Wreck-It Ralph. Best. Game. Movie. Ever.

The other day, several of us graduate students went to see Wreck-It Ralph at a free screening at the Ohio Union upon the first day of its dvd release. This was the first time I have seen it, and I was impressed. The animations are nicely done, and I was really thrown into the movie with the different game worlds that Disney had designed. The environment design / set dressing was amazing in this film. It takes the idea of Tron, but instead of inserting real people into virtual worlds, it personifies virtual game characters in an imaginative way. The characters live physically within an arcade, but within each game thrive in their own virtual game worlds. There is also an "atrium" meeting place where all the video game characters can leave their games in their off time, which I thought was a nice way to create a means of allowing the characters to leave their individual game space and interact with one another outside their own games. The cords on the arcade machines acted as a means of transporting the game characters. The film also mentions programming and "glitches" a lot, as embodied by Vanellope's character. I thought that this was a simple way to convey some of the very complex aspects of game design to the target audience: kids. Also, the castle vault where King Candy locks away the game's programmed framework was an imaginative way to visualize the very complex code that goes into creating a game.

The modeling, animation, and particularly the shaders were amazing in this film. I loved the shaders in Sugar Rush. All the variations of textures on the different kinds of candies were very realistic and all the surfaces retained their rightful qualities. And since candies are so decorative and colorful, there was really a lot of creative liberty the texture tds could take. In the still below, the reflections/refractions and the bubbles on the hard candy are great! Also, just look at the ice cream wheels! JUST LOOK! So awesome. I want to eat it. The film's story was easy to follow and I think it included just enough details for all viewers to enjoy it - young and old. The nostalgia for throwback games is apparent - the 80s/90s style of the 2D 8-bit Wreck-It Ralph game, and the appearance of Bowser and some other characters we see in Bad-Anon, Sonic the Hedgehog, and Pac-Man. I believe this film should have won the Oscar over Brave. I think its story was stronger and the work that its artists put into this movie was apparent. I could probably watch this film over and over again and still see things that I missed. Some of the scenes seem a little over-designed, as in A LOT of stuff is crammed into each frame, but I think that video games are oftentimes built that way and it goes along with the mise en scène of the film. This film, along with Paranorman, are my favorite animated films from last year.