FA+
Shop
Wreck It Ralph Hot take (not really)
7 years ago
If I can rant about something on a website supposedly no one is on anymore. Wreck-It-Ralph, its fine whatever, not as good as the first, that’s what you’ll hear……but what I want to rant about is this new trend of directors, voice actors, and producers appearing before a movie giving you an intro to it. They usually will face the audience directly and say something like, “hi, it was really hard to make this movie, it took many years and we hope you like it.” I’ve only seen and heard of it being done in Ralph, The Incredibles 2, Coco, and some Amy Schumer movie.
For decades movies had not done this and I’m assuming it was really hard to make those movies too. This is just my personal irrelevant opinion, so…
3 reasons why these “we hope you like our movie” bits at the beginning make me feel icky.
1. It makes me feel guilty if I don’t like it. When they say “I hope you enjoy our movie” I can hear the ringing of the anticipated and potential attachment of “because if you don’t…” right so they can totally not intend for that, but what happens if you don’t like the movie, you go back to remembering those few guys at the beginning who served you this entertainment with a smile and familiarity, to only then feel like an unappreciative jerk who just didn’t like all the hard work and years that went into this. They can bow and talk about the movie and the work behind the curtains in various interviews and social media, but when you go out of the way to start talking about the movie before it screens, it’s like they are preparing you for what is about to happen, which brings me to my next point.
2. Immersion. With Wreck-It-ralph, they did not just simply say “we hope you like-“, they also starting going into a little exposition about what the movie is about before we even see the movie. The entire time I thought, “wait, you are stopping the movie from beginning so you can tell us what we are about to see? Why don’t you just play it already?” It gives a sense of lack of confidence in your project if you have to tell us to like it rather than just letting us consume it and like it on its own merits. It comes off as….a little insecure. It stops us from beginning our journey that you worked so hard on, to let us know, that it’s just a movie and that these real human faces are behind it. It takes you out of the immersion when someone is telling you “it’s just a movie” “they’re not dead, they’re just acting” “that’s not blood, honey, that’s just corn-syrup”.
3. Pre-credits. It feels like a pre-encore with identifiable faces. It’s like an encore for these specific people that appear visually at the beginning. Even though they are “representing” the rest of the crew, their faces are ultimately the ones you get to see, rather than being lumped up at the end credits.
Anyways it is not like it ruins the movies or changes how you’ll view it, or even remember it after the movie has started, but it gives me a feeling they are done as a response to pressure given by not living up to some kind of expectation. With the Incredibles, people were anticipating a sequel for so long, for Ralph, well, it was a critically acclaimed movie. To me, it’s just starting to become a sign of compensation for something they are aware of, like, “guys, it’s not gonna be as good as the first, but we hope you like it anyways”.
Oh, side note, someone made a point: Wreck it Ralph is a videogame movie, so, no Steam? Flash games? MMOs? IGN? But…instead, viral youtube videos like screaming goat and flossing, oh but, Fortnite…
And also, Youtubers make appearances, but I don’t think any of them are even Lets Players…..why?
For example, could you imagine GameGrumps making an appearance? I know why they wouldn't choose Pewdipie, but is Markiplier not a safe choice? he has the numbers.
For decades movies had not done this and I’m assuming it was really hard to make those movies too. This is just my personal irrelevant opinion, so…
3 reasons why these “we hope you like our movie” bits at the beginning make me feel icky.
1. It makes me feel guilty if I don’t like it. When they say “I hope you enjoy our movie” I can hear the ringing of the anticipated and potential attachment of “because if you don’t…” right so they can totally not intend for that, but what happens if you don’t like the movie, you go back to remembering those few guys at the beginning who served you this entertainment with a smile and familiarity, to only then feel like an unappreciative jerk who just didn’t like all the hard work and years that went into this. They can bow and talk about the movie and the work behind the curtains in various interviews and social media, but when you go out of the way to start talking about the movie before it screens, it’s like they are preparing you for what is about to happen, which brings me to my next point.
2. Immersion. With Wreck-It-ralph, they did not just simply say “we hope you like-“, they also starting going into a little exposition about what the movie is about before we even see the movie. The entire time I thought, “wait, you are stopping the movie from beginning so you can tell us what we are about to see? Why don’t you just play it already?” It gives a sense of lack of confidence in your project if you have to tell us to like it rather than just letting us consume it and like it on its own merits. It comes off as….a little insecure. It stops us from beginning our journey that you worked so hard on, to let us know, that it’s just a movie and that these real human faces are behind it. It takes you out of the immersion when someone is telling you “it’s just a movie” “they’re not dead, they’re just acting” “that’s not blood, honey, that’s just corn-syrup”.
3. Pre-credits. It feels like a pre-encore with identifiable faces. It’s like an encore for these specific people that appear visually at the beginning. Even though they are “representing” the rest of the crew, their faces are ultimately the ones you get to see, rather than being lumped up at the end credits.
Anyways it is not like it ruins the movies or changes how you’ll view it, or even remember it after the movie has started, but it gives me a feeling they are done as a response to pressure given by not living up to some kind of expectation. With the Incredibles, people were anticipating a sequel for so long, for Ralph, well, it was a critically acclaimed movie. To me, it’s just starting to become a sign of compensation for something they are aware of, like, “guys, it’s not gonna be as good as the first, but we hope you like it anyways”.
Oh, side note, someone made a point: Wreck it Ralph is a videogame movie, so, no Steam? Flash games? MMOs? IGN? But…instead, viral youtube videos like screaming goat and flossing, oh but, Fortnite…
And also, Youtubers make appearances, but I don’t think any of them are even Lets Players…..why?
For example, could you imagine GameGrumps making an appearance? I know why they wouldn't choose Pewdipie, but is Markiplier not a safe choice? he has the numbers.
I don't owe Disney my attention. I'd rather go re-watch ReBoot again than this film.
people chuckled at other parts, mind you, but no one knew what it was going to be about except "Ralph wrecks the internet"....sooo for the story??? as compared to what happend in the first one???
i just think it would have been better with the "internet game life" approach, not just........"the internet" approach......it just helps all the puzzle pieces fall in better, rather than...changing them so they fit better....
As for the 'we hope you like our movie' bit, I didn't see it in theaters but I own Coco on BlueRay and I don't recall ever seeing that. Was it just a thing in the theatrical release?
https://twitter.com/wreckitralph/st.....39265882353664
i had not seen this before the movie so......if you based your experience on these, then i guess i can see why it turned out better than one would think....but these were in the actual movie and not just social media marketing...
it was quick but what they are relevant to (Ralph becoming a viral SENSATION) is a big part of the movie.
I wish Logan Paul appeared so i can feel like i can justify saying, it was like the Emoji Movie and Youtube Rewind had a baby at the Disney hospital.
It had a good message about friendship but it feels like they just walked in, told us the message and then dropped disney merch all over the floor and then walked out.
Just go to a random moral lesson generator, pick one you like, wrap it up in a franchise everyone likes, you have a week. i want an outline, synopsis, maybe a list of all the characters from whatever franchise you want to use. main characters, supporting characters are optional. Include pictures, more material is not necessary but it will help.
i read they made this movie in two years, which makes sense now, because the entire time the story felt, rushed, but i couldn't tell if it was just me, but after reading that, yeah it made sense to me. i dont even think people were asking for a second one, they just all loved the first one.