Director: Kevin Munroe, Jericca Cleland
Distributor: eOne
Duration: 91 minutes
Ratchet & Clank (DVD) – Movie Review
When Ratchet, the Lombax, and his quirky robotic friend Clank were unveiled to the world in 2002, they pretty much became an instant hit, which thickened Sony’s exclusive portfolio. Nonetheless, as with many longer running franchises, developers often try to reinvent them, or after long pauses, reboot them. Ratchet & Clank received the reboot treatment, and while the game proved to be a rather huge success, the movie, which is based on the game’s story was a bit of a bust when it was still aired in the theatre. While we think the movie deserved a bit more credit, we can’t completely disagree with some of the comments that were thrown around, discrediting this animated flick.
The universe of Ratchet & Clank holds many planets, many filled with different species, but all come together as one. While all the good guys come in different sizes and shapes, the evil ones do as well, and this brings us to chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti), one of the few Blargs in the universe, who were without a proper planet of their own. Now, however, Drek has a plan, namely he will use his contraption, the ‘deplanetizer’ , developed by the evil Dr. Nefarious (Armin Shimerman), to blow up planets and gather pieces from them, to create his own utopian planet. Even though he first targeted uninhabited planets, Drek now casts his gaze upon densely populated planets, as they hold some of the most beautiful regions in the entire universe.
When the Galactic Rangers feel like they have come to a standstill in this case, they decide to start hiring extra hands, or at least one pair of extra hands. Ratchet (James Arnold Taylor) , a mechanic that works in the middle of nowhere, is a massive fan of the Galactic Rangers, and actually hopes to become a hero one day. Now that his idols are recruiting, he finally has the chance to meet captain Qwark (Jim Ward), his idol, and the other rangers, and perhaps become one of them as well. Sadly, before he knows it, he gets turned down because of his criminal record and his rather weak appearance.
Meanwhile, in Nefarious’ lair, the evil Dr. and Drek are building their personal robot army to dispose of the Galactic Rangers once and for all, preventing them to meddle with the deplanetizer. Nonetheless, there is a small hiccup in their master plan, namely the birth of a tiny defect robot soldier, who will later be called Clank (David Kaye). Unsullied, even with his hostile programming, Clank wants to warn the Galactic Rangers, and thus tries to escape the clutches of his evil masters. Barely keeping his tin hide intact, he manages to escape but crashes close to Ratchet, who might finally get his second chance with the Galactic Rangers.
Even though this movie isn’t truly that long, the pace is rather slow, in order to keep things simple for children. The latter will probably disappoint a more adult audience, as things remain very simplistic, and you’ll have to make do with only a handful of adult jokes before the credits start to roll. Nonetheless, the information given, alternated with actions scenes provide a fairly pleasant experience. That being said, older fans might have to toss some of their original sentiments for the genre aside, to fully appreciate the flow of this movie.
While the story might not be all that captivating for longtime fans, the voice acting is pretty much spot-on. Even though many actors and actresses of the main cast are more known from their voice acting roles, it’s still fun to see Sylvester Stallone step out of his common action flick routine, and voice in this children’s movie, even if he ends up voicing a bulky revved up robot. Also, recognizing Paul Giamatti’s voice, when playing the villainous chairman Drek adds another layer to the movie, pleasing some of the more adult fans. All in all, the voice acting might be the most redeeming factor in pleasing an older audience.
Surprisingly, the DVD release of Ratchet & Clank comes with no special features whatsoever. It’s quite peculiar to have a game and a movie releasing at nearly the same time (when the movie was released in theatres) but have no extras revolving around the game, its production or the cooperation of movie and game, on the physical release of the film. While the movie is decent on its own, it’s a missed opportunity not having anything that could promote Sony’s other product or something that revolves around the reboot of the franchise.
Conclusion
Ratchet & Clank is a fun movie, probably more for younger fans, as this title feels directed towards children, instead of fans that bought the first game in 2002. Nonetheless, as a family flick this movie holds its own fairly well, but compared to juggernauts like Disney or Dreamworks, this movie is not that memorable at all. Fun for an evening, or if you own the game and have a few young children waddling about. It’s only a shame that the physical edition comes with no extras at all.
Ratchet & Clank (DVD) - Movie Review,
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