Studios Arena Presentation at the D23 Expo 2011
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The next film Lasseter presented was
Wreck-It Ralph. Set in the world of old-school 8-bit video games, Wreck-It Ralph
promises to reveal the behind-the-screen lives of video game characters.
Although Wreck-It Ralph is a bad guy, he longs for acceptance, and goes on an
odyssey to redeem himself.
Rather than present an early trailer or "sizzle reel," Lasseter instead offered
the first four-and-a-half minutes of the film, in a combination of animation,
story reels, and still images. The clip opened with a sequence from a typical
80s video arcade game, Fix-It Felix Jr. As a morose voice described the scene,
sad sack villain Wreck-It Ralph attacked the "Niceland Apts." building. Punching
holes in the faade and breaking out the windows, Ralph perched on the roof and
rained down bricks on the unwary below. A cartoon balloon filled the screen, as
the residents cried in unison, "Fix it Felix!"
On cue, Fix-It Felix Jr, arrived, carrying his hammer. The jaunty little
character quickly scrambled across the faade, nimbly dodging Ralph's shower of
bricks, hammering out repairs. He even found time to collect a pie from a
grateful apartment dweller, causing his helmet to glow and his speed to
increase. In no time at all, he was on the roof, flattening Ralph, and earning a
medal from the 8-bit residents of the Niceland Apts.
The morose narrator, we quickly realize, is Wreck-It Ralph himself. In a world
of heroes and villains, his destiny is to be defeated again and again by the
popular Fix-It Felix Jr. And why not, since Felix has that magical hammer, given
to him by his dad?
Storyboards detailed the next sequence, as the arcade moved through the decades,
newer games replacing old, finally bringing us up to the present day. Surrounded
by the latest in video games, Fix-It Felix Jr. still remains. After hours,
characters in the games are free to move about. Wreck-It Ralph makes his way to
Bad-Anon, where a circle of folding chairs in a drab room holds a group of
suspiciously familiar characters. To the crowd's delight, Bad-Anon turned out to
be a twelve-step program for classic video game villains. As the group held
hands, they promised each other to improve, one game at a time.
There was laughter and applause as the clip came to an end. Lasseter
acknowledged the warm reaction, saying he loved the idea behind Wreck-It Ralph.
To further explain the November, 2012 release, he introduced director Rich
Moore, of the Simpsons and Futurama.
Moore bounded onto the stage, clearly excited to share the further adventures of
Wreck-It Ralph. He explained that the characters in all the games could move
through cables, eventually meeting up at Game Central Station. From there, Ralph
was destined to take off on his adventure of a lifetime. Along the way he would
find himself in a first person shooter game with a hard bitten platoon fighting
alien bugs, as well as in a deceptively sweet looking racing game called Sugar
Rush.
Moore proudly announced his voice cast, calling them world-class comedy actors.
Academy Award nominee John C. Reilly was heard as Wreck-It Ralph. 30 Rock's Jack
McBrayer will be Fix-It Felix Jr. Jane Lynch of Glee plays Sgt. Calhoun, and
Sarah Silverman is Vanellope von Schweetz in Sugar Rush. Moore played a clip of
Jane Lynch barking out orders as Sgt. Calhoun. "I won't lie-I was frightened,"
Moore confided.
Rather than present any more clips, Moore instead brought Jack McBrayer and
Sarah Silverman out onto the stage. Silverman beamed, "I always wanted to go to
Anaheim, but not to Disneyland." She went on to say that she had a "love/hate"
relationship with Pixar. She hated that their movies made her feel so good, but
loved that they made her feel at all. When asked if he had ever dreamed of being
a voice in a Disney animated film, McBrayer admitted, "My own voice irritates
myself.