Saturday 9 February 2013

Why I’m Gonna Wreck It!

So I’ve finally watched ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ this evening, and I must say I absolutely loved it. This movie had sorta become my personal white whale for a time there as every single time I had planned to go and watch things prevented me from seeing the damn thing, either money troubles, or planned events falling through, or someone needing a hand sucked up all my spare time, etc, etc. I started feeling like the last kid on the block to have seen the film, especially when everyone was raving about it or watching it multiple times.
Now I must state that at first I was completely sceptical, especially as it was a 3d movie produced by Disney... and a non-Pixar at that. I’ve not always had the greatest respect for the House of the Mouse, especially during the Michael Eisner years, but lately they seem to be hitting back with some fantastic work, although I think with the recent axing of Tron: Uprising some of my friends might disagree (to which I’ve not seen). When I read the base premise of ‘Wreck-It Ralph’ it felt like a cash-in on gamers, or a feeble attempt to be cool and ‘retro’, my pessimism for the sugar coated Disney crap of years gone left a sour taste in my mouth... that is until I saw the first trailer. Yes I admit I was amazed that they managed to put in so many game franchised characters in there, and my respect became more positive... but the sugar coated ‘we all live happily after all’ ending was looming, and I was still dubious. Then the reviews from gamers piled in from the states, all raving about it, and then I started wanting to see it. I had successfully avoided all spoilers, although the trailers made glimpses has to what the plot would be but didn’t spoil the movie at all (a first nowadays). It finally came out... and every single time I tried to watch it, it fell through. It was excruciating not being to watch it for so damn long, so I finally gave in and thought, “Fuck it, I’ll wait for Blu-Ray”. Well I finally did, and it was awesome. I’m not going to review it, I’m just not interested in doing so at this time, but I wanted to express how I felt watching it.
The one thing aspect I adored about this movie was it was heavily steeped in gamer culture from decades past, celebrating and referencing almost every genre created and paying homage to many great classic games and franchises. I suppose in an age of Super Smash Brothers Brawl, Marvel vs Capcom, and Sonic & Mario games this seems a tad old fashioned but seeing so many great characters converge was so fantastic, especially as they essentially are only antagonistic within the game areas. It’s very reminiscent of the ‘Sheep dog and Wolf’ Warner Bros cartoons which always start with Sam and Ralph (co-incidence?) arriving at work, chatting to each other like friends, clocking on and then finally proceeding to beat each other up before the whistle blows. I supposed I’ve always loved the gag that this ultimately was just a job for these guys, and at the end of the day there are no hard feelings. I suppose that’s how Ralph and Felix’s relationship ultimately is, although it’s easy to understand just how Ralph might finally become disillusioned after 30 years.
I knew this was probably going to happen, but I sympathised the hell out of Ralph as I see so much of myself in him. He’s a lonely misunderstood soul who only wants acceptance, but his nature seems to prevent this from happening all of the time. I’m a natural klutz who tries very hard to not break things whenever I do something, because it’s always bound to happen. I suppose that’s why I’ve always wanted to learn to fix and build things, it’s a way of undoing some of the damage I may inadvertently cause, which has lead to a current passion of prop building and costuming. I saw myself so much in Ralph, especially the parts about him talking about his loneliness... I’m lonely. If there is one thing I’m catastrophically bad at doing is trying to find someone, even if it’s just a simple date. I think the impending apocalypse on Feb 14th is on my mind as well at this point, but it seems that every girl I meet either a) has a boyfriend, b) is interested in someone else, and/or c) thinks of me only as a ‘friend’. I didn’t mean to go on this tangent but I think I need to get this out to some degree as this gets completely frustrating, especially as I’m completely shy and it takes me a tremendous amount of courage to ask someone out, but it’s followed by the inevitable rejection and then the almost crippling depression. Wow, I didn’t want to go there, but in the spirit of this blog I feel like I have to keep it in (despite how many times I’ve wanted to delete it). Maybe someday I’ll talk more but I’ll warn you now the spelling and grammar will be a lot worse as I’ll have downed a bottle of scotch first.
Wow... what a fucking downer, especially as I absolutely bloody loved the flick, even though its ending was almost has sugary as the racing world, it was satisfying... but I think it gave me a cavity. And I’ve almost forgotten the point I was originally going to make, but I think what I was going to say was that I think I’m okay with feeling so close to Ralph because ultimately he’s just a guy that is doing his job and he’s genuinely trying to do his best for others, even if it means having to sacrifice his own personal dreams and desires to do so, he’ll do the right thing.

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