We all know video game movies are on the whole bad, but we’ve also discussed how we can make them good as well. After all, pretty much every other media form has been able to transition onto the big screen with some success, why shouldn’t video games which are becoming even more rich in story and lore be able too? Some have suggested that making more cartoons of video games might work as in animated form as the heightened sense of reality would be able to transition more easily. It sort of worked for Angry Birds, so can it work for Ratchet and Clank?
Ratchet (James Arnold Taylor, Star Wars: The Clone Wars) is a mechanic who dreams of joining the Galactic Rangers. After initially being rejected for being too small, he ends up teaming up with runaway robot Clank (David Kaye, Up) to fend off an invasion led by Chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti, Sideways) and is named as an honorary ranger. Ratchet still has a job to do though as he needs to stop Drek continuing his evil plans.
If there is one benefit to the fact this film is animated rather than live action, like was planned at one point, is that this looks exactly like the video game which it is based on, though bare in mind for the rest of the review that I have not played any of the games. However the con is that it also looks exactly like the video game. Let me explain. While the PS4 can do stunning graphics, the animation is still not as good as what a movie can provide when they are on form. And so this film doesn’t look as beautiful or detailed as some other animated films this year like Zootopia. Heck, while there are some nice colours in this film, they don’t pop like they do in The Angry Birds Movie.
So it’s already one step down before we get to the plot itself, which is as clichéd as it comes. Every beat is familiar. Protagonist wants more than his normal life, protagonist then initially misses out on his dream before doing some amazing to eventually achieve his dream, protagonist initially struggles before eventually proving himself, protagonist suffers setback and questions everything before bouncing back for the conclusion. We’ve seen all this plot beats in a million other animated films, and you’ve seen them done better with more energy and conviction. In terms of the plot, there’s nothing original.
And heck, there’s nothing original or interesting in the characters either. Ratchet is your typical dreamer, he wants more and gets it, blah de blah. He’s basically Aladdin but without the charm and flaws that makes a character interesting. Captain Qwark (Jim Ward, Wall.E) is basically Zapp Brannigan from Futurama but he isn’t lovably arrogant, he’s just plain arrogant and any time the film tries to play it for laughs, it fails but we’ll get to that. Then there is Clank and the female ranger Elaris (Rosario Dawson, Sin City) who have no personality or character traits. Seriously, none. They will make no impact on you and just spout exposition and explanations for other characters. Considering Clank is half of the bloody title, you could have given him something can’t you?
And the biggest issue which makes this film a complete slog to sit through is the fact it’s not plain funny. Every joke is lazy, they are the first joke a writers room can come up with and on this occasion, the writers room decided that they wanted to bunk off early and go to the pub. After all, no one would care about the humour in a Ratchet and Clank movie right? Not like anyone has any attachment to this franchise and wants to see it done justice on the big screen. The lowlight is when the villain Dr. Nefarious (Armin Shimerman, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine) has an argument with Qwark about the delivery of a joke and considering no one in this film has been able to deliver a line in this film, it’s rubbing salt into the wound.
I am trying to find some sort of positive to this film, it makes me feel a little better after going through all of this, but I’m really struggling. It might be able to keep very little children quiet as they won’t have seen this plot or the jokes a million times before and the film is at least mercifully short, so the pain won’t last that long, though it feels about double the length it actually is. But even little kids deserve better, especially when Pixar and Disney are providing such top quality films at the moment.
When the guys behind a film based on a mobile game that everyone has forgot about you have put more effort in than you, you are in serious trouble. Yet everything about Ratchet and Clank screams of a group of people just trying to get a movie out as quick as possible to coincide with the release of a video game with no care to the actual quality, only the fact people might actually come to watch it just because of the name on the poster. It’s almost as if the video game industry has lashed out at Hollywood for all the cash-in movie tie-in video games by inflicting the same pain on us. Alright guys, lesson learnt, we’ll be better now, we promise, just no more films like this!
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