"Ratchet & Clank" Review

Ratchet & Clank is based on the series of popular PlayStation video games. Rainmaker Entertainment worked in conjunction with developer Insomniac Games and Sony Computer Entertainment to produce this new presentation of the characters' origins. Gramercy Pictures distributes. Fans will be delighted to know that the core voice talent from the original games reprise their roles here with some recognizable Hollywood names rounding out the cast.

The Ratchet & Clank movie is vibrant fun for longtime series devotees and should captivate young kids who are new to the franchise. All others need not apply.

The story brings us in on Ratchet (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), a mechanic with dreams of joining the Galactic Rangers and becoming a hero alongside his idol Captain Qwark (voiced by Jim Ward). When Dr. Nefarious (voiced by Armin Shimerman) and Chairman Drek (voiced by Paul Giamatti) re-emerge with a bigger scheme, the Galactic Rangers must recruit an additional member to help fight back. We can all guess who gets the gig. On his way to intergalactic superstardom, Ratchet meets Clank (voiced by David Kaye), an android created as a defect during the manufacturing of Dr. Nefarious's killer robot army. Through a series of slapstick moments, Ratchet, Clank and the Rangers take on overwhelming odds and learn the importance of friendship and teamwork.

The best thing about Ratchet & Clank is that the story allows for plenty of charming character moments without losing its overall focus. Eagle-eyed PlayStation fans will get a kick out of the scene where Clank scans Ratchet in order to figure out what species he is. One of the potential matches is another beloved PS2 character. Between this scene and the introduction of various characters and favorite weapons from the Rangers' arsenal, there's a satisfying bit of fan service at work. 

Some may go as far as calling Ratchet & Clank the best movie adaptation of a video game ever made, and perhaps it is. The bar isn't terribly high right now; the potential savior may still be coming down the pike in the form of Justin Kurzel's Assassin's Creed. That said, almost every big animated film released in the past couple of years has turned out to be thematically rich, emotionally dense, artistically stunning, and just plain entertaining to boot. Looking at you Lego Movie, Inside Out, Big Hero 6, Zootopia, How to Train Your Dragon 2... 

Since we've been spoiled so much lately, it's hard to turn the brain completely off for Ratchet & Clank's brand of Saturday-morning buffoonery. It's fun, and a bit nostalgic, but there are plenty of other, better, films out there offering the same thing. Ratchet & Clank ultimately gives us nothing that we haven't seen before in Toy Story, Star Wars, or in episodes of "Jimmy Neutron." Level-headed adults and teens too young to recall the games are better off finding their entertainment elsewhere, but twentysomething fans and young children should enjoy it.

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