Wreck-It Ralph (film)

Wreck-It Ralph is a 2012 American 3D computer-animated family-action comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and distributed by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 52nd animated feature in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series. The film was directed by Rich Moore, who has directed episodes of The Simpsons and Futurama, and the screenplay was written by Phil Johnston and Jennifer Lee from a story by Moore, Johnston, and Jim Reardon.

John Lasseter served as the executive producer. The film features the voices of John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, and Jane Lynch. The film tells the story of the titular arcade game villain who rebels against his role and dreams of becoming a hero. He travels between games in the arcade, and ultimately must eliminate a dire threat that could affect the entire arcade, and one that Ralph may have inadvertently started.

Wreck-It Ralph had its world premiere on October 29, 2012, and went into general release on November 2. The film was met with critical and commercial success, and was nominated for Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and won the Annie Award for Best Animated Feature. Wreck-It Ralph also won the 2013 Kids Choice Awards for Best Animated Film.

A sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet was released in theaters on November 21, 2018.

Plot

At night, when Litwak's Arcade closes, the various video game characters congregate in Game Central Station through the power cables. At the game Fix-It Felix, Jr., the characters celebrate the game's titular hero but shun its villain, Wreck-It Ralph. At a support group for video game villains, Ralph reveals he doesn't want to be a bad guy anymore. Returning to his own game, Ralph finds the other characters celebrating their game's 30th anniversary without him. Felix reluctantly invites Ralph to join them, but the others shun him (mainly Gene), saying he'd have to win a medal, just as Felix does. While visiting Tapper, Ralph meets Markowski, a soldier from the first-person shooter game, Hero's Duty, who tells him the game's winner receives a medal. Despite Ralph being initially denied access to visit the game, Markowski is knocked unconscious after running into a wall. Ralph dons the soldier's uniform and enters the game, finding Sergeant Calhoun, its no-nonsense leader.

Between games, Ralph climbs the game's central beacon, which happened to be filled with Cy-Bugs (bug-like enemies) eggs, and collects the medal. However, he accidentally walks into an egg that hatches a Cy-Bug that clings to him. During his panic to get the Cy-Bug larva off, he hatches many other eggs and stumbles into a nearby escape pod that launches him out of the game. Meanwhile, Ralph's absence has not gone unnoticed, as a girl outside the game tells Litwak that Fix-It Felix, Jr. is malfunctioning due to Ralph's absence. Q*bert travels to Fix-It Felix Jr., and tells him about the dark turn of events. This is alarming for Felix, because if a game becomes broken, Litwak will have to unplug the game, leaving any characters in the game homeless. So, Felix sets out to find Ralph. Ralph crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a kart-racing game. As he searches for his medal, he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, a glitchy character who makes off with the medal, planning to use it to buy entry into an after-hours race. However, King Candy and the other racers refuse to let Vanellope participate, saying she's not really part of the game. The other racers pay her a visit while she is building her own cart and destroy it, disabling her from racing.

Ralph witnesses this and scares the racers off. Ralph then berates her, but she insults him right back. This angers him to the point that he smashes a jaw-breaker in half. Because of his amazing strength, Vanellope gets an idea. She explains to Ralph that the medal can be won back if she gets first place in a race. She then offers to make a pact that if he can help her win, she'll give Ralph the medal back. Ralph reluctantly accepts her offer. After making said pact, they head off to the cart bakery, where the racers make their carts, and they build a cart together. However, a security guard notices the unauthorized activity, and the authorities are sent out, along with King Candy. After a long chase, they give King Candy's party the slip by hiding in Diet Cola Mountain, an incomplete extra race track. It is discovered that this is Vanellope's home. From there, Ralph teaches Vanellope how to drive her new cart.

Back in Hero's Duty, Felix meets Sergeant Calhoun, who explains that the Cy-Bugs don't know that they are part of a game and are completely ruled by instinct to consume and multiply. As the two search for Ralph and the Cy-Bug in Sugar Rush, Felix explains that he is searching for Ralph, who had probably "gone Turbo". When Calhoun asked Felix about this term, he then explains that a long time ago, a racing game called "Turbo Time" was the most popular game in the arcade. It starred a self-obsessed character named Turbo. One day, a RoadBlasters arcade cabinet entered the arcade and gained more popularity than Turbo Time. Out of jealousy, Turbo traveled to the other game and attempted to take it over.

He crashed into the main player of the new racing game and crashed both games, which led to both of them being unplugged. As Felix and Calhoun progress, they fix the pod Ralph was in and fly off to search for the lone Cy-Bug. Felix later falls in love with Calhoun. However, Calhoun's past comes back to haunt her when Felix refers to her as a 'dynamite gal', something that her fiancé, who was murdered by a Cy-Bug on their wedding day, would call her. Distraught, she forces Felix to leave her ship. A heartbroken Felix walks to King Candy's castle and meets Sour Bill, King Candy's assistant. He locks up Felix after the latter tells him that he was searching for Ralph. After a long search, Calhoun soon discovers the Cy-Bug has laid hundreds of eggs underground.

Before the race, King Candy finds Ralph in the absence of Vanellope and offers Ralph his medal, which King Candy has dug into the game's code to retrieve. The only condition was that Vanellope couldn't race. When Ralph asks why King Candy and the other racers hate her so much, he explains he really doesn't. Vanellope is a glitch, and so, this would cause her to act abnormally (such as teleporting and jumping around, sometimes through objects). If she won the race, she would become an official part of the racing roster. He goes on to explain that her glitching would give gamers the impression that the game was broken, and the game would be unplugged.

While everyone else could be evacuated from the game, Vanellope could not leave, as she is a glitch. As a result, she would die along with the program. So, King Candy leaves Ralph with that, and exits. When Vanellope returns and give Ralph a medal that says "You're my hero", he explains to Vanellope that she can not race for her own good. She doesn't believe him, and she threatens to race on her own. Ralph stops her and hangs her by her jacket on a nearby candy-cane tree. He then reluctantly proceeds to destroy her cart into pieces. Vanellope tries to stop Ralph but it was no use. She falls and runs away, sobbing that he "really is a bad guy."

Ralph goes back to Fix-It Felix Jr., and sees that the entire game is deserted, except for one lone citizen, Gene. Gene explains that the game was set to be unplugged in the morning, and that everyone has evacuated.

He then gives Ralph the keys to Felix's old penthouse after Ralph explains that he didn't want to live in the garbage dump that he lived in before. Alone, Ralph goes to the balcony and throws his medal at the screen that sits above the game. This causes the Out-of-Order sign that previously covered the screen to un-stick and start to fall off, revealing the side of the Sugar Rush arcade cabinet in front of Ralph's game. He discovers that Vanellope is on the cabinet and wonders why she is on the machine's art work if she is a glitch. Ralph suspects something foul at play and returns to Sugar Rush.

He comes across Sour Bill, who has gathered up the remains of Vanellope's kart in a trash bin. Ralph places him in his mouth as a form of torture until he confesses.

Sour Bill explains that King Candy unplugged Vanellope's code on purpose. When Ralph asks about his motives, Sour Bill says he doesn't know why, and in fact, no one knows why. He explains it is like this because King Candy locked up all the characters' memories. Sour Bill then reveals that Venellope and Felix are locked up in King Candy's Fungeon (fun dungeon). Upon locating Felix, Ralph begs Felix to fix the wrecked kart so Vanellope can race. He agrees to do so after discovering how hard of a life Ralph has had. After also freeing and making amends with Vanellope, they start the race, and as the race proceeds, the hatched Cy-Bugs attack Sugar Rush. Felix, Calhoun, and Ralph then battle them.

Vanellope catches up to King Candy mid-race and passes him, but King Candy still determined not to let her cross the finish line attacks her with his cane. Vanellope's glitching interferes with King Candy's code, and reveals that King Candy is Turbo in disguise! Turbo rams his car into Vanellope's, causing her to be dragged in front of the car while approaching a walled fork in the road. Vanellope finally takes control of her glitching to escape from Turbo, and drives away, yelling at her victory. An enraged Turbo tries to pursue, but suddenly a Cy-Bug blocks his path and devours him. Ralph, Vanellope, Felix and Calhoun attempt to flee the doomed game, but Vanellope cannot pass through the exit due to her status as a glitch. Calhoun says the game can't be saved because there is no beacon in the game; the beacon in Hero's Duty attracts and kills the Cy-Bugs much like a bug-zapper.

Ralph, in a last-ditch effort, heads to Diet Cola Mountain, where he plans on collapsing its Mentos stalactites into the cola at the bottom, causing an eruption that would attract the bugs. While on top of the mountain, he pounds the mentos into the diet cola below from the top. Before he can finish, however, Turbo fused with the Cy-Bug that devoured him, stops him. Turbo declares that he has become "the most powerful virus in the arcade" and reveals that he plans to get revenge and use his new powers to take over the entire arcade, but not before to killing Ralph as a way of "thanking" him. Turbo and Ralph engage each other in a fierce battle, Turbo quickly overpowers Ralph, carrying him above the mountain. Ralph breaks free and dives toward the mountain, hoping his impact will start the eruption. Seeing Ralph dive towards the mountain, Vanellope in turn uses her glitching abilities with the goal of catching Ralph. Ralph breaks through the roof of the mountain, but before he is killed in the eruption, Vanellope catches him in another racer's cart (because she crashed her kart).

The eruption shines a bright light, which in turn draws all of the Cy-Bugs, to their deaths. Turbo being far more powerful then the others is able to resist for a short time, but his Cy-Bug programming overwhelms him and he flies into the lava too. Because characters who die outside their own game are unable to regenerate (according to Sonic) this means that all the Cy-Bugs and Turbo die permanently.

After the Cy-Bugs are drawn to the beacon, Felix restores the finish line, and Vanellope crosses it, restoring her memory as the game's lead character, and restoring the ruins of Sugar Rush. Felix is very happy and is so excited that he kisses Calhoun on her cheek, much to her delight, and Calhoun kisses Felix full on the mouth. Felix and Ralph return to Fix-It Felix, Jr. in time to show Litwak that the game works, and they also give Q*bert and Co. a new opportunity to work with Ralph and crew in a "bonus level", sparing it and also giving its characters a new respect for Ralph's work as the villain.

These new additions make Fix-it Felix Jr. more popular than it has been in years, the players calling it "Retro" which Ralph interprets as "old but cool.". Felix later marries Calhoun, with Ralph being the Best Man and Vanellope as the Maid of Honor. To all of their relief, there were no Cy-Bugs. The gamers favor Vanellope as a character, despite her glitches (it's likely her ability to teleport short distances is perceived by gamers as a special power, rather than a glitch). The credits (featuring Owl City's "When Can I See You Again?") show Ralph and Vanellope jumping across different games, such as Street Fighter where they destroy a car alongside Ryu, and Ralph gets shocked in a match against Blanka.

Voice Cast

For non-English cast listings, see List of international voice casts of Wreck-It Ralph.

• John C. Reilly as Wreck-It Ralph, the villain of Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz, a 9-year-old racer, a glitch in Sugar Rush.
• Jack McBrayer as Fix-It Felix, Jr., the hero of Fix-It Felix, Jr..
• Jane Lynch as Sergeant Tamora Jean Calhoun, the lead NPC of Hero's Duty, Felix, Jr.'s love interest.
• Alan Tudyk as Turbo, the fake ruler of Sugar Rush.
• Mindy Kaling as Taffyta Muttonfudge, a racer and citizen of Sugar Rush.
• Joe Lo Truglio as Markowski, a soldier in Hero's Duty whom Ralph impersonates in order to gain entry.
• Ed O'Neill as Mr. Litwak, owner of Litwak's Arcade.
• Dennis Haysbert as General Hologram, a general in Hero's Duty.
• Edie McClurg as Mary, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Raymond Persi as Mayor Gene, the mayor of the Nicelanders who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr. / Cyril the Zombie
• Jess Harnell as Don, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Rachael Harris as Deanna, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Skylar Astin as Roy, a Nicelander who lives within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr.
• Adam Carolla as Wynnchel, a doughnut that is a member of the Sugar Rush police station.
• Horatio Sanz as Duncan, a doughnut that is a member of the Sugar Rush police station.
• Maurice LaMarche as Root Beer Tapper, the bartender from Tapper.
• Stefanie Scott as Moppet Girl, a young arcade enthusiast, who is the first to find Ralph missing from his game.
• John DiMaggio as Beard Papa, Sugar Rush security.
• Rich Moore as Sour Bill and Zangief.
• Katie Lowes as Candlehead, a racer and citizen of Sugar Rush.
• Jamie Elman as Rancis Fluggerbutter, a racer and citizen of Sugar Rush.
• Josie Trinidad as Jubileena Bing-Bing, a racer and citizen of Sugar Rush.
• Cymbre Walk as Crumbelina DiCaramello, a racer and citizen of Sugar Rush.
• Brandon Scott as Kohut, a soldier in Hero's Duty.
• Tim Mertens as Dr. Brad Scott, a scientist from Hero's Duty and Sgt. Calhoun's fiancée, who was eaten by Cy-Bugs. In the UK version, he is voiced by Nick Grimshaw.
• Kevin Deters as Clyde (not named) from Pac-Man.
• Gerald C. Rivers as M. Bison from Street Fighter.
• Martin Jarvis as Satine, a devil-like villain who attends the Bad-Anon support group.
• Brian Kesinger as a Cyborg (based on Kano from Mortal Kombat) who attends the Bad-Anon support group.
• Roger Craig Smith as Sonic the Hedgehog from the series of the same name.
• Phil Johnston as Surge Protector, Game Central Station security.
• Kyle Hebert as Ryu from Street Fighter.
• Reuben Langdon as Ken Masters from Street Fighter.
• Jamie Sparer Roberts as Yuni Verse from Dance Dance Revolution.
• Kevin Michael Richardson as Oreo Guard.
• Jim Cummings as Game Over voice.

Cameos and references

Main article: List of cameos in Wreck-It Ralph

In addition to the spoken roles, Wreck-It Ralph contains a number of other video game references, including characters and visual gags. Some of the video game villains at the support meeting include, among others: Bowser from the Mario franchise, Doctor Robotnik from Sonic the Hedgehog, and Neff from Altered Beast.

Characters from Q*bert, including Q*bert, Coily, Slick, Sam, and Ugg, are shown as "homeless" characters and later taken in by Ralph and Felix into their game (Q*bert also speaks to Felix at one point using the signature synthesized gibberish and word-balloon symbols from his game, called Q*bert-ese). Scenes in Game Central Station and Tapper's bar include Chun-Li, Cammy, and Blanka from Street Fighter, Pac-Man, Blinky, Pinky, and Inky from Pac-Man, the Paperboy from Paperboy, the two paddles and the ball from Pong, Dig Dug, a Pooka, and a Fygar from Dig Dug, The Qix from Qix, Frogger from Frogger, and Peter Pepper from BurgerTime. Additionally, Lara Croft and Mario are mentioned in reference.

Additional references are based on sight gags. The residents of Niceland and the bartender from Tapper are animated using a jerky motion that spoofs the limited animation cycles of the sprites of many eight- and sixteen-bit arcade games. King Candy uses the Konami Code on an NES controller to access the programming of Sugar Rush. Throughout Game Central Station is graffiti that includes "Aerith lives" (referencing the character of Aerith Gainsborough from Final Fantasy VII), "All your base are belong to us" (an Engrish phrase popularized from the game Zero Wing), "Sheng Long Was Here" (referencing an April Fool's joke around a made-up character Sheng Long from Street Fighter), and "Jenkins" (a nod to the popular Leeroy Jenkins meme from World of Warcraft). There is also a reference to the Metal Gear series when Ralph is searching for a medal in Tapper's lost and found, finding first a Super Mushroom from the Mario franchise, and then Metal Gear's "Exclamation point" (with the corresponding sound effect from the game). Mr. Litwak wears a black and white striped referee's shirt, a nod to the iconic outfit of Twin Galaxies founder Walter Day. One of the songs in the credits is an original work from Buckner and Garcia, previously famous for writing video game-themed songs in the 1980s. The Walt Disney Animation Studios opening logo is animated in an 8-bit pixelated fashion, whereas the Walt Disney Pictures closing production logo appears in a glitched state, a reference to the kill screen from many early arcade games such as Pac-Man.

Release

• Wreck-It Ralph's theatrical release was accompanied by Disney's short film Paperman.

• The first trailer for Wreck-It Ralph was released on June 6, 2012, debuting with Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted and Rock of Ages.

Home Video

Walt Disney Animation Studios announced a first time early release of the HD Digital and HD Digital 3D versions of the movie slated for February 12, 2013, followed by a 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack, DVD, SD Digital and On-Demand release on March 5, 2013.The included bonus content depends on which movie version is chosen, and is categorized as follows:

Types of release:

• HD Digital

• SD Digital

• 4-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray 3D + Blu-ray + DVD + Digital Copy)

• 2-Disc Blu-ray Combo Pack (Blu-ray + DVD)

All four releases include:

• Bit by Bit: The short takes viewers into Game Central Station with the artists who brought Sugar Rush, Hero’s Duty and Fix It Felix Jr. to life.

• Alternate & Deleted Scenes – Four separate scenes are highlighted with an introduction and optional audio commentary from director Rich Moore.

• Video Game Commercials – Viewers can check out the commercials created for the video games featured in the film.

• “Paperman”

Only both Blu-ray releases include exclusive bonus material:

• Disney Intermission: The Gamer’s Guide to “Wreck-It-Ralph” – When the film is paused, host Chris Hardwick appears on screen to guide viewers through cameos, references, and hidden details with explanations of the film.

Video game

Main article: Wreck-It Ralph: The Video Game

In addition to the browser-based Flash-based version of the Fix-It Felix, Jr. game, Disney on June 25, 2012 announced a tie-in game based on the movie to be released on the Nintendo Wii, Nintendo 3DS, and Nintendo DS. The arcade style side-scrolling game will be produced in collaboration between Disney Interactive and Activision and will serve as a "story extension" to the film.

Players can play as Wreck-It Ralph or Fix-It Felix, causing damage, as well as repairing where necessary. Game levels are based on the locations in the film, like the Fix-It Felix Jr., Hero's Duty, and Sugar Rush games. It was released in conjunction with the movie's release in November 2012. It was announced on July 13, 2012 that Ralph would be playable with Sonic in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed as a guest character. Ralph and Vanellope will also appear in the upcoming game Disney Infinity. Nintendo did give the producers the license for Mario and Luigi, but director Rich Moore didn't know where to put them.^[1]

Names in Other Languages

Trivia

• Wreck-It Ralph has the most unique, individual characters out of any Disney film thus far, with a whopping 188 characters as opposed to the average of 40-60.^[2]
  • Additionally, it has around 70 settings while the average Disney film has 25.
• Unlike most animated films, the actors recorded most audio sessions together in the same room. This led to lots of improving and variations from the original screenplay.^[3]
• Originally, Fix-It Felix, Jr. was going to be the protagonist. It wasn't until later in production that Ralph became the lead character.
• In the film, each of the worlds are associated with a particular shape and set of physics: Fix-It Felix, Jr. is built with pixelly, cubic shapes and has jerky movements. Hero's Duty is composed of triangles and rendered to be very realistic. Sugar Rush is full of rounded, soft shapes and in a very cartoon-like style.
• Although the video game cameos are a big part of Wreck-It Ralph, they only make up 20% of the characters in the film. The cameo characters were voted on by the Disney employees, depending on who was their favorites. Once a company licensed their character to Disney, they had input on the look, sound, and size of their character. 
• During production, animators were expected to turn in 80 frames per week.
• In Sugar Rush, the theme song was heard after Ralph arrived in the game. The theme song was performed by AKB48.

Gallery

Posters

Vanellope

Concept Art and Production Art

Videos

Trailers

Trailer 1	Trailer 2

Clips

Bad Guy Second Thoughts	Video Review
Universe's Greatest Hero	Ralph's Medal
Ralphs Gone Turbo	Ralph Meets Vanellope
Ralph and Vanellope Make a Deal	Likkity Split
Interrogation	Hero's Duty
Game Central Station	Felix Meets Sergeant Calhoun
Felix and Calhoun Team Up	Bad Anon

Behind the Scenes

Voice Cast Featurette	Timeline

Moore's Munchies

Interviews

Cast & Crew Interview

Awards and Nominations

Main article:  Awards and Nominations

References