For an old school gamer like myself, it’s been quite fun to see advance posters for Wreck It Ralph around the city, because the art is done like old video games with pixelated graphics.
Of course the movie is a combination of old school and new school game characters, and judging by the early reviews, Wreck It Ralph is clearly a winner.
Ralph is a great idea for a family animated movie, with characters in a video game world, with Pixar style animation. Pixar’s John Lasseter is the executive producer of Ralph, and in what would probably be the ultimate compliment for this kind of movie, Variety compared it to Toy Story. (One connection I didn’t make with the two films is they both show what the toys / video game avatars do when the kids aren’t looking).
As Variety writes, “With plenty to appeal to boys and girls, old and young, Walt Disney has a high-scoring hit on its hands.” Wired, which does its famous GeekDad deparment of the magazine, are also very high on Ralph, especially considering it’s a family film. “It hit me right in the pixels,” the site raved.
Meanwhile, The Hollywood Reporter noted: “With a mix of retro eye-candy for grown-ups and a thrilling, approachable storyline for the tykes, the film casts a wide and beguiling net.”
Wreck It Ralph indeed looks like a terrific night out at the movies for the family that people of all ages can enjoy, but what we’re especially curious about is how much nostalgia it will bring back for those of us who grew up during the early days of gaming.
Frankly, watching the commercials and seeing the ads for Wreck It, I’m already getting little flashbacks to the carefree days of my video game playing youth, so it should hit a lot of others “in the pixels” as well.
