Wreck-It Ralph (film)

Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 52nd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The film was directed by Rich Moore and scripted by Jennifer Lee and Phil Johnston. John Lasseter served as executive producer. Wreck-It Ralph features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch.

The film tells the story of the titular arcade game villain who rebels against his role as a villain and dreams of becoming a hero. He befriends Vanellope von Schweetz and ultimately must eliminate a dire threat that could affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph may have inadvertently started. Wreck-It Ralph had its world premiere on October 29, 2012, and is due for release on November 2, 2012 in the United States.

Synopsis
<!--At night when Litwak's Arcade closes, the various video game characters congregate in Game Central Station. Similarly at the conclusion of Fix-It Felix, Jr., the game's characters celebrate the game's hero Fix-It Felix, but they shun the game's villain Wreck-It Ralph. At a weekly support group for video game villains, Ralph reveals he doesn't want to be a bad guy anymore. Returning to his own game, Ralph finds the other characters celebrating their game's anniversary and that he wasn't invited. Felix reluctantly invites Ralph to join the party, but the others refuse to accept Ralph, saying he'd have to win a medal, just as Felix does.

While visiting Tapper's, Ralph meets a soldier from Hero's Duty who reveals that the game's winner receives a medal. Ralph enters the game and encounters Sergeant Calhoun, the game's no-nonsense leader. In between games, Ralph climbs the game's central beacon and collects the medal. On his way out, he accidentally hatches a Cy-Bug, which clings to him as he stumbles into an escape pod that launches him out of the game. Meanwhile, Ralph's absence has not gone unnoticed as a girl tells Mr. Litwak that Fix-It Felix, Jr. is malfunctioning. Since broken games are unplugged leaving their characters homeless, Felix sets off to find Ralph.

The escape pod crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a kart-racing game. As Ralph searches for his medal, he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, a glitchy character who makes off with the medal herself. She plans to use the medal to buy entry into an after-hours race, but King Candy and the other racers refuse to let Vanellope participate saying she's not really part of the game. Ralph and Vanellope build a kart for her to use. Ralph teaches Vanellope how to drive inside Diet Cola Mountain, an unfinished track where Vanellope lives.

Back in Hero's Duty, Felix meets Sergeant Calhoun who explains that the Cy-Bugs can take over any game they enter. As the pair searches for Ralph and the Cy-Bug in Sugar Rush, they become separated with Calhoun discovering the Cy-Bug has laid hundreds of eggs and Felix being imprisoned in King Candy's castle. In the meantime, King Candy enters the game's code and finds Ralph's medal. He offers Ralph the medal in exchange for keeping Vanellope out of the race. He states that if her glitches cause the game to be unplugged, Vanellope won't be able to leave the game. Fearing for Vanellope's safety, Ralph wrecks the kart and returns to Fix-It Felix, Jr.. He finds the game deserted as everyone has evacuated in expectation that their game will be unplugged in the morning.

Seeking to fix things, Ralph returns to Sugar Rush and finds both Felix and Vanellope. Ralph asks Felix to fix the wrecked kart so Vanellope can race. As the race proceeds, the hatched Cy-Bugs attack and Felix, Calhoun and Ralph battle the bugs. When Vanellope catches up to King Candy, Vanellope's glitches reveal that King Candy is actually Turbo, a character from an unplugged racing game. Vanellope escapes from King Candy who is consumed by a Cy-Bug. The group decides to flee the game, but Vanellope cannot pass through the exit. Calhoun says the game can't be saved because there is no beacon in the game. The beacon in Hero's Duty attracts and kills the Cy-Bugs.

In order to save Vanellope, Ralph heads to Diet Cola Mountain where he plans on collapsing the mountain's Mentos stalactites into the liquid cola at the bottom, causing an eruption that would attract the bugs. Before he can finish the job, a mutated King Candy confronts Ralph and carries him into the air. Ralph breaks free and falls toward the mountain hoping his impact will start the eruption. Vanellope in turn uses her glitching abilities to catch Ralph. The eruption begins on its own and draws all the Cy-Bugs and the mutated King Candy to their destruction. Vanellope crosses the finish line which restores the original game code. Both Felix and Ralph return to Fix-It Felix, Jr. in time to show Litwak the game works sparing their game and giving its characters a new respect for Ralph's work as the villain.-->

Original characters

 * John C. Reilly as Wreck-It Ralph, the main protagonist of the film, who dreams of being a video game hero.
 * Jack McBrayer as Fix-It Felix, the hero of the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., and Ralph's cohort.
 * Jane Lynch as Sergeant Calhoun, the tough-as-nails sergeant in the game Hero's Duty.
 * Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz, a nine year old "glitch" in Sugar Rush, who becomes close friends with Ralph.
 * Alan Tudyk as King Candy, the corrupt ruler of Sugar Rush.
 * Dennis Haysbert as General Hologram, a character in the first-person shooter, Hero's Duty.
 * Ed O’Neill as Mr. Litwak, owner of Litwak’s Family Fun Center & Arcade
 * Mindy Kaling as Taffyta Muttonfudge, an accomplished racer in Sugar Rush, and Vanellope's nemesis.
 * Adam Carolla and Horatio Sanz - Wynchel and Duncan, King Candy's bumbling guards.
 * Edie McClurg as Mary, a Nicelander who inhabits Fix-It Felix, Jr..
 * Rachel Harris as Deanna, A Nicelander who inhabits Fix-It Felix, Jr.
 * Raymond Persi as Gene, the mayor of Niceland in Fix-It Felix, Jr.
 * Stefanie Scott as Moppet Girl, a young arcade enthusiast who visits Litwak’s arcade
 * Rich Moore as Sour Bill, King Candy's diminutive minion.
 * Jamie Elman as Turtle

Video Game characters
The first and second trailers of Wreck-It Ralph revealed cameo appearances from a number of video game characters. Non-speaking cameos exhibited thus far include:
 * Bowser from Super Mario Bros.
 * Doctor Eggman (Mike Pollock) and Sonic (Roger Craig Smith) from Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Q*bert, Coily, Slick, Sam, and Ugg from Q*bert
 * Chun-Li, Ken (Reuben Langdon), M. Bison (Gerald C. Rivers), and Cammy from Street Fighter
 * Neff from Altered Beast
 * Paperboy from Paperboy
 * Knight from Joust
 * Kano and Smoke from Mortal Kombat
 * A Bartender from Tapper
 * Neff from Altered Beast
 * Frogger from Frogger
 * TBA as Zombie (based on Cyril from The House of the Dead)
 * Dig Dug, a Pooka, and a Fygar from Dig Dug
 * Pac-Man, Inky Ghost Monster, Blinky Ghost Monster, and Pinky Ghost Monster from Pac-Man
 * Paddle 1 and Paddle 2 from Pong
 * Peter Pepper from BurgerTime
 * The Qix from Qix

Production
The film, under the working title of Joe Jump, has been in the works in various forms since the early 2000s. It soon was put back into active development again, and took on the title Reboot Ralph.

John Lasseter, the head of Walt Disney Animation Studios and executive producer of the film, describes Wreck-It Ralph as "an 8-bit video game bad guy who travels the length of the arcade to prove that he’s a good guy". In a manner similar to Disney's 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, Wreck-It Ralph will feature cameo appearances by a number of licensed video game characters. For example, one scene from the film's first theatrical trailer shows Ralph attending a support group for the arcade's various villain characters, including Clyde the orange ghost from Pac-Man, Doctor Eggman from Sonic the Hedgehog and Bowser from Super Mario Bros. Rich Moore, the film's director, had determined that for a film about a video game world to feel authentic, "it had to have real characters from real games in it". Prior to production, characters were added to the story either in places they would make sense to appear, or as cameos from a list of characters suggested by the film's creative team, without consideration if they would legally be able to use the characters. The company then sought out the copyright holders' permissions to use the characters, as well as working with these companies to assure their characters were being represented authentically. In at least one case, licensing fees for the characters were too high, as they were unable to include Mario and Luigi due to the high fee Nintendo had requested. Additionally, the producers couldn't think of a reason to incorporate Mario into the film unlike Bowser. Overall, there are about 188 individual character models in the movie as a result of these cameo inclusions. The film was originally scheduled for release on March 22, 2013, but it was later changed to November 2, 2012 due to it being ahead of schedule, even though in Europe, it's still to be released in 2013.

Official Press Release
Walt Disney Animation Studios and Emmy®-winning director Rich Moore (TV’s “The Simpsons,” “Futurama”) take moviegoers on a hilarious, arcade-game-hopping journey in “Wreck-It Ralph.” Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Step Brothers”) is tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer, “30 Rock”), the “good guy” star of their game who always gets to save the day. Butafter decades doing the same thing and seeing all the glory go to Felix, Ralph decides he’s tired of playing the role of a bad guy. He takes matters into his own massive hands and sets off on a game-hopping journey across the arcade through every generation of video games to prove he’s got what it takes to be a hero.

On his quest, he meets the tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch, TV’s “Glee”) from the first-person action game Hero’s Duty. But it’s the feisty misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman, “The Sarah Silverman Program”) from the candy-coated cart racing game, Sugar Rush, whose world is threatened when Ralph accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade. Will Ralph realize his dream and save the day before it’s too late? “Wreck-It Ralph” crashes onto the big screen on November 2, 2012, in Disney Digital 3D™ in select theaters.

Release
Wreck-It Ralph ' s theatrical release will be accompanied by Disney's short film Paperman. The first trailer for Wreck-It Ralph was released on June 6, 2012, debuting with Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rock of Ages. This was also coincident with the 2012 Electronic Entertainment Expo, a major video game industry event; Disney had constructed a mock aged arcade cabinet for the fictional Fix-It Felix Jr. game on display on the show floor. Disney also released a browser-based Flash-based version of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game as well as an iOS version, with plans for online versions of Sugar Rush and Hero's Duty to follow. A second trailer for the film was released on September 12, 2012, coinciding with the 3D re-release of Finding Nemo.

Reception
The film has received generally favorable reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, based on 56 reviews, the film currently has a "Fresh" score of 84%. On Metacritic, based on 26 reviews, the film currently has an average of 72/100. The consenus is: "Equally entertaining for both kids and parents old enough to catch the references, Wreck-It Ralph is a clever, colorful adventure built on familiar themes and joyful nostalgia." On IMDB, the film has a 7.8 rating with 762 users.

Video games
In addition to the browser-based Flash-based version of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game, Disney announced a tie-in game based on the film to be released on the Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS. The arcade style side-scrolling game will be produced in collaboration between Disney Interactive and Activision and will serve as a "story extension" to the film. Players may play as Wreck-It Ralph or Fix-It Felix, causing damage as well as repairing where necessary. Game levels will be based on the locations in the film, like the Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush games. It will be released in conjunction with the film's release, in November 2012. In October 2012, Disney released fully playable browser-based versions of the Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush games on the new official film site. It was also announced that Ralph will be playable in Sega's upcoming game Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed as a guest character.

Video game
In addition to the browser-based Flash-based version of the Fix-It Felix Jr. game, Disney on June 25, 2012 announced a tie-in game based on the film to be released on the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS and Nintendo DS. The arcade style side-scrolling game will be produced in collaboration between Disney Interactive and Activision and will serve as a "story extension" to the film. Players may play as Wreck-It Ralph or Fix-It Felix, causing damage as well as repairing where necessary. Game levels will be based on the locations in the film, like the Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush games. It will be released in conjunction with the film's release, on October 30, 2012. It was announced on July 13 2012, that Ralph will be playable in Sega's upcoming game Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed as a guest character. In October 2012, Disney released fully playable browser-based versions of the Hero's Duty and Sugar Rush games on the new official film site.

Fix-It Felix Jr.
The arcade game Fix-It Felix Jr. is based off popular video games of the 1980s such as Donkey Kong. On June 7, 2012, Disney released the actual game online accessed through the official Wreck-It Ralph website and 2 days later, is seen on the main games page. An app was later released.

Cameos
The concept of the film reveals that various video game characters, most notably villains from famous franchises, will appear in the film or at least are currently being considered. The villains in particular will appear to try to persuade Wreck-It Ralph to stay bad. Some notably worthy villains include Bowser (Super Mario Bros.), Clyde (Pac-Man), and Dr. Eggman (Sonic the Hedgehog).

Links

 * Facebook Page
 * IMDb page