While 2012's Wreck-It Ralph is far from Pixar's most accomplished achievement, it was a fun tale of friendship and nostalgia as our two lovable heroes romped their way through a variety of games, both modern and retro. Despite the appeal of its characters, the ending hardly cried out for a sequel, but the world created by Rich Moore and his team of animators offered endless possibilities with which the story could be taken. With demand for 80's and 90's nostalgia at an all-time high, you have to wonder why a sequel took a whole six years to arrive. While one of the main appeals of Wreck-It Ralph was seeing a bunch of familiar characters from your childhood weaved into the story and placed into everyday situations, this follow-up takes Ralph and best pal Vanellope out of their pixelated comfort-zone and into a brave new world of pop-up ads and nightmarish comment sections.
Six years have also passed for arcade-game villain Ralph (John C. Reilly) and glitchy Sugar Rush racer Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), who both enjoy a routine-based life of doing their video game duty by day and knocking back root beers together at night. But while Ralph finds comfort in familiarity, Vanellope longs for something different. In an attempt to cheer up his best friend, Ralph creates a special new track in Sugar Rush, but the stunt backfires when the steering-wheel breaks in the real world and Vanellope is left without a game. However, the shiny new arrival at Litwak's Family Fun Centre and Arcade - the internet - may offer a glimmer of hope in the form of eBay, where one user has a replacement steering-wheel up for auction. So, the two friends venture into this digital metropolis of corporate logos and dead-eyed avatars to buy the part, only they don't have any money to back up their winning bid.
Of course, there's always money to be made on the internet if you know how, and with the help of Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), the algorithm at video site BuzzzTube, Ralph racks up the likes and hearts by becoming a viral sensation. Vanellope's friendship with Ralph is tested when she discovers dangerous open-world racing game Slaughter Race and finds a like-minded friend in bad-ass racer Shank (Gal Gadot). There's a message about the dangers of toxic friendships in there somewhere, but the sweet relationship developed more carefully the first time around is often drowned out by the sheer noise of this online world. There are many great ideas here, such as Alan Tudyk's KnowsMore, an search engine who is always over-eager to predict what you're going to say, and Bill Hader's J.P. Spamley, a click-bait pop-up ad who acts like a desperate, down-on-his-luck salesman. A detour into a Disney fan-site initially reeks of self-promotion, but the company sends itself up rather well, conjuring up an inspired moment involving the entire roster of Disney princesses. Ralph Breaks the Internet is fun and packed with creativity, but struggles to find its heart amidst all the eye-catching chaos.
After decades of being dragged to the cinema by our better halves to watch the latest Meg Ryan or Hugh Grant pap, it was only a matter of time until men fought back in the rom-com genre. Director Judd Apatow, along with co-writer and lead star Steve Carell, went the extra mile and actually created a rom-com that is both genuinely romantic and laugh-out-loud hilarious, but one that members of both sex can actually enjoy. But amongst all the sweetness there are four guys talking like genuine guys. So, this includes lines like "you need to put the pussy on a pedestal!" and "you know how I know you're gay? You listen to Coldplay." The language is filthy, but the script is heartfelt.
Andy Stitzer (Carell) lives a simple life alone with his collection of valuable (and still boxed) action figures and his gaming chair, working in the stockroom of an electronic store. He also rides a bike to work and never socialises, leading his co-workers to naturally assume he's a serial killer. When they find themselves a man down for a poker game, David (Paul Rudd), Jay (Romany Malco) and Cal (Seth Rogen) invite Andy. After swapping freaky sex stories, it becomes clear that Andy is in fact a 40 year-old virgin, and so they make a vow to get him laid. Amongst his options are the girl from the bookshop Beth (Elizabeth Banks), who takes a liking to Andy after he takes Cal's advice, his horny boss Paula (Jane Lynch), and the spunky Trish (Catherine Keener), a woman who's just opened a store across the street.
The thing that The 40 Year-Old Virgin achieves most is how accurately it portrays its men. Sure, these are extreme versions of people we have come across before in our lives, but men generally talk crap and half-truths to each other about women, movies and computer games. The advice that David, Jay and Cal give is hardly helpful, and is based on their own half-remembered experiences that lead to the assumption that they are the ones that truly understands women. But they are all screwed up in their own way that their advice just leads to some amusing scenes, including the most famous scene of Andy having his chest waxed (which Carell really did, and he's the hairiest comedian since Robin Williams).
The film also succeeds in its honesty and its attention to detail. Andy isn't the badly-dressed, bespectacled nerd that has been seen in the likes of She's All That (1999), that once he's given a makeover, he's a hunk. He signals when he's turning his bike on an empty street and his Monday-morning what-I-did-at-the-weekend stories involve making an egg salad sandwich. He's relatable because he's real, so his quest to get his leg over becomes something ultimately more important. The supporting cast are all excellent, especially Malco, who I'm surprised hasn't gone on to bigger things, and Keener, who is surprisingly adorable after years of playing the bitch. Like many movies churned out by the Apatow machine, it's goes on for far too long, but that's easy to forgive when the film is this funny.
With 'retro' very much in fashion these days, and the children of the late 1980's and 1990's now reaching an age where one can get nostalgic about one's childhood, it is the perfect time for there to be a film that harks back to early games consoles. After all, consoles such as the NES, Sega Mega Drive and the SNES, although now very amateur when compared to recent incarnations, were the godfathers of mass mainstream gaming, and a key form of entertainment growing up for the likes of me (I was born in 1984). Wreck-It Ralph, Disney's latest colourful crowd-pleaser, portrays both the demise of blocky finger-bashers, as well as celebrating their retro appeal. It's hook is that its main character, Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly), is a bad guy. He spends his days destroying an apartment block with his over-sized hands, while the hero of the game, Fix-It Felix, Jr. (Jack McBrayer), uses his magic hammer to fix Ralph's destruction, and therefore winning the game.
Fix-It Felix, Jr. is an old-school arcade game in a similar vein to Donkey Kong, a simple premise, existing solely for it's retro charm amongst modern shoot 'em-ups and dance-mat games. Treated badly by the game's inhabitants due to being the thug of the game, Ralph decides to leave to win a golden coin, cementing himself as a hero. He sneaks into a Halo-like alien shooter called Hero's Duty in which a tough female commander Calhoun (Jane Lynch) narrates to the player, but gets himself into trouble by accidentally taking an alien into another game during his escape with a golden coin. He lands in Candy Land, a colourful racing game with a similar sickeningly sweet feel to Mario Party, where glitch outcast Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) steals his coin and uses it to buy an entry into the main race. Seeing potential disaster for his game, the ruling King Candy (Alan Tudyk), tries to put an end to Vanellope's entry, but Ralph wants his coin back, and the only way to do that is to help her win.
Like the majority of Pixar's, sorry, Disney's output (John Lasseter acts as executive producer), Wreck-It Ralph has the ability to appeal to adults, as well as giving the squirts enough colourful imagery to keep their minds busy between whatever they get up to these days. Although it derives much of its humour from a reliance on the audiences' knowledge of retro computer games, the film has enough playful adult humour to appeal to a wider audience, and is most importantly sweet enough to engage the audiences emotions. Yet for people like me, who grew up on the likes of Super Mario World, Street Fighter II and Duck Hunt, Wreck-It Ralph proves to be an oddly touching lament of a time when games generally had a very basic premise, but were executed with such a charm and addictive quality, that they were entirely endearing.
An early scene that borders on genius sees Ralph in an AA-style meeting for computer game bad guys, with Bowser, Zangief and Clyde from Pac-Man offering support for our titular hero. Upon revealing himself as longing to play the hero, the group erupts, with Clyde going into panic mode the same way he did in Pac-Man. It's a celebration of computer game ticks, with the apartment-folk from Ralph's game moving in a sudden, glitchy fashion, and Felix making a boing sound when he jumps. In fact, it's this ingenuity that leads to the tragic story of Vanellope, who is a glitch in the system, who's potential participation in Candy Land could lead to the player's giving up on the game, causing it to go out-of-order and entering arcade obscurity. Facing this catastrophe, the games inhabitants can at least escape with their lives before the power switch is flipped, but Vanellope cannot exist outside the game, and will die with it.
It's this gentle sentimentality that makes Wreck-It Ralph so enjoyable. Pursuing Ralph is Calhoun and Felix, two contrasting game characters from two entirely different generations (Felix is smitten with her hi-def look), and start a bizarre love story that is as ridiculous as it is oddly touching. Thankfully, it is these types of moments and characters that you take away from the film, and not the overly familiar themes and narrative. Although the setting is unfamiliar and exciting, the plot shares a lot with the likes of Monsters, Inc. (2001) and Toy Story 3 (2010), and climaxes with a staple car-chase, something that seems to plague kiddie-film these days. But Wreck-It Ralph is undeniably irresistible and really quite clever, and although I would have liked to see more game-hopping ingenuity, there is enough here to sustain until the inevitable sequel comes along.
Two British sci-fi 'geeks', Graeme Willy and Clive Gollings (played by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost respectively), have gone to America, firstly to Comic-con and then on to a road trip diverting to all UFO hot spots in an RV. Whilst in the vicinity of area 51, they are run off the road by an out-of-control car, which makes them careen onto the sand off-road. This is where they encounter Paul, a grey CGI alien escaped from said area 51, on a mission to get back to the mothership. Paul has been on Earth since 1947 when his ship crashed. Paul is a wise-ass talking, pot-smoking refugee from a distant planet who was sent here on a science project. Graeme and Clive are sequestered into taking him to find his way home. On their journey they pick up fundamentalist Christian Ruth (Kristen Wiig) from a trailer park. They are also on the run from the feds, led by Jason Bateman's Special Agent Lorenzo Zoil.
And that's it really. Written by Pegg and Frost, you'd think it may have the same verve and contextual Britishness of humour as previous work Shaun of the Dead (2004) and Hot Fuzz (2007). However, like their characters here, they have seemed to Americanise themselves so that they can one day 'make it' over the pond. It is therefore a very American affair, complete with the fitting stylised emotional 'arcs' of the characters. Don't get me wrong, there are some very funny moments in the film. Such as Paul stating that he gets his weed from the US Military, which is so strong that it killed Bob Dylan; "But he's not dead". Paul answers "That's what you think" (or something along those lines). I really liked the t-shirt worn by Ruth showing an image of Jesus shooting Darwin with the statement 'evolve this' underneath. But unfortunately many of the gags are derived from reference.
This brings me to the main thing that Pegg as a writer has consistently done since the brilliant TV series Spaced. Whilst the film references in Shaun and Fuzz were at times subtle, in both Spaced and Paul, they are nothing of the sort, kicking you in the face with their obviousness. Paul might as well be an hour and a half of Pegg and Frost giving Spielberg and Lucas a big massive wank. (Spielberg also gives a vocal cameo in the film) References to all Spielberg's Sci-fi output, along with, of course Star Wars (1977), are so tritely signposted that it might as well hold signs up stating "We love you Spielberg/Lucas, please suck my cock!" Many of the characters lines are simply lifted from 80's fodder such as Aliens (1986) (Sigorney Weaver has a cameo) and Robocop (1987), to name just two. But most gag/references are kept for the awe of said child/directors as previously stated.
The two main characters are likable, but they just seem so cliched. They may as well be lifted (particularly Peggs character) from Spaced. And Seth Rogen voicing Paul is amusing at times, but just falls short as its just another all-too-obvious stoner character for him. Pegg and Frost chose wisely (if they chose at all) to hire Gregg Motola to direct the film, whose previous films were the actually funny Superbad (2007) and Adventureland (2009). He brought with him the the ensemble of actors used regularly in the Apatow group, but the script is just not good enough to give the characters much to do. Perfect example being, the usually excellent Bill Hader, who in my opinion stole the show in Superbad as one-of-the-boys police Officer Slater. So it simply seems that these talents were absolutely wasted.
Well, in summary, the film definitely has some genuine laughs, but just seems to leave great streams of pearl necklaces on the faces of those filmmakers who revived (or ruined) Hollywood filmmaking from 1975 onwards. Ha Ha, funny.
Six years have also passed for arcade-game villain Ralph (John C. Reilly) and glitchy Sugar Rush racer Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), who both enjoy a routine-based life of doing their video game duty by day and knocking back root beers together at night. But while Ralph finds comfort in familiarity, Vanellope longs for something different. In an attempt to cheer up his best friend, Ralph creates a special new track in Sugar Rush, but the stunt backfires when the steering-wheel breaks in the real world and Vanellope is left without a game. However, the shiny new arrival at Litwak's Family Fun Centre and Arcade - the internet - may offer a glimmer of hope in the form of eBay, where one user has a replacement steering-wheel up for auction. So, the two friends venture into this digital metropolis of corporate logos and dead-eyed avatars to buy the part, only they don't have any money to back up their winning bid.
