Films I Am Dying To See: Wreck-It Ralph

I can't remember when the rest of the internet saw the Wreck-It Ralph trailer, but it was a while ago and I filed it away for future watching and then forgot about it. However, during a visit to Disney HQ yesterday (can't say why, embargoed, etc), I saw the poster for it and it reminded me that I still had to watch the trailer. Needless to say, the film has now rocketed onto my Dying To See list.

The idea is genuinely inspired, taking its cues from the likes of Toy Story, only this time it's video game characters that have lives outside of the games they're in. John C. Reilly voices Wreck-It Ralph, a hulking video game villain who's tired of being the bad guy and longs to be a hero, so he walks out of his game (“Fix-It Felix”, voiced by 30 Rock's Jack McBrayer) and signs up to a Call of Duty-style videogame as one of the good guys, before realising he may have bitten off more than he can chew (“When did videogames get so VIOLENT?”).

Sadly, I was never much of a videogame player beyond the likes of Pac-Man, Space Invaders, Donkey Kong and so on (I am slightly more familiar with the Mario characters thanks to my nephews' Wii, but that's as far as it goes), so a lot of the in-jokes and references are likely to be lost on me. In the now seemingly-obligatory support group scene (00m50s), for example, I can recognise Bowzer and the Pac-Man ghost and I get that the fighter is meant to be from Mortal Kombat (or whatever), but that's about it, so I'll have to rely on game-savvy friends to fill me in.

Anyway, the concept is inspired and the voice cast (which also includes Jane Lynch and Sarah Silverman) is extremely promising – I love the scene with Silverman's annoying little girl character at the end of the trailer. Unfortunately, the film doesn't open here till February, so quite a while to wait yet.