewhere along the way, though, we began to expedite that process by creating labels for things. The labels themselves didn't mean much, but their implications were extremely heavy. And then those labels were used on people: "ugly," "stupid," "fat," "bad guy." (Now you see where this ties into the movie.) These are all labels that really don't mean much but can kill an individual. The most enjoyable part of the film was the role of labels in determining how we perceive ourselves and who we choose to be. Wreck-it Ralph is a great guy. But because he is labeled as the bad guy in the game everyone considers him a bad guy.

The movie starts out with Ralph in an AA-style meeting for bad guys in video games talking about how they deal with their character. Ralph doesn't want to be the bad guy anymore. He is told at the meeting that labels don't matter and that you should just love you for you. After all, as he is told, you can't change who you are. And that is where our society ran into trouble I think. Yes, it is very important that we have a healthy affection for ourselves. But do we really want to achieve that by believing were infallible?! Modern music is being choked with songs that contain lyrics like "Born this way" and "Pretty, pretty please don't you ever, ever feel like your less than, less than perfect" and "Who says your not perfect" and a thousand other examples. When Lady Gaga came out with that song I wanted to shout at the radio, "Well, yeah! But I was also born naked, bald, incapable of controlling bowel movements, and unable to speak!!" Clearly no one really wants to stay the way they were born.

By saying that you are perfect the way you are or you can't change something because you were born that way is like gladly making the label a part of you. It's also denying the fact that you have the ability to change anything you don't like. Rather than Ralph saying, "Hey, I'm bad and I love it since I can't change that," he went out and changed. Sure it would have worked out better if you had respect for himself before he began the process, but the lesson is still that same. Don't EVER fall into the trap of thinking you're perfect the way you are because than you'll never know how perfect you are CAPABLE of being. Humans are fascinating in their ability to adapt and evolve and become better! Why should we abandon that just so we can feel fake peace with ourselves? And yes, I say fake because bad actions will ALWAYS bring negative results no matter how much we pretend we like them or pretend we don't know what is causing them.

What I loved about Wreck-it Ralph is when Ralph didn't like something, he realized he had the power to fix it. (He didn't need Fix-it Felix! ;) He took action, and he had an incredible adventure. He made a new friend, and he was also able to rid her of her label issue. In the end, what changed him the most was that he stopped worrying about himself and cared for someone else. If ever there was a lesson on how to learn to love yourself and change what you don't like it is that! Love others and stop thinking about YOURSELF. In the end, that attitude made Ralph exactly what he wanted to be: a hero!

I pray that someday society will apply that lesson. First of all, stop giving people labels!! Actions are bad or good, people merely choose them. Secondly, stop trying to comfort others by telling them they can't change so just learn to accept it! People can be whatever they want! You decide and you live with the consequence. And when you know that, it doesn't matter how people label you. And finally, forget about yourself and start caring about others! It is truly the only cure for low self-esteem. To paraphrase what Ralph says at the end of the movie, if someone great loves you, how could you possibly be a bad guy? Ralph was a hero even though his label said "bad guy" because he CHOOSE to be a hero. Now get to work! ;)