Showing posts with label Blue Meanie. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Blue Meanie. Show all posts

Thursday, May 16, 2013

THEORY CORNER REVIEWS "WRECK-IT RALPH"



Or rather I'll comment on the villain in that movie, King Candy. First, a disclaimer: I've only seen the first half of "Wreck-it Ralph" so I'm in no position to judge the entire film. King Candy (above) didn't appear til the second half, and I've only seen the character in YouTube fragments like the one above.



Anyway, Candy doesn't seem destined to be one of the great screen villains. He has an appealing character design, and some of his animation is nicely done, even so.....I can't understand why the filmmakers didn't come up with a stronger bad guy. Some good people worked on this film so the absence is hard to explain.



My guess is that the filmmakers were seduced by the nuanced acting possibilities presented by Ralph so they gave him all the screen time. I have to admit that it was hard to take my eyes off Ralph. He reminds me of the gentle giant in the Disney version of Jack and the Beanstalk. I love that giant, but.....BUT.....he was the villain in that story and that's where the most artful nuances belong in animated dramas....in the villain, not the hero.



While we're on the subject of villains I'll mention that My two favorite favorite Disney villains were the witch in Snow White and Captain Hook. Hook was an egotistical fop who was alternately silver-tongued, and over-the-top maniacal. You can get good set pieces with a character like that. I'm guessing that he was the inspiration for my favorite modern animated feature villain, The Blue Meanie.

The Meanie (above) would have been a perfect fit for Wreck-it Ralph. He was funny and imaginative, and the audience would have had fun impersonating him. He was a terrific counterpoint for the laid-back Beatles and might have set off the partially laid-back Ralph as well.

But I'm not suggesting that the Ralph crew should have stolen the Blue Meanie. He's been done. I bring him up because he illustrates what the best animated villains do...they provoke the audience to talk about them in the office and the schoolyard the next day. I don't know about you but I was imitating the Meanie for years after I first saw him. Ditto Darth Vader.


Come to think of it, I'm still imitating Hook.