As the primary villain in the arcade game Fix-it Felix, Jr, Wreck-it Ralph (John C. Reilly) has spent his entire existence being a bad guy – but after more than 20 years of repeating the same routine day after day, he finds himself wishing for something different. Just once, Ralph wants to be the hero, and when Felix (Jack McBrayer) reports to work one morning to find Ralph nowhere in sight, it becomes clear that the big guy intends to chase his dream.
Ralph’s adventures take him from one game to the next, including a brief stop in the harrowing sci-fi shooter Hero’s Duty, where he encounters the no-nonsense, tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (Jane Lynch), and a trip to Candyland-esque racer Sugar Rush, where he forges an unlikely friendship with another outcast: Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), a “glitch” that wants nothing more than to prove to her peers that she’s got what it takes to compete.
Featuring a slew of cameos from famous gaming characters (many of them in a hilarious scene involving a support group for video game villains) and a plethora of inside jokes, as well as a surprisingly sweet and heartwarming story, Wreck-it Ralph is one of the best movies about gaming that Hollywood has produced yet, and while not directly based on a video game, Wreck-it Ralph is nonetheless a celebration of the gaming culture and the emotional attachment gamers feel toward their digital counterparts.