Ratchet and Clank

Starring: James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward, Rosario Dawson, Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Dean Redman, Armin Shimerman, Sylvester Stallone, Alessandro Juliani and more.

Directed by: Kevin Munroe and Jericca Cleland Written by: T.J. Fixman, Kevin Munroe, and Gerry Swallow Cinematography by: Anthony Di Ninno Music by: Evan Wise

Premise: Ratchet has admired the Galactic Rangers since he was little. So when a chance pops up to try and join during a recruitment campaign in his backwater world, he’s eager to go. His carefree past, however, proves a giant stumbling block. At least until he makes the unexpected acquaintance of a small defective robot he calls Clank. Suddenly, Ratchet finds himself dumped in the path of one of the biggest threats to the Galaxy and another chance at his dream. (Rated PG)

Review:

1.Voice Acting – Total Thumbs Up: Loads of great voice talents for this one. Loved Paul Giamatti as Chairman Drek – so ruthless and so dense. Heh heh. Armin Shimerman brought some nice lunacy into evil Dr. Nefarious. Sylvester Stallone was too fun as Victor Von Ion. Rosario Dawson did great as Elaris – just a touch of manic in there for flavor. Jim Ward, James Arnold Taylor, and David Kaye meshed quite nicely together as our three principal characters!

2. Artwork/Animation – Total Thumbs Up: We saw the film in 3D – CGI always converts quite nicely to the medium. They had some cool 3D moments and used it to good effect. The space shots were lovely! The 3D also made for some fast moves down a narrow canyon.

The animation was quite detailed and came across very well. Ratchet’s fur looked fluffy and soft while Captain Qwark looked as superficial as his personality. 😛 Elaris’ horns/hair were very reminiscent of Galaxy Quest. 🙂

Some lovely color palettes used to good effect especially for subtext. Blues and Greens were for good, reds and oranges for bad. This placed Ratchet somewhat in the middle before joining the Rangers, which was rather apt with his tendency to get into trouble.

3. Plot/Story – Thumbs Up: The Ratchet and Clank film is based on a PlayStation game from 2003 (and has had several sequel games). As such, the film is filled with tons of lovely snark. They even do a countdown at the beginning to the evil speech. 😛

Several themes are used/explored in the film – belonging, responsibility, big dreams, that friendship runs both ways, as well as the fickleness of fame and addiction to it. Best of all, the little biases that can cause so much harm to others.

The plot is pretty straight forward with a few small surprises and lots of subtext and snark. They even make fun of the Wilhelm scream. lol. Chairman Drek was both brilliant and dense – and his minions are social media fools! lol. Dr. Nefarious is so insane he actually made mad science work! (Loved the Sheep-i-nator!)

A couple of items are a little far fetched (rust takes time guys!), but it is enough fun it’s easily overlooked.

Once the film shows the voice actors names at the end, there’s a bit more (and more snark) then one last bit after all the credits. Well worth it. Heh heh.

Conclusion: Ratchet and Clank is a fun ride full of snark and cute little moments. The lovely animation made the cool gadgets, guns, spaceships and space look awesome.

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 (Hubby’s Rating: Worth Full Price of Admission)