Annecy 2012: Disney’s Wreck it Ralph
An unseen image taken at the Disney / Pixar Party in Annecy 2012
For a company that has recently returned to the tried and tested genre of “princeses” with recent successes of The Princess and the Frog and Tangled, it seems almost bizarre that they would stray away and create a film about video game characters. But there is an instant familiarity to the world Disney have created here, something missing from earlier CGI none-princess attempts. Perhaps it is because anyone under the age of 40 has grown up with video games as a part of their life? Anyway it gels, and what I saw from the film left me very convinced and I look forward to seeing more.
Wreck it Ralph follows the path of Ralph a Donkey Kong style computer game character who is the villain in the game “Fix it Felix”. Ralph (Voiced by John C Reilly) is tired of being a villain and decides after 30 years its time to become more than his programming allows. The film is directed by the Simpsons and Futuramas Rich Moore who delivers a huge chunk of comic sensibility to the film.
We were joined by Laureli Bovi the visual development supervisor who was responsible for the much look of the film, which sees Ralph hop from game to game in a quest to become more than just a villain. Bovi seemed to have most fun styling the sweets and candy styled racing video game “sugar rush” by studying Spanish modernist architecture and devising a ‘shape language’ to create the world in which Sarah Silverman’s ‘Vanellope’ character lives. The trailer looks great and we were given an exclusive look at a scene in the film where Ralph attends “BAD-ANON” a sort of alcoholics anonymous meeting room where characters such as Super Marios “Bowzer” and Sonic the Hedgehogs “Dr Robotnic” meet to discuss the fact that being bad is good. Seeing the familiar characters discussing their virtues was hilarious and when it was revealed that the tiny room they were in was actually the centre of the Pac Man game, where the ghosts regenerate, you felt reassured that the writers, director and animators had clearly researched their gaming folk law with great care getting the right jokes in the right places.
I hope this film finds its audience. It has certainly found a fan in me and I look forward to when it finds an appreciative audience that can enjoy it. Hopefully with the release of the trailer we will find out soon enough!