FIRST LOOK

First Look: Disney's Animated 'Wreck-It Ralph' Movie Arcade Game

by Alex Billington
August 21, 2011

One of the big surprises and highlights of Disney's movie presentation at the D23 Expo yesterday was a first look at Wreck-It Ralph, the next Disney Animation movie due out November 2012. As many of us have barely even heard of this project, it needs a proper introduction first, which is why Disney screened the first four minutes - only the storyboard version - to give us an idea of the story and what it was about. Suffice it to say, many of us are now considerably excited for this, and I'll do my best to explain why and give you a first glimpse via photos taken of the arcade game it's inspired by that was out on the D23 showfloor.

Wreck-It Ralph is about an arcade game character (pictured) named, as you guessed, Wreck-It Ralph, voiced by John C. Reilly. He's the bad guy in a Rampage-like game where Ralph smashes buildings and a small guy named Fix It Felix Jr., voiced by Jack McBrayer, runs around repairing them and saving people. But Ralph doesn't like being the bad guy and every day when he goes home to his trash dump to sleep with his tree trunk, he wishes for a better life. The concept takes us behind the screens and into the games, and like Toy Story, everything comes to life when their "work" is done at night inside the arcade. Ralph decides to leave his own 8-bit world and goes on an adventure through the arcade and into the various games there.

Here are the photos of the arcade game on the showfloor, courtesy of GeekTyrant and io9 (click for bigger):

Ralph can be seen in his villain mode in the arcade game directly below. One of the early scenes we were shown went through the screen into the game, like it was a real world behind the screen, which is the world Ralph inhabits. "Futurama" veteran Rich Moore is directing Wreck-It Ralph, and two other voices include Jane Lynch as Sergeant Calhoun, and Sarah Silverman as Vanellope von Schweetz. One of the games Ralph ventures into is "Hero's Duty", which looked very much like Halo and was described as a first-person shooter, where he meets Calhoun. The other is a game called SugarRush, which is basically Candyland meets a racing game, where he meets von Schweetz, an adorable young girl. This sounds like such a crazy fun time.

The footage we saw had Ralph introducing himself and his "job" at the beginning and it ended with Ralph attending a "Bad-Anon" bad guys anonymous meeting, with many other classic villain characters from video games there, too. This really seems like such a great concept for an animated movie, and based on what little of it I saw, it looks like it'll have as much heart to the story as character. I think Disney has finally found the magical Pixar mix that makes their movies great, as this truly looked like something Pixar could be making. I hope we have a teaser trailer or something else to show you soon, however it's still early in development, so stay tuned for more. But be sure to keep your eye out for Wreck-It Ralph, coming November 2012.

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