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PLEASE NOTE: Michael D's is currently in READ ONLY MODE. Anything submitted will simply not be written to the database.
Lots of stuff is still broken, but at least reviews can now be looked up and read.
Wreck-It Ralph (Blu-ray) (2012)

Wreck-It Ralph (Blu-ray) (2012)

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Released 22-Apr-2013

Cover Art

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Details At A Glance

General Extras
Category Animation Menu Animation & Audio
Short Film
Featurette-Making Of
Deleted Scenes
Trailer
Rating Rated PG
Year Of Production 2012
Running Time 101:12
RSDL / Flipper Dual Layered Cast & Crew
Start Up Language Select Then Menu
Region Coding 4 Directed By Rich Moore
Studio
Distributor

Walt Disney Studios Home Ent.
Starring John C. Reilly
Sarah Silverman
Jack McBrayer
Jane Lynch
Alan Tudyk
Mindy Kaling
Case ?
RPI ? Music Henry Jackman
Tim Mertens
Jamie Sparer Roberts


Video Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame None English DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
English Descriptive Audio Dolby Digital 2.0
Spanish DTS HD Master Audio 5.1
Portuguese Dolby Digital 5.1
Catalan Dolby Digital 5.1
Widescreen Aspect Ratio 2.35:1
16x9 Enhancement
16x9 Enhanced
Video Format 1080p
Original Aspect Ratio 2.35:1 Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures No
Subtitles English for the Hearing Impaired
English
Spanish
Portuguese
Smoking No
Annoying Product Placement No
Action In or After Credits No

NOTE: The Profanity Filter is ON. Turn it off here.

Plot Synopsis

     A children's animated film set in the world of video games? Could there be a better marketing ploy for pre-teens? My young boys were very excited about this film from the moment they heard about it, through seeing it at the cinema and now on home entertainment formats. They love the video game worlds and the various characters. But beyond the attraction of the video games theme (which is very attractive to them) does Wreck-It Ralph turn out to be a great movie. Is it in the upper echelon of children's films with Up or Wall-E or is it somewhere in the middle with Rise of the Guardians or Bolt or is it plumbing the depths with Shark Tale?

     Wreck-it Ralph tells the story of a character in an older style video game, Ralph (voiced by John C Reilly) whose job is to wreck a building every day which then gets fixed by Fix-it Felix (Jack McBrayer). He is tired of being ostracized by the other characters in his game and sick of living in the town dump while the others get to live in the apartment building which Felix fixes every day. He yearns to be the good guy for a change and win the medal that gets presented to Jack every day. Despite attending Baddies Anonymous meetings with other bad guys in video games, he doesn't really come to terms with his lot. He decides to try and join another game in the arcade by travelling through the cables. He believes that if he could just be a hero or good guy in another game then that would fix up his life. He first joins a very new game, Hero's Duty (deliberately pronounced to sound like doodie) and attempts to win the medal there by fighting aliens. Subsequently he ends up in another game called Sugar Rush Speedway where he meets another outsider, Vennelope (Sarah Silverman), and they join together to try to stop the real baddie, King Candy (Alan Tudyk) along with Felix. Other voices are provided by Jane Lynch (one of my favourite comic actresses), Denis Haysbert and Ed O'Neill.

     As you would expect from a new big budget animated film, the animation is spectacular dripping with colour and detail. The voice cast all do a great job on their characters and there is a good mixture of fun and excitement. However, there are two elements that keep this film from the upper echelon of animated films, a lack of heart and emotion and a running time which feels about 10 minutes too long. My boys were really keen to watch it again but I found it difficult to sit through the movie again after being a little disappointed at the cinema. I know this is a film made for kids but the best of these films appeal to adults and kids equally. It is certainly not in the Shark Tale category, as that film was just boring, but neither does it hit the heights attained by Up, Wall-E and Toy Story. This is a solid kid’s animated film which will certainly appeal to kids who like video games but does not have the replay value of the best animated films. I think that this is also partially to do with an American sensibility to the film rather than a more all-embracing style which the best of these films have. I believe this is a problem which also afflicts films like Shrek 3 or Monsters University, where the setting and approach is so obviously American that the rest of us feel just a little left out.

     Young game players will love this film but many adults will not enjoy it as much as other animated films. One for the kids to enjoy.

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Transfer Quality

Video

     The video quality is excellent, impossible to criticise.

     The feature is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio which is the original aspect ratio. It is 1080p HD encoded using the AVC codec.

     The picture was extremely clear and sharp throughout. Shadow detail was excellent.

     The colour is eye-poppingly excellent, with all the colours and details looking spectacular.

     There are no noticeable artefacts.

     There are subtitles in English for the Hearing Impaired, English, Spanish & Portuguese which are clear and easy to read.

Video Ratings Summary
Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     The audio quality is excellent.

     This disc contains English and Spanish soundtracks in DTS HD-MA 5.1, along with a Dolby Digital 2.0 Audio Descriptive track and Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks in Portuguese and Catalan. The tracks include great ambiance and atmosphere along with a variety of directional effects in action scenes.

     Dialogue is clear and easy to understand throughout.

     The music sounds great, adding very different atmospheres to the different games in the movie.

     The surround speakers provided significant ambiance and atmosphere. They really come to life when the film enters Hero's Duty as this is the most modern game and the one with the most action. You really feel like you are inside a video game during these segments. The speedway section also features excellent surround activity if not at the same intensity. This is a very well designed soundtrack.

     The subwoofer added bass to the music and action scenes throughout.

Audio Ratings Summary
Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

Extras

     A decent selection of extras are included, although not as many as most animated films.

Menu

     The menu includes scenes and music.

Paperman - Theatrical Short (6:34)

     This is an excellent short which is very cute and romantic, probably in a lot of ways the highlight for the adults in the audience. This is not really one for the kids as they may find the black and white design and lack of action a little boring. It includes some lovely visual ideas and tells the story of a young man who meets a young lady by accident and then needs help to find her again.

Bit by Bit - Creating the Worlds of Wreck-it Ralph (16:40)

     An interesting making of featurette which is surprisingly short for this sort of film. There are interview segments with various crew members and they discuss the story, characters, development and other ideas they had along the way, the process of creating the four worlds and design. Worth watching.

Alternate & Deleted Scenes (14:28)

     These scenes are not in completed animation but are certainly worth watching. There is an optional commentary by the director explaining why they were dropped and other details and there is also an intro by him. They include some scenes with Ralph in prison, introduce an extra game world which was not developed (thankfully) and some dumb ideas which got dropped. Interesting.

Video Game Trailers (2:39)

     Trailers for the video games featured in the movie which can be quite amusing.

R4 vs R1

NOTE: To view non-R4 releases, your equipment needs to be multi-zone compatible and usually also NTSC compatible.

    There are some overseas versions of this Blu-ray which are quite similar although some do include a 7.1 DTS HD-MA track. The Region A is superior due to this inclusion.

Summary

    A mixed bag of a children's animated film.

    The video quality is excellent.

    The audio quality is excellent.

    The extras are decent.

Ratings (out of 5)

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall

© Daniel Bruce (Do you need a bio break?)
Monday, June 24, 2013
Review Equipment
DVDSONY BDP-S760 Blu-ray, using HDMI output
DisplaySharp LC52LE820X Quattron 52" Full HD LED-LCD TV . Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum. This display device is 16x9 capable. This display device has a maximum native resolution of 1080p.
Audio DecoderBuilt into amplifier. Calibrated with Ultimate DVD Platinum.
AmplificationMarantz SR5005
SpeakersMonitor Audio Bronze 2 (Front), Bronze Centre & Bronze FX (Rears) + Sony SAW2500M Subwoofer

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