REVIEW: 'Ratchet & Clank' is a fun little surprise - East Idaho News
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REVIEW: ‘Ratchet & Clank’ is a fun little surprise

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Animated kiddie flicks don’t normally do much for me. I typically find them to be jumbled retellings of the same basic story, where the main character finds their niche in the world by being him or herself. “Ratchet & Clank” is yet another telling of that story. But “Ratchet & Clank” ain’t your typically lame kid’s animated movie. It’s actually pretty fun.

”Ratchet & Clank” is spun off of the popular Playstation video game series, and it introduces us to Ratchet (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), a spaceship mechanic who dreams of defending the universe as a member of the Galactic Rangers. After encountering and befriending the robot Clank (David Kaye), Ratchet finds himself drawn into a battle with fiendish baddie Drek (Paul Giamatta).

This movie isn’t a classic or a work of art, but it’s better than your average kiddie flick. It has a sly sense of humor and the action scenes are zippy and fun to watch. The color palette of the movie is bright and colorful, something that is sorely needed in the wake of too many recent major movies. (I’m looking at you, “Batman v Superman”.)

Rachet
Ratchet (voice of James Arnold Taylor) in “Ratchet and Clank.” (Gramercy Pictures)

The voice acting is exuberant and entertaining. It’s awesome to hear Taylor, who voiced capably Obi-Wan Kenobi in the “Star Wars: Clone Wars” series, voicing a big screen character. John Goodman and Giamatta both give us fun characters. Sylvester Stallone even shows up to voice an evil robot, and he’s pretty funny.

The visuals are colorful and bright and the creatures and robots are fun to look at. Ratchet appears to be a cross between a raccoon and a cheetah. The robots are bulky and angular monsters armed with guns that look like Super Soakers. It’s a treat to look at and I had a lot of fun with it.

”Ratchet & Clank” isn’t perfect. It’s very predictable. Some of the jokes don’t land. The characters aren’t all that well-developed. But it’s still an enjoyable outer space romp with some clever scenes and some good laughs. Kid’s movies aren’t usually that entertaining for adults. “Ratchet & Clank” is one of the better ones.

3 Indy Fedoras out of 5

MPAA Rating: PG

Thanks to Fat Cats in Rexburg for providing screenings for movie reviews on EastIdahoNews.com.

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