Play it again, Ralph By Lotta Budduh

I have never played a video game. Ever. There, I said it. You’re shocked, aren’t you? Well, it’s like this, see: I had a very sheltered childhood and literally only went trick-or-treating once, when I was 10, and that was because I walked up-hill both ways to convince my parents that I was doing it for UNICEF (which was true) and wasn’t going to collect or eat any candy (which was not true). Sadly, as an adult with inner ear problems, most video games make me nauseous. Pathetic but completely true.

So when I heard there was a movie based on video game characters, I was at once intrigued by finally being able to enter that world while also feeling a little trepidation. Would I understand the jokes? Would I puke in the theater? Turns out my inner ear issues were just fine, even with 3D but I definitely did miss out on some of the fun when familiar characters popped up much to the delight of the audience around me. Not to worry, even if you, like me, are a video game virgin, or at least novice, you will find plenty to enjoy about “Wreck It Ralph.”

Ralph is a big lug of a guy, played by John C. Reilly whose role in his video game, Wreck It Ralph, is to smash up a highrise building trying to put tiny, stiffly-moving people in their place. But good ol’ Fix-it Felix Jr., played in total typecasting by 30 Rock’s Jack McBrayer, makes things whole again with his might hammer, much to the relief and celebration of the tiny people who then celebrate him up in the penthouse. It’s all simply a video game. Or is it?

What makes “Wreck It Ralph” fun is the creativity of what happens once the video arcade doors close at night and the last geeky, quarter-plugging kid goes home.  Oh, sorry, all you geeky, quarter-plugging adults. Then the video game characters interact and travel around via their games’ power chords getting into all sorts of mischief. For instance, tired of being the constantly snubbed bad guy in his game, Ralph attends a “Bad-anon” meeting where the moto is “One Game at a Time.” There, bad guy characters familiar to, oh, everyone but me, cheer Ralph on, encouraging him to embrace the goodness of his badness.

This leads Ralph on a journey through the game “Heroes Duty” lead by tough-as-nails-bombshell Sargeant Calhoun, played disturbingly well by also-typecasted Jane Lynch. As the website describes her, she’s 100% bravery, 95% grit and 0% sweetness. Her lines are the best in the movie. The real adventure begins when Ralph ends up in the cavity-inducing game Sugar Rush where he loves to hate and hates to love Sarah Silverman’s character, Vanellope Van Schweetz. The artwork in this game is amazing, especially anything made of a see-through candy – watch for it.

“Wreck It Ralph” has many familiar themes running throughout. In this clever setting though, I didn’t mind. I do feel like I wasn’t in on the joke many-a-time because I’m not familiar with video games and video game characters but it’s still a good time for all. Just laugh along with everyone like you know what the heck something called a PacMan is.