When I reviewed Wreck-It Ralph theatrically, I said all kinds of nice things about as I loved the film. Now, sitting down to watch it a second time I think I love it even more and I’m really upset that it didn’t win the Oscar. However, in purchasing this film you still get an Oscar winner in the included short film, Paperman, which is fully deserving of the honor.
Of all the nice things I said about Wreck-It Ralph the one thing I never really touched on was the acting. John C. Reilly delivers a wonderful performance as Ralph, bringing a strong range of emotion and really bringing the character to life. However who really impressed me upon a second viewing was Sarah Silverman as Vanellope.
Silverman usually plays ditsy, crass, mostly unlikable characters. One need only look at The Sarah Silverman Program to see how hilariously horrible she can be. Her profanity laden rant at the beginning of The Way Of The Gun also comes to mind. But in playing these obliviously cruel characters she rarely shows much range. While funny, she’s always kind of playing variations on the same character over and over. However, as Vanellope she is forced to hit several emotional notes that I’ve never seen from her. Not only does she nail these emotionally important moments, she sells them like no one else could.
The moment when Ralph destroys her racer for what he thinks is her own good is an absolutely crushing scene. And while the visuals provided by the amazing animators who worked on this film had a lot to do with that, it is Reilly and Silverman’s acting that makes this scene work more than anything.
The second time around, not only did I like Wreck-It Ralph more, but I also go to enjoy all the special features that came along with it (which I’ll talk about below). This is still one of my favorite films of last year and needs to be checked out by everybody.
The film is presented in 2.395:1 widescreen and 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio. This is one of the most gorgeous films that Disney has put out in a while with several fully realized worlds each with their own unique style. The transfer here looks and sounds fantastic.
You get a few solid special features here. First of, of course, is the awards winning Paperman (6 min.). Then you have Bit By Bit: Creating the worlds of Wreck-It Ralph (17 min.) wherein the creators talk about developing the film and all the video game worlds within, very interesting stuff. Disney Intermission: The Gamer’s Guide to Wreck-It Ralph (9 min.) are a series of shorts that can be watching during the film itself where Chris Hardwick points out some of the seemingly limitless hidden stuff in the film from other video game characters to what all the graffiti on the walls means, and a whole lot more. These are lot of fun, but annoying to access. The Deleted & Alternate Scenes (14 min.) here are horrible and perhaps are included to show how far this film came, because if the film had ended up like this it would have failed miserably. Lastly we have a few original Video Game Commercials for Fix It Felix, Jr., Hero’s Duty and Sugar Rush. These are very funny and a perfectly dated for when the games were released.
In two reviews I think I’ve said all I can about Wreck-It Ralph. If two gushing reviews from yours truly isn’t enough to make you want to go out and see it, I don’t know what will. See it, damnit!
Walt Disney Pictures presents Wreck-It Ralph. Written by: Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee. Directed by: Rich Moore. Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch and Alan Tudyk. Running time: 101 min. Rating: PG. Released: March 5, 2012. Available at Amazon.com.
