The Laws of Physics in an Animation Universe

I chose to analyze "Wreck-It Ralph", a 2012 animated feature film by Walt Disney Animation Studios. In Wreck-It Ralph, the entire film is centered around game characters in a virtual environment. Games can be designed with an unique set of physics to enhance the game play and mood because it doesn't have to be based on realism.

I was curious to see how Wreck-It Ralph handled this virtual environment. I thought that the animation would be comically pushed in every way, but I found that the actions were actually quite authentic. In the movie, the laws of physics are mostly realistic with the animators paying close attention to the natural parabolas of arcs and differences in weight. Only a few characters break the laws of physics to highlight their game style or dramatize a reaction or action. 

First off, all of the characters and objects follow parabolic paths of arcs. For example, when Ralph's escape pod bursts through Sugar Rush and crashes on the candy land, the escape pod ejects both him and the Cy-bug into the air. Ralph is a heavier and larger character and faces more air resistance, and thus flies a shorter distance than the Cy-bug does.

Another example of believable arcs is when the citizens of Sugar Rush are speeding through the race track. As the characters are zooming up the ramp, Vanellope glitches in front of them, causing the other racers to panic and brake. As a result, Vanellope has more speed, and a higher arc and apex than the other racers and is able to reach the other ramp, while the other contenders fall short. The racers slow as they reach the apex, and increase in speed as they drop and follow the rule of Fourth Down at Half-Time.

Vanellope circled in red has a higher apex, which is also in the middle. 

During one part of the race track, gumballs fall from large gumball machines to impede the racers. These gumballs also follow the parabolic path of action and gravity as they fall and rise with momentum. See the gumballs begin to drop and roll at 1:15 in the video below.

Another clear example is when the racers of Sugar Rush are throwing their coins into the machine to be entered in the race. The coins clearly follow the parabolic path of action as they bounce into the cup.

There is also realistic weight and bounce in this film that is appropriate for the characters. When the race cars are speeding over bumps and hills in the course, their carts lift off the ground appropriately with their velocity.

Ralph, a large and heavy character, and Vanellope, a tiny and bouncy character, have different weights. This is accurately shown when they both step on the same gumdrops in a mint flavored pond. Ralph nearly submerges the gumdrop just by stepping on it. In contrast, Vanellope hardly budges the gumdrop even though she jumps down onto it from the height of the candy cane tree.

Wreck-It Ralph features a variety of characters from dozens of games. To help categorize each character with their game, each game follows their own set of physics. Only a few characters break the laws of physics.

For characters in Fix-It Felix Jr., these characters are more cartoony and can break the laws of physics. When Felix accidentally dies in his game, he teleports straight up and revives back onto his feet (11:40). It is impossible for anyone to magically jump up while laying down and spin in the air like that. After hugging Ralph, he also floats in the air and hovers before gently landing on the ground (1:14:10). But because the game that Felix is from is so cartoony, it doesn't confuse the audience when these strange actions happen. Felix has other cases where he jumps from impossible situations, such as when he jumps impossibly high from a stand still onto Calhoun's floating vehicle.
  

And when he tries to avoid the flurry of bullets from Calhoun and her troops, he practically flies around the carrier and lands perfectly on his feet at the end.

While Felix breaks the laws of physics the most, the other citizens of the game can stay longer in the air than normal, but it works because of the way they are animated so the audience is not distracted by the break of physics (13:50).

In Sugar Rush, the most obvious breaking of physics is Vanellope's glitching, which causes her to teleport from one location to another randomly. This example is shown during her race at 1:18:32 and 1:29:20. Other characters, such as King Candy and Taffyta, can stay in the air longer than normal but this only happens to dramatize a reaction (33:48, 34:57, 38:20, 42:19).

In Hero's Duty, as Felix says, "Look at that high definition!", these characters and their environment are more realistic. The main character from Hero's Duty, Calhoun, never breaks the realism from her game even if she is another environment. This contrast versus the more cartoony games helps enforce the laws of physics for each game. The only time physics is broken in Hero's Duty is by an inanimate object, the medal at the completion of defeating the game. It floats in the air among spinning plates, and slowly floats onto Ralph's neck. 

In conclusion, the physics in Wreck-It Ralph were quite believable and consistent throughout the movie. All of the characters and environments followed correct arcs and weight comparisons. Cartoony characters, such as those from Sugar Rush and Fix-It Felix Jr. could break the laws of physics, but it was believable because of the game they were from. Felix Jr. breaks physics the most in the movie, but most of the time it was done for comical effect and helped the plot and story. Side characters such as King Candy and Taffyta floating in the air for an extra time weren't distracting and only helped highlight the reaction they were showing.

Wreck-It Ralph was an enjoyable movie and definitely well animated with a comical and heartwarming story. The animators paid attention to the natural laws of physics and didn't push it as much as I thought they would for an animated film. Only some parts were pushed or broken, but it was never distracting and made sense in their virtual environment.