By Ratchet & Clank is the epitome of a film that doesn’t do anything wrong, but that doesn’t make it right. I suppose I should start by saying that I have not kept up with the games this movie is based on. I played the original and sequel when they first arrived on the Playstation 2, but since then have fallen off. If that invalidates my review for you then you should probably stop reading, though it really shouldn’t seeing as the film’s relation to the game amounts to a few inside jokes and a lamb.
What I do remember from the games was that on top of some fantastic gameplay they had a sharp sense of humor and great interplay between the titular characters. It’s possible I’ve got some rose tinted glasses on there, but it’s how I remember it.
Ratchet & Clank the movie tries to recapture the game’s feel almost exactly. The problem is what made for great dialog in a videogame in 2002 makes for cliche in the midst of an animation renaissance in 2016.
Ratchet & Clank
Directors: Jericca Cleland and Kevin Munroe
Rated: PG
Release Date: April 29, 2016
There’s nothing really wrong with Ratchet & Clank. It’s a perfectly standard set up that pulls from all your other favorite science-fiction classics. Ratchet (James Arnold Taylor) is a Lombax mechanic on a remote desert planet who dreams of being like his hero, Captain Qwark (Jim Ward), but when tryouts for Qwark’s team of heroes roll around he’s laughed out of the building by the man himself. Luckily for him Clank (David Kaye) has just escaped from the evil Chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti) and Dr. Nefarious (Armin Shimerman), who have a dastardly plan to blow up some planets and make a new one. Due to a crash landing Clank meets Ratchet, the two become friends and adventure ensues all culminating in that oh-so traditional children’s film lesson that you can be whatever you want with the support of friends and a wide array of weaponry.
There is not really much more to it. You can insert almost every standard joke you’ve come to expect from tongue-in-cheek children’s films and then add a few references to the game. They actually really under utilize the latter. For a game that’s known for its funky and fun weapons the movie barely plays around with them. There is the expected montage of weapon use, but from there on out most of the action could rely on the basic blaster. Maybe that’s a super meta commentary the directors had about the game’s gameplay, but I seriously doubt it.
That’s not the only opportunity missed. One of the mainstays of the games (or the first two at least) was the great dynamic between the excitable Ratchet and the reserved Clank. The film barely touches this. We have to be introduced to the characters separately, of course, but once they’re together the action keeps tearing them apart. Their dynamic is sidelined in favor of more Captain Qwark and the Galactic Rangers. This isn’t all bad as Qwark has some of the funniest lines, but you still feel like the movie is more about Ratchet on his own than his friendship with Clank.
However, judging a movie for what it is not, especially a children’s movie, is a bit unfair. Ratchet & Clank does move along at a perfectly good clip and the plot holes are all within acceptable range for the target audience. There is absolutely nothing wrong with the sight gags, which kids will most likely love, and the screenplay puts in enough jokes to keep any parent relatively entertained even if you’ve heard almost every one before. This isn’t a movie that’s out to top Pixar, but it will stand with your more basic Dreamworks animations any day.
The animation itself is good too, though nothing stellar. Having just come off the revolutionary The Jungle Book my eye might be a bit jaded, but just as there’s nothing that will wow you in terms of animation there’s also nothing that’s going to put you off. It’s just middle of the road throughout as with the rest of the film.
That goes for the voice acting as well, which was very clearly taken more seriously by some. The filmmakers brought in the game’s voices for Ratchet, Clank and Captain Qwark and it shows. The actors’ performances stand out among phoned in turns from the “name” actors, especially John Goodman who sounds like he wasn’t quite sure what movie he was reading for the entire time. Thankfully those roles are smaller in scale and never bad enough to break the film, just to keep it at its constant level of acceptability.
No one was really expecting stellar things out of Ratchet & Clank and if you go in with that mindset you’re going to come out having definitely seen a movie that fit it. I can’t see hardcore fans of the franchise coming out of the film upset in any way because the movie is so inoffensive. I can’t see anyone really coming out of the theater too excited except for a five-year-old wanting a pet lombax… and then having his dreams crushed when he finds out they don’t exist.
