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'Wreck-It Ralph' video characters get their game on

USA TODAY's Brian Truitt gets the rundown on who's who in Disney's video-game-centric animated film 'Wreck-It Ralph' (opening Friday) from director Rich Moore. Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is the bad guy of the 'Fix-It Felix Jr.' game who leaves his surroundings to be a hero. Originally conceived as more of an animal like Donkey Kong, he instead became a pastiche of Ralph Kramden, Moore’s assorted bosses and the big apes of 'King Kong' and 'Mighty Joe Young.' “Everyone thought that they were bad but in experiencing them with another character, we find out that they really have this gentle heart to both of them,” Moore says. “If we were going to make the bad guy the hero of the story, he did have to be more than a cartoon character — that he be somebody who we actually care about and are rooting for.”
USA TODAY's Brian Truitt gets the rundown on who's who in Disney's video-game-centric animated film 'Wreck-It Ralph' (opening Friday) from director Rich Moore. Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) is the bad guy of the 'Fix-It Felix Jr.' game who leaves his surroundings to be a hero. Originally conceived as more of an animal like Donkey Kong, he instead became a pastiche of Ralph Kramden, Moore’s assorted bosses and the big apes of 'King Kong' and 'Mighty Joe Young.' “Everyone thought that they were bad but in experiencing them with another character, we find out that they really have this gentle heart to both of them,” Moore says. “If we were going to make the bad guy the hero of the story, he did have to be more than a cartoon character — that he be somebody who we actually care about and are rooting for.”
Disney
Ralph’s good-natured foil/friend Fix-It Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer) is a throwback to the 1970s Disney live-action films with characters played by the likes of Dean Jones and Kurt Russell, Moore says. “It’s an archetype you don’t see in movies so much anymore.” The squeaky clean Pollyanna good guy also happens to be the ultimate co-dependent. “With everything, he’s like, ‘I’ll fix it!’ Not just in the game but in life. He’s so nice, he can’t help himself.”
Ralph’s good-natured foil/friend Fix-It Felix Jr. (Jack McBrayer) is a throwback to the 1970s Disney live-action films with characters played by the likes of Dean Jones and Kurt Russell, Moore says. “It’s an archetype you don’t see in movies so much anymore.” The squeaky clean Pollyanna good guy also happens to be the ultimate co-dependent. “With everything, he’s like, ‘I’ll fix it!’ Not just in the game but in life. He’s so nice, he can’t help himself.”
Disney
The take-charge, tough-as-nails military woman Sergeant Calhoun (voiced by Jane Lynch) actually started as a man, but Moore and others found that to be too cliché and too much like characters seen in 'Call of Duty' and war games that served as inspiration for the in-movie world of 'Hero’s Duty.' “Losing the love of her life has made her cold and hard, and that’s why she’s so dedicated to eradicating Cy-Bugs,” Moore says. Luckily for her, she finds an unlikely romance.
The take-charge, tough-as-nails military woman Sergeant Calhoun (voiced by Jane Lynch) actually started as a man, but Moore and others found that to be too cliché and too much like characters seen in 'Call of Duty' and war games that served as inspiration for the in-movie world of 'Hero’s Duty.' “Losing the love of her life has made her cold and hard, and that’s why she’s so dedicated to eradicating Cy-Bugs,” Moore says. Luckily for her, she finds an unlikely romance.
Disney
It’s not a game but instead the actress who plays Vanellope von Schweetz, Sarah Silverman, that most informed the impish, innocent but totally inappropriate cart-racing kid who befriends Ralph in the candy-coated world of 'Sugar Rush.' When developing the story, Moore listened to the book-on-tape version of Silverman’s memoir 'The Bedwetter': “Just the way she would describe herself as a kid and the things she would do and her family life and things she thought about the world really cemented who the character was.”
It’s not a game but instead the actress who plays Vanellope von Schweetz, Sarah Silverman, that most informed the impish, innocent but totally inappropriate cart-racing kid who befriends Ralph in the candy-coated world of 'Sugar Rush.' When developing the story, Moore listened to the book-on-tape version of Silverman’s memoir 'The Bedwetter': “Just the way she would describe herself as a kid and the things she would do and her family life and things she thought about the world really cemented who the character was.”
Disney
King Candy, the mysterious ruler (Alan Tudyk) of 'Sugar Rush,' was born out of the Disney performances of Ed Wynn, from his voicing the Mad Hatter in the classic 'Alice in Wonderland' to the live-action Uncle Albert in 'Mary Poppins.' King Candy’s a living, breathing ‘toon embodiment of “those affable, goofy, crazy-uncle types that are very silly and very funny,” Moore says. “To me, he’s total Disney.”
King Candy, the mysterious ruler (Alan Tudyk) of 'Sugar Rush,' was born out of the Disney performances of Ed Wynn, from his voicing the Mad Hatter in the classic 'Alice in Wonderland' to the live-action Uncle Albert in 'Mary Poppins.' King Candy’s a living, breathing ‘toon embodiment of “those affable, goofy, crazy-uncle types that are very silly and very funny,” Moore says. “To me, he’s total Disney.”
Disney
Not only is Q*Bert, the little dude from the 1980s game of the same name, in 'Wreck-It Ralph' but so is his purple snake-y enemy Coily and the rest of the 'Q*Bert' gang. “It’s like working with Marlon Brando or Olivier. He’s a real classic,” says Moore, who grew up with the arcade character and expands upon his garbled 8-bit language. “It’s so mysterious and so weird, this armless orange ball with feet and a big snout jumping around on a pyramid and you’re supposed to change the color of the squares, with weird Hieronymus Bosch enemies chasing him around. As a kid, it really captured my attention and imagination.”
Not only is Q*Bert, the little dude from the 1980s game of the same name, in 'Wreck-It Ralph' but so is his purple snake-y enemy Coily and the rest of the 'Q*Bert' gang. “It’s like working with Marlon Brando or Olivier. He’s a real classic,” says Moore, who grew up with the arcade character and expands upon his garbled 8-bit language. “It’s so mysterious and so weird, this armless orange ball with feet and a big snout jumping around on a pyramid and you’re supposed to change the color of the squares, with weird Hieronymus Bosch enemies chasing him around. As a kid, it really captured my attention and imagination.”
Disney
A staple in the 'Street Fighter' game franchise, the muscular Zangief is a scene-stealer who gives Ralph a good piece of advice: “You are bad guy but this does not mean you are bad guy.” “We always loved how earnest he was, that we’re taking this fearsome-looking wrestler with the Mohawk and these patches of hair on his chest and his shins, and giving him this speech about being comfortable in his own skin,” Moore says. “He’s inherently funny, I don’t know what it is about him. It’s like describing how a sunset is beautiful.”
A staple in the 'Street Fighter' game franchise, the muscular Zangief is a scene-stealer who gives Ralph a good piece of advice: “You are bad guy but this does not mean you are bad guy.” “We always loved how earnest he was, that we’re taking this fearsome-looking wrestler with the Mohawk and these patches of hair on his chest and his shins, and giving him this speech about being comfortable in his own skin,” Moore says. “He’s inherently funny, I don’t know what it is about him. It’s like describing how a sunset is beautiful.”
Disney
Forget Inky, Winky and Blinky. Clyde is the 'Pac-Man' ghost with the most in 'Wreck-It Ralph' playing the leader of the bad-guy support group Ralph attends. “He’s so calm and relaxed and he’s got those big eyes and simple mouth,” Moore says. A neat little nod to the old game: Clyde still floats in that distinctive rectangular pattern above his chair while dishing out words of wisdom. “You can take the ghost out of the maze, but you can’t take the maze out of the ghost.”
Forget Inky, Winky and Blinky. Clyde is the 'Pac-Man' ghost with the most in 'Wreck-It Ralph' playing the leader of the bad-guy support group Ralph attends. “He’s so calm and relaxed and he’s got those big eyes and simple mouth,” Moore says. A neat little nod to the old game: Clyde still floats in that distinctive rectangular pattern above his chair while dishing out words of wisdom. “You can take the ghost out of the maze, but you can’t take the maze out of the ghost.”
Disney
Don’t worry if you have to look to Google to figure out who this powerful rhino man is — Moore plucked the demon god Neff from the 1988 Sega brawler 'Altered Beast' as part of his quest to appeal to all gamers. “I wanted to put in someone who was maybe a little more obscure than others,” the director says. “We didn’t want to round it out with just the big names.”
Don’t worry if you have to look to Google to figure out who this powerful rhino man is — Moore plucked the demon god Neff from the 1988 Sega brawler 'Altered Beast' as part of his quest to appeal to all gamers. “I wanted to put in someone who was maybe a little more obscure than others,” the director says. “We didn’t want to round it out with just the big names.”
Disney
Sonic, video games ’ most famous hedgehog, cameos in a scene that announces to characters — and the audience — that they don ’ t get extra lives when moving to other games. It ’ s an important story point, Moore says, so they needed a big name to drive it home. “ We thought, well, Sonic. If this was real life, it would have to be the stature of someone like Tom Cruise, and Sonic was the first one who came right to mind.
Sonic, video games’ most famous hedgehog, cameos in a scene that announces to characters — and the audience — that they don’t get extra lives when moving to other games. It’s an important story point, Moore says, so they needed a big name to drive it home. “We thought, well, Sonic. If this was real life, it would have to be the stature of someone like Tom Cruise, and Sonic was the first one who came right to mind.
Disney
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