Lessons From Wreck-it Ralph

Spirit, Heart and I had the opportunity to catch a matinee this weekend, and Spirit chose Wreck-It Ralph. Disney is finally figuring out what Pixar has known all along, that the technology is no good to anyone without a great story. And Wreck-It Ralph is a great story. This isn't a movie review, although the film deserves all the accolades it is receiving. This is about a Dad that saw many identifiable characteristics between himself and the characters on the screen. (Spoiler Alert: If you haven't seen the film I may ruin some stuff for you.) Ralph is a guy that is no longer comfortable in the role to which he has been programmed. He finds himself questioning who he is and what he really wants out of life. This leads him to "game jump." To try and find his place in the world and the rewards he thinks it will bring. He achieves what he thinks is success and ends up crashing into another game where he meets the girl on his shoulder in the picture. Venelope is a sassy little girl that has learned some hard lessons about how people treat others that they feel are different. The other characters in her game have ostracized her for her differences, and excluded her from racing in the nightly tournament that decides the mornings players for the people in the arcade.

Ralph, at first, is more concerned with taking proof to those in his old game of his achievements than he is with helping Venelope. But once he bears witness to the injustices being leveled against her he decides to help. Venelope is a "glitch" something went wrong with her programming and she has a hard time holding herself together when she gets overly excited or emotional. (You're starting to see the parallels now aren't you.) She is ridiculed for her being a "glitch" and has to find respite inside a mountain, where she makes the best with what she has. Without giving anymore of the film away let's say in typical Disney/Pixar fashion Ralph and Venelope combine their efforts to save the day, all while learning that who you are is more about what is on the inside and not how others treat you. Venelope uses her "special abilities" to save the day, and her differences are what help to save everyone in her game.

Now, why would a movie like that leave Heart and I in tears you ask...We are the parents of a "glitch." He has his own special abilities, and his differences are at times invisible, but when he gets overly excited or emotional, those differences become obvious. Yet, if we look carefully, and help him to understand those abilities he may just save us all.

I, on the other hand, identified with Ralph. Once he got to looking around he was left to wonder, "Is this it?" Is this the programmers plan? I've even considered venturing out to prove to the world that I am more than what I have been programmed to be. Yet, like Ralph, I have realized that helping others and adjusting the world I have been given will give me more satisfaction than any other "medal" I could receive anywhere else. My little "glitch"reminds me that, although I may not see the code some days, the programmer has a plan for all of us, and if we stick to it, and make the best of what we have, happiness will surely follow.

Do answers to prayers come at the movies?

For me they did.

Thanks Ralph