Video game movies just don’t hold the gravitas that Hollywood wants them to. Though, a few of them have really turned into cash cows, like the fun, yet stupid “Resident Evil” series and the “Mortal Kombat” series. Now, with the burgeoning of video games as an art form, films like this have decreased in the past few years, but every now and then, this genre seems to resurface. “Ratchet & Clank” is a bit of a different kind of video game film, as unlike all of the other ones, this one is completely animated. One might wonder, “Why make a video game film animated when the original video game is also animated? Doesn’t that defeat the purpose?” and the answer to this question, at least in the simplest way I can put it, is…

…yes. This film has no point.

If anything, all “Ratchet & Clank” left me with was a desire to play the new video game based off of the film, which in turn is based off of a video game. Despite the fact that it started strong and had some fun elements to it, I constantly felt disconnected from the entire film, if not only because I constantly felt like I was watching someone else play a really fun video game. But even then, without that sense of control that you get from playing a video game, I had no reason to care about anything that really happened in the film, as we all know how most video games turn out with a good player behind the controls.

Meanwhile, the voice cast is at least nice, with talent like Paul Giamatti, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson, John Goodman and Sylvester Stallone behind the characters, the different caricatures in the film were provided with a good amount of energy and enthusiasm that really can make or break an animated film. But I constantly felt like the film was being played too directly to children, which makes sense for a second, but if you stop to think that the original “Ratchet & Clank” game came out in 2002, most of the original fans of the series have already grown up by now, giving way to justify some more adult humor. While there are some prominent nostalgia elements and meta humor, it’s certainly not enough to keep an older audience’s attention. With a tagline like “Kick some asteroid,” I expected a bit more bite.

While the film certainly isn’t on Pixar’s level of beauty in animation, “Ratchet & Clank” did offer up some pretty gorgeous scenery to look at throughout, especially in the 3D format. While the character models certainly were nothing to boast about, the action scenes were quite appealing to the eyes, even if they tried a bit too hard to throw back to “Star Wars.” Though the context of many of these action scenes failed to keep my attention a lot of the time, as the curse of the phantom video game player strikes again.

What’s so strange about this film, despite its disappointments, I’m still interested in the universe detailed here. While it probably shouldn’t expand itself in another film, “Ratchet & Clank” has a whole new world of potential in a series reboot, as seen from its new PlayStation 4 game, which is garnering quite good reviews. I really can’t go so far as to recommend this film, as its too childish for adults and too untimely for children, but perhaps it could work as a decent companion to the new video game, which is certainly something we haven’t seem from a video game movie like this yet, as most of them diverge from the original plots quite a bit.

It really just falls squarely in the center for me on this one, but only slightly below average. It really is not that bad, but it isn’t a good film either. “Ratchet & Clank” is far from the worst animated film of all time and is actually one of the better video game adaptions we’ve seen on film. But we constantly are reminded that many video games and their plots hinge themselves on player control and that when you remove said control from the player, things begin to get dull, no matter how pretty the animation is.

Now, all I need is a PlayStation 4 now and I can truly appreciate this rebooted series for what it really can be.

2.5/5

Photo courtesy of Focus Features

Directed by: Kevin Munroe
Co-Directed by: Jerrica Cleland
Starring: Paul Giamatti, John Goodman, Bella Thorne, Rosario Dawson, Jim Ward, James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, and Sylvester Stallone.
Runtime: 94 minutes
Rating: PG for action and some rude humor.
Also available in RealD 3D.

Gramercy Pictures and Rainmaker Entertainment present, in association with Aperture Media Partners, Film Financial Services and Peak Distribution Partners LLC., a Rainmaker Entertainment and Blockade Entertainment film, “Ratchet & Clank”