Tonight we went and saw an 'advance' screening of Wreck-It Ralph. I put 'advance' in quotes because it was released in the U.S. a month and a half ago, so a screening five days before the Australian release is hardly 'advance' in today's connected world. Insert here my usual disgust of these archaic practises and so forth.

In short, the movie was fantastic.

Following the disappointment of this year's Disney/Pixar release that was the well below-par Brave, this movie as a purely Disney release hit more of the Pixar heights in all aspects. I'm not sure if Disney has moved a lot of the people that was at Pixar into its own division, but this movie felt far more like a Pixar movie than Brave ever did.

Wreck-It Ralph was even preceded by a very Pixar-esque short, titled Paperman (pictured below). Even the short, although visually very Disney in its animation, was definitely Pixar-inspired at its heart in terms of the plot and its wonderfully wordless execution.

I should say though that I'm pretty much the sweet-spot of the target audience for Wreck-It Ralph. The whole plot, visuals, sound effects, and music is based around video games. As a child of the 80s who has grown up through the old-school arcade table-top classics like Pacman, through 90s Street Fighter and Mario, all through to the current day consoles and shooters, I got all the jokes and references that most older parents and/or younger children would probably miss.

Generally, if you don't have the history or appreciation of video games, the jokes and plot of this movie might fly a bit over your head. Also, the plot might be a bit tough to follow for little kids, but I'm sure the great visuals and quirky characters would keep them entertained nonetheless.

Wreck-It Ralph is up there with the best of the year for me, and following us watching the other big Boxing Day releases, we'll see where it fits in near the top of my customary annual 'Best and Worst' post.