Ratchet & Clank

Ratchet & Clank, based on a long-running series of video games for the Sony Playstation, is an uninspired animated feature for kids that almost seems to be made to be forgotten.  While the character designs and animation are not the worst I have seen and do seem in line with the look of the games, they still come across as cheap and chintzy, as does the script itself, which sounds like a rough draft that got recorded before it could be fleshed out.  With Disney's live action Jungle Book currently dominating the box office, and Marvel's Captain America: Civil War just one week away as of this writing, I doubt this will be in theaters long enough for anyone to notice.

The original video games, many of which I have actually played, are well known for their self-referential humor and fast-paced action.  The movie does try to recreate these attributes, but it falls completely flat here.  I never laughed once, which was a big surprise to me, since the games have made me laugh numerous times.  One of the film's writers has actually worked on the scripts for the games, but his contributions must have been limited, or he was shouted down by the other credited screenwriters, including co-director Kevin Munroe (2007's equally forgettable CG Ninja Turtle film).  As for the action, it's frantic and colorful, but never manages to actually excite.  Everything has this very flat tone to it, so the movie never generates any real interest in the audience.  We're simply watching a bunch of CG puppets we care nothing about, engage in space battles that seem endless and kind of pointless.

The plot, more or less, tells the story of how a cat-like alien named Ratchet (voice by James Arnold Taylor) and a tiny robot named Clank (David Kaye) became intergalactic heroes.  Ratchet starts the film off as a kind of ship mechanic, working for a big, friendly alien named Grimroth (John Goodman), who acts as his father figure.  Ratchet has big dreams of exploring other planets, and particularly of joining his favorite heroes, the Galactic Rangers, who keep the galaxy safe.  The Galactic Rangers are led by the dimwitted and egotistical superhero Captain Qwark (Jim Ward), whom Ratchet idolizes.  One day, a spaceship crashes nearby Ratchet's garage, and when he explores the wreckage, he finds a small robot named Clank.  The little guy informs Ratchet that he must find the Galactic Rangers, as the universe itself is in peril.

Turns out that Clank was originally designed to be a warrior robot as part of a growing army of the evil Chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti), an alien who's been going around blowing up various planets so that he can design his own perfect world from the bits and pieces of the existing worlds that he blows up.  Since Clank is small, weak and not very intimidating, he was seen as a defect by the mad scientist who works for Drek and created him, Dr. Nefarious (Armin Shimerman).  Clank managed to escape from Drek's ship, and must now warn the Galactic Rangers of his plans.  Ratchet and Clank team up to find the Rangers, and even join up with them to stop Drek.  What follows is a lot of repetitive non-stop action that is more exhausting than fun, and a tacked on message about the value of friendship that doesn't resonate, because the characters come across as being about as interesting as cardboard cutouts.

It's amazing that the Ratchet & Clank movie misses one of the key aspects that makes the games so enjoyable - the relationship between the two main characters.  Not only do the heroes not come across as being as interesting here as they are in the games, but they barely interact with each other, and maybe get about 20 minutes of screentime together.  Instead, the plot seems to drag the lead characters from one action sequence after another, giving them very little time to engage in dialogue or building their personalities.  Speaking of the narrative, there's little lead in to events.  Things just seem to happen, and major events (such as one of the Galactic Rangers betraying the group and joining up with Drek) often have no consequence or weight as they should, because the script treats them in such an off-handed way.  The filmmakers seem to realize this, so they throw in a lot of sarcastic humor that points out and pokes fun at the cliches in the plot.  But, rather than be funny, this trait generally makes the movie obnoxious.

You just get a sense that nobody was really invested in making this.  The voice cast, which includes a mix of actors from the original games, and some celebrities in smaller roles such as Rosario Dawson, Bella Thorne and Sylvester Stallone, often come across as if they are cashing a paycheck.  The one performance that does stand out is Jim Ward as the pompous Captain Qwark, but I think the movie relies on the character a bit too much, and not enough on building the relationship between the two heroes and making them interesting.  There's just something rushed and unfinished about the whole project.  Even the script doesn't sound like it was completed, and probably should have had quite a few more rewrites in order to flesh out the personality and the humor.  This is a total cash grab, meant to tie into the latest video game (which came out a few weeks ago), and it shows.

We're currently enjoying what could largely be considered a golden age for animated films, with a lot of the stuff coming out being smart, funny and able to be enjoyed by kids and adults.  When something like Ratchet & Clank comes along, it feels all the more cheap and desperate.  I really do think that a great movie could be made about these characters.  In fact, I know so.  But it would take time and effort that the filmmakers obviously did not have.

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