Love Letter to a Movie (Wreck-it Ralph SPOILERS)

Sorry guys, I just have to. It's been a while since I've updated journal entries so I think I'm gonna make one about how much I loved the movie Wreck-it Ralph. Think of it as a review. Spoilers? I think so. SO don't read anymore if you haven't seen the movie but want to!

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So I hadn't seen much animated movies this year. I only saw The Lorax and Brave, both of which I really liked but probably not enough to be completely satisfied. Heck, all of my favorite movies this year were live-action (Avengers, Moonrise Kingdom, Batman, Prometheus, yada yada yada), which is odd because the years before that I was extremely passionate about all animated movies. I still am, but this year has felt a little lackluster to me when it came to animation. I know that there is Pirates! and Paranorman, two movies that have been getting extraordinary feedback, but I couldn't see either. I couldn't see Pirates! because no one I knew wanted to see it with me, and Paranorman because I'm raised in a religious Christian family that doesn't approve of any spiritism. I tried my best to see it anyway, but to no avail. Maybe one day I can watch it online, but I want to wait until there's a high quality version somewhere. ANYWAY, yeah I felt pretty empty about the lack of animation I've been viewing, and was looking for something new to see. Wreck-it Ralph was actually around the corner!
  But I wasn't excited. To me, it looked like an excuse to pull a Roger Rabbit and make as many video game references as possible. Not that Roger Rabbit is bad at all, though, I love it. But judging by the first trailer I saw, and the enthusiasm of many hardcore gamers, I just got a bad impression of it. Did this movie only appeal to gamers? Would there be anything valuable to this movie besides the references? And why did Jane Lynch's character look like a younger version of herself? (animated movies that copy the facial features of their voice actors always turned me away for some reason, feels like a cash grab) Plus a lot of the jokes in the trailers just felt juvenile. I didn't picture myself liking Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) because she seemed so obnoxious. Overall, my first impression was that Disney was trying too hard this time to milk more money than they really needed.
  As you should know, I go on Tumblr A LOT more than DeviantART, and around this time I started seeing gifs. HILARIOUS gifs. And pretty beautiful fanart as well. And it was all for Wreck-it Ralph. I was getting curious, so I got on Rotten Tomatoes to look at the score (not that I rely on critics; it's just a site I frequent for fun), and it was positive. Like, REALLY positive. Now I was starting to get excited for this movie judging by what I read. And lucky for me, everyone I knew wanted to see it. So when the weekend came, I waited for plans to be made. Since it was released there was an explosion of Wreck-it love on Tumblr, and the more I saw, the more anxious I got, like I HAD to see this movie. I was worried I wouldn't see it soon enough and be spoiled (heck I was already hearing "Felix and Calhoun OTP!" and "WOAH I DID NOT EXPECT THAT VILLAIN"). Luckily some friends invited me on Sunday! YES! And so to not drag this anticipation on any longer, I'll just tell you what I thought.

  MY THOUGHTS: First thing: Paperman. If there was anything I was excited for about Wreck-it Ralph before, well, I was excited about Wreck-it Ralph, it was this short. The moment I heard that Disney was implementing HAND-DRAWN elements to their 3D, something I've never really seen successfully done, I was sold. And it was SO MUCH BETTER than I thought it would be, and that's saying something. The drawing technique on the models were fantastic! And I really loved how they used those paper airplanes as the whole story. It felt really romantic to me. I much preferred this short to the usual Mickey Mouse or Toy Story shorts that they normally show before Disney movies.
  Okay, okay, okay, so Wreck-it Ralph. I loved it. I loved it I loved it I loved it I loved it. There was WAY less video game jokes than I thought. Heck, I was surprised by the amount of food jokes in the Sugar Rush universe. All the references that were done were merely jokes hid in the background for the first third of the movie. To me, it really did feel like Roger Rabbit: the original characters were more important than the licensed ones, and they made sure of that. And all the characters I thought I wouldn't like I ended up liking the most. Vanellope and Fix-it Felix Jr. were by far my favorite characters. First off, Felix stole my heart, not in a "Oh my god I want him to be my boyfriend" kind of way, but more in a "he's so adorable I could bear-hug him and pinch his cheeks." It's just his voice and mannerisms that get me, you know? And most of my favorite lines are definitely from him. And Vanellope? Oh man Vanellope. You weren't a brat. Yeah, sometimes you were making annoying jokes at Ralph, but there was so much more to you than that. She had a heart-breaking background: She was told she was a glitch and couldn't participate in - or leave - her own game. And boy, did the Sugar Rush residents give her crap for it. There's one point where she tells Ralph "Everyone says I'm just a mistake and I should have never existed." And that's when I knew that this little girl was going to emotionally affect A LOT of people. And that's good, way more than good actually. When you touch on topics like that, you're going to get a lot of emotions out of your viewers who can relate. I follow a confessions blog about Wreck-it Ralph, and let me tell you, there are *so many people* whose lives have felt better because of this girl's motivation to succeed despite all other's objections. I might not be able to relate, but when I read those confessions, I'm touched.
  Besides those two, I was pleasantly surprised by Sgt. Calhoun's character. Before I saw the movie, I thought she'd be your typical "Argh I'm a tough lady! Get out of my way everyone, I'm a hardcore first-person shooter!" But she was not that. In fact, from the point she enters Sugar Rush with Felix, I personally feel we see a really sensitive character hiding her emotions, save for a few moments. And I'm not just talking about the romance. I feel like we see fear in her sometimes. And I could say MANY things about Ralph, he is an AMAZING character, but to be honest I don't know what to say. Poor guy just wants to be good, but that will never happen to him 100%, but he will surely take comfort in the fact that he changed Vanellope's life for the better, a truly good deed.
  I am so sure no one was expecting King Candy to be Turbo. In fact, I was never sure whether he was good or bad until near the end. I mean, he seemed nice at the beginning, then when he ordered security to catch Vanellope I thought he was bad. But even after all that evil cackling and switching code around, I was flipped again when he told Ralph Vanellope would die if she became a racer (Cry Scene #1 for me, guys). He seemed so honest for some reason and I didn't think he was evil anymore. But of course we find out later that isn't true.
  Speaking of Cry Scene #1, here are my three other scenes I teared up at:
      Ralph wrecking Vanellope's cart. TOO MUCH. That's all I'll say.
      Ralph sacrificing himself for Vanellope and recited the Bad-Anon pledge.
      Ralph and Vanellope's goodbye hug, and then Ralph's monologue at the end.

So yeah. There were a lot of cliches (Felix and Calhoun, anybody? Granted I cringed in my seat when I first watched those scenes, but I got really attached to their pairing afterwards for some reason). Ralph getting his butt saved after it seems like he's gonna die was a cliche to me too, but I thought it was a cliche well needed. Overall this movie was amazing to me because of Ralph and Vanellope's story by far. Too much emotions when I think back on it. And the visuals were so amazing! ("The animation looks amazing!" like background character says lol) I really enjoyed all the character designs too, especially the ones in the Sugar Rush universe. Too much cute! And lastly, I liked the choice of songs they had. I never thought Skrillex would be able to fit in a Disney movie but it happened! Both musically and visually haha. Credits were SOOOO good, too, with Owl City. You know I love Owl City. Ha ha. Anyway, all this being said, this is my favorite animated movie this year by far. Probably even my favorite Disney movie this decade. I could say that Tangled is better, but this one just sticks in my mind and heart more. I'm buying this on Blu-Ray when it comes out. It's going to be one of those animated movies I hold on to for a long while, like how I am with How to Train Your Dragon and WALL-E. I just loved it so much.

TL;DR: Wreck-it Ralph is a visually and emotionally beautiful animated movie that surprisingly doesn't rely on its cameos to entertain its audience. It is filled with so many tear-jerkers and there should be at least one joke you will laugh your butt off at. This movie had everything I love about animation and will be one of my favorites for a long time.

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YEAH! So if you read all that (I'll be surprised if you did, lol, I just wanted to vent) and you've seen the movie as well, I would be more than happy to discuss it. I would love to see comments from others who've seen this movie and hear differing opinions. I realize this is a longass journal. I can't believe I wrote all that, it's even more than what I wrote about How to Train Your Dragon when I saw it! But I still love my dragons more, hehe.

HEY YOU KNOW WHAT I ALSO SAW THIS WEEK? Skyfall. It was amazing. Q was amazing. All those hacking skills. Yes. It was my first Bond film, and I'm impressed. I want to watch more!!!

MLP SEASON 3 OPENER TOO! You already knew I saw that, but I still gotta say, pretty good. Not as good as I'd hoped, but meh, still had its moments. I didn't like how King Sombra didn't have a lot of dialogue.