‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Footage - Disney’s Video Game Movie Just Looks Better And Better [Comic-Con 2012]
There are some potentially stunning movies coming out for the rest of 2012 but I’m not sure any will make me squeal in my seat twice in a minute likeWreck-It Ralphjust did atSan Diego Comic-Con 2012. During the Disney panel, which also featuredFrankenweenie,Oz The Great and PowerfulandThe Lone Ranger,Wreck-It RalphdirectorRich Moorecame into Hall H – along with co-starsJohn C. ReillyandSarah Silverman,made a few announcementsand showed 10 minutes of the film. A good portion of it had already screened at more specialized events – theD23 ExpoandCinemaCon 2012– but this was its true coming out party. There was more footage, more finished footage and pure joy to be had with both. After the jump, read about the footage screened from the November 5th release.
Note: If you’ve been following the previous footage roundups ofWreck-It Ralph(linked about), you might have read about some of this. I’ll note where it’s new.Wreck-It Ralphopens in the game Fix-It Felix Jr., an 8-bit arcade game much like Donkey Kong. The game’s villain, Ralph (Reilly), is complaining about how he’s shunned in the game while the hero, Felix, has it so easy. Felix lives in a house. Ralph lives on a pile of garbage. And once we get this set up we see that Ralph has been unhappy for thirty years as the camera pulls back showing a long time lapse of how video arcades have change, going from points based games like Pac Man and Asteroids, to fighting games like Street Fighter and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and now active games like Dance Dance Revolution. Thirty years later – today – Ralph is in group therapy for villains. His cohorts? Zangeif fromStreet Fighter, aPac-Manghost, Bowser fromSuper Mario Bros.(though Moore confirmed Nintendo wouldn’t let them use Mario or Luigi in the movie at all), Kano fromMortal Kombat, Doctor Eggman fromSonic the Hedgehog, pretty much a major villain from almost every major video game. They discuss their issues and how being a bad guy doesn’t mean their bad guys. Kano even rips someone’s heart out (geek out number 1).Here’s where the footage got new. When Ralph and his other baddies walk out of the room, it’s revealed the room was the middle of a Pac-Man board (geek out number two) and they’ve all become 8-bit characters who traverse the board to get out of the the game. On the way, Ralph grabs some cherries.
Now Ralph is in Game Central, the surge protector that connects all the games and it’s basically Grand Central Station. Coming out ofPac Manhe’s stopped by security, resulting in a hilarious exchange about bringing foreign fruits into the station. Then, on his way back to Fix-It Felix Jr., Ralph hears Sonic The Hedgehoge do a little PSA and runs into Q-Bert, who is homeless as his game has been moved. Ralph feels bad and gives him a cherry.
Up until now, I think the footage was all sequential. From here, it jumped ahead to two of the other arcade games in the movie – Hero’s Duty – a first person shooter and Sugar Rush – a racing game. In Hero’s Duty, we see the platoon leader Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch) looking for enemies but, instead, it’s just Fix-It Felix. He’s fired upon and captured, to which he just comments on the high definition graphics.
Next up, we’re in a candy based Mario Kart game called Sugar Rush, and it’s revealed that a character named Vanellope von Schweetz (Silverman) has stolen a medal Ralph one trying to be a good guy in Hero’s Duty (as seen in the above photo). She makes a bunch of jokes about the word “duty” and we see the beginning of a friendship. We also learn about how the character is a glitch in the game so, like Ralph, she’s an outcast.
Suffice to say, the footage looked outstanding. The Comic-Con crowd ate it up, laughed where they were supposed to and got sad when they were supposed to. I thinkWreck-It Ralphhas the chance to be something really special, especially if non-video game fans can relate to the characters and situations. From this footage, it does seem like it’s a bit more gamer-centric, but that’s sure to not be the case with the rest of it.
Are you excited forWreck It Ralph? For more info on the footage and panel, check back for our video blog later this week.
