Ah, nostalgia, how I love remembering and reliving some of the good old days from back when I was a young child. Cartoon movies have gotten more sophisticated over the years with the high water mark being Toy Story and Up. Like those and others this movie is made to appeal to young kids for mindless fun and us older people who appreciate inside jokes and little things that kids will miss or are too young to understand.
The film starts off strongly with Ralph ( villain in ala Donkey Kong ) and Felix ( hero ala Mario ) finishing another battle which as always is pre determined for the bad guy to lose out to the good guy. Only problem is after almost 30 years Ralph is tired of being the bad guy and wants to flip to the other side. He even goes to a type of AA for villains which includes a lot of classic characters with my favorite being Zangief from Street Fighter fame. We do get Bowser from Mario Bros but we do not get the actual brothers in the film. A disappointment from this Mario Bros player. Ralph decides to venture out and be a hero and in his view acquiring a medal will achieve that goal. He ends up in a Call of Duty/Gears of War hybrid of a game where he, by using his wrecking power actually gets a medal. On his way back to his game he is detoured into a game called Sugar Land where everything is visually bright and loaded with sweets. The game is a racing game ala Mario Kart/Need for Speed etc. The land is ruled by King Candy with a firm hand except for a little young lady that happens to a be a glitch within the game and is the only thorn in the King's side. She runs into Ralph and ends up with Ralph's newly acquired medal which in turn uses to try to win her "freedom" from the game as you need a gold "coin" to enter a race. The premise is if you are one of the top 9 racers then you become a selectable character for people to play in the real world. Being a glitch she has been forced to stay away from the races and is alienated from everyone. The next 30-40 minutes involves soul searching for Ralph and what is and isn't important in life. Typical fare for a cartoon nowadays. In the end everyone has grown and learned from their experiences.
Verdict : A THUMBS UP from this long time gamer. Though the movie is a good one and the two supporting characters ( Felix and a field general from the war hybrid game ) bring the most enjoyable parts of the film unless you have a young one with you or enjoy games you might want to pass on this. Growing up playing all these games, it was fun seeing them interact on the big screen but unlike other "grown-up" cartoons the movie drags about 50 minutes into it and sort of limps home at the end. A fun movie but maybe not one you need to see in the theater.
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