253. Wreck-It-Ralph

Title: Wreck-It-Ralph
Genre: Animation, Adventure, Comedy
Year: 2012

Summary: When Litwak's Arcade closes at night, the various video game characters leave their normal in-game roles and are free to travel to other games through the power cables. The characters within the game Fix-It Felix, Jr. celebrate its titular hero, but loathe the game's villain character, Wreck-It Ralph. At a support group for video game villains, Ralph reveals his desire to stop being a villain. Ostracized from his game's 30th anniversary celebration, Ralph believes he can be accepted by earning a medal, just as Felix does in their game. He learns he can find one in the first person rail shooter Hero's Duty and enters the game, collecting the medal between game sessions. In the process, he accidentally hatches a Cy-Bug, one of the game's enemies. The Cy-Bug clings to Ralph as he stumbles into an escape pod that launches him out of the game. Meanwhile, with Ralph missing, a player reports Fix-It Felix, Jr. to arcade staff as malfunctioning. Broken games will be unplugged, leaving their characters homeless, so Felix leaves to retrieve Ralph.

Ralph crash-lands in Sugar Rush, a candy themed kart-racing game. As he searches for his medal, he meets Vanellope von Schweetz, a glitchy character who takes the medal and uses it to buy entry into a race that determines the game's roster. The other racers, including the game's ruler King Candy, refuse to let Vanellope participate, claiming she was never intended to be part of the game. Sympathetic toward the friendless Vanellope, Ralph helps build her a kart and teaches her how to drive. Meanwhile, Felix enters Hero's Duty and encounters Sergeant Calhoun, the game's no-nonsense leader, who warns that Cy-Bugs will destroy any game they enter. As the pair search for Ralph and the Cy-Bug in Sugar Rush, they separate when Felix, enamored with Calhoun, inadvertently reminds her of her late fiancé. Calhoun finds an enormous collection of Cy-Bug eggs underground, and Felix becomes imprisoned in King Candy's castle.

Desperate, King Candy hacks the game's code to retrieve Ralph's medal and offers it to Ralph, falsely claiming that letting Vanellope race would be disastrous for both her and the game. Fearing for Vanellope's safety, Ralph wrecks her kart and returns to his own game, but finds everyone has fled, expecting the game to be unplugged in the morning. Ralph then notices Vanellope's image on the Sugar Rush cabinet and realizes she is an intended part of the game. Ralph returns to Sugar Rush, rescues Felix and Vanellope, and has Felix fix the wrecked kart. With the race ongoing, the Cy-Bugs attack. When Vanellope catches up to King Candy, her glitching reveals that he is actually Turbo, a character from an older racing game who sabotaged a newer game out of jealousy, causing both to be unplugged. Vanellope escapes from Turbo, who is consumed by a Cy-Bug.

The populace flees Sugar Rush, but Vanellope cannot pass through the exit because she is a glitch. Calhoun remarks that the game cannot be saved without a beacon to attract and kill the Cy-Bugs. Ralph heads to Diet Cola Mountain, an unfinished game track, where he plans on collapsing its Mentos stalactites into its cola pool to cause a blinding eruption to use as a beacon. Before he can finish, Turbo, merged with the Cy-Bug that had consumed him, carries Ralph into the sky. Ralph breaks free and dives toward the mountain, intending to sacrifice himself to start the eruption on impact. Vanellope uses her glitching to save Ralph, and the eruption draws Turbo and the Cy-Bugs to their destruction. Vanellope crosses the finish line, restoring her memory and status as Princess Vanellope, the game's ruler and lead character. Felix and Ralph return to their game in time to save it from being unplugged. Calhoun and Felix marry, and the characters of Fix-It Felix, Jr. gain a new respect for Ralph.