*This review contains spoilers, you have been warned

Wreck-It Ralph is an animation created by Walt Disney Animation Studios, featuring voice acting from many well known people such as John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman and Jane Lynch. The voice actors fit their roles very well as if the characters were made with the voice actors in mind. The animation is very well done, even using the 8-bit style walking which many arcade characters did back in the day.

The film Wreck-It Ralph is set in Litwak’s Arcade, where at night the many gaming characters leave their game and are able to freely travel to other games or ‘Game Central Station’. The story follows a bad guy, Wreck-It Ralph, from the video game Fix It Felix Jr. who is fed up with being a bad guy. He wants to be the good guy for once.

After an argument with the residents in Fix It Felix Jr., Ralph decides that the only way to prove he is a good guy is to earn a medal – though bad guys can’t earn medals! Ralph game jumps to Hero City, a first person shooter where the aim is to climb to the top of the tower whilst killing Cy-Bugs. After managing to get the medal Ralph accidently steps on one of the Cy-Bug eggs which starts a chain reaction of hatching eggs and whilst trying to avoid the Cy-Bugs sets off an escape pod. The escape pod with Ralph and a Cy-Bug inside travels out of Hero’s Duty, through game central station, and into Sugar Rush – a Kart Racer.

As the escape pod crash lands in Sugar Rush, Ralph’s medal is parted from him. Being the one key to getting liked by everyone in Fix It Felix Jr. he tries to find it, until he is stopped by Vanellope von Schweetz. Vanellope isn’t like other characters though, she’s a glitch. She takes the medal as her way of buying entry into the race, though King Candy and the other racers do not agree with letting her race as she isn’t truly ‘part of the game’.

Though back in Fix It Felix Jr. the game has been put out of order due to Ralph not being there and the arcade owner believes it to be broken. Felix finds out Ralph has game jumped to Hero’s Duty and goes after him. When meeting with Calhoun in Hero’s Duty, Felix finds that Cy-Bug’s aren’t actually enemies they are a virus. They do not realise they are a part of a game – they just know to consume and to breed.

In Sugar Rush Ralph agrees to help Vanellope, finding that she is a natural racer after all. Though on the day of the big race King Candy tells Ralph that if Vanellope wins the race she will become a playable character in the game. When players see Vanellope glitching they will think the game has broken and put Sugar Rush out of order. With the game out of order all the games inhabitants will have to leave to Game Central Station… though one inhabitant cannot leave – Vanellope. This is because glitches aren’t able to leave games. King Candy also gives Ralph the medal back that Vanellope stole from him to enter the race. To stop Vanellope from being in this situation Ralph breaks the Kart he made for Vanellope so she cannot enter the race, though she sees Ralph has his medal back and believes Ralph has sold out to King Candy. Ralph head’s back home to Fix It Felix Jr. with his medal, though finds the game is being shut down and all the inhabitants have left. While looking out into the arcade he see’s Sugar Rush… with Vanellope’s picture on the arcade machine.

Felix and Calhoun, on the hunt for the Cy-Bug that was with Ralph, end up in Sugar Rush. Though after bringing up a memory from Calhoun’s past Felix is left alone to find Ralph. In his search though Felix ends up getting trapped in King Candy’s ‘Fungeon’.

Ralph heads back to Sugar Rush finding out that King Candy tried to remove Vanellope from the game causing her to become a glitch, though he also removed all of Sugar Rushes inhabitants knowledge of her being within the game. If Vanellope passes the finish line she will reset the game and be a part of it once again. Ralph saves Felix from the Fungeon and asks him to fix Vanellope’s Kart, in return Ralph will come back home and continue being the bad guy. Though when Vanellope and Ralph reunite and the race begins King Candy and Vanellope have a meeting and King Candy reveals his true identity… Turbo, a character who was from the game Turbo Racer but wanted fame so game jumped and took over other games. Vanellope manages to escape but as she does the Cy-Bug that Ralph brought into Sugar Rush hatches its eggs and causes a massive Cy-Bug attack. With the only way to save Sugar Rush being to set off the Volcano (as Cy-Bug’s are attracted to light), Ralph risks his life to save Vanellope.

As Ralph is about to fall into the lava, Vanellope glitches through the Volcano and saves him – saving Ralph and causing all of the Cy-Bug’s to kill themselves in the lava. After Sugar Rush has been saved, Felix fixes the finish line so that Vanellope can reset the game. Sugar Rush reverts back and Vanellope returns back to the leader of Sugar Rush, though keeping her glitching ability.

With everything back in order Ralph and Felix return in time stopping Fix It Felix Jr. from being unplugged.

The film contains many video game references and viewers will pick up on many new ones with each viewing of the film. Games such as Mario, Sonic, Metal Gear Solid and Street Fighter are included to name a few.

To make a great film, you need a great soundtrack and Wreck-It Ralph has a brilliant soundtrack. The original score was composed by Henry Jackman who did an amazing job at creating an acrade style sound mixed with modern day orchestral sounds. Many famous singers also got on board and created songs for Wreck-It Ralph, some of these being Owl City, Kool & The Gang, Skirllex and Rihanna.

Disney films are usually known for being very well made and they have done it once again! There is nothing bad I can say from watching Wreck-It Ralph at the UK early screening last weekend, I only have many more positives. If you’re a fan of video games you will want to see this film, if you played games from the 1980’s-90’s you will pick up on a lot more references… though if you aren’t a big fan of video games you can enjoy the brilliantly written story about a bad guy who wants to show he can do something good.

Overall I give Wreck-It Ralph a straight up 5/5.With a well written story, great animation style and brilliant soundtrack this film is a must see. With a ton of video game references on top this game can appeal to non gamers and hardcore gaming fans. You owe it to yourself to see this film when it hits cinemas 8th February in the UK.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.