Drek, meanwhile, is aided by his thudding enforcer Victor ( Sylvester Stallone), a hulking robot with an underbite, as well as the green, alien-looking Dr. Along the way, the gung-ho Ratchet joins forces with a conscience-driven, undersized reject from Drek’s war-robot assembly line, a bucket of bolts called Clank (David Kaye).Īlso Read: Video Game Review: 'Ratchet & Clank' Offers Little New, but Works AnywayĪs the newest member of the peacekeeping Rangers, Ratchet finds support from a pair of the squad’s human females, fierce warrior Cora ( Bella Thorne) and self-proclaimed nerd (yet still rendered sexily) Elaris ( Rosario Dawson). Ratchet gets his chance when one of his tricked-out cruisers helps the Rangers foil a coordinated robot attack initiated by an evil corporate head named Drek ( Paul Giamatti), whose been on a planet-destroying spree as part of a foul scheme to build one of his own. Ratchet dreams of joining a group of superhero defenders known as the Galactic Rangers, headed by his idol, a preening, chisel-jawed narcissist called Captain Quark (Jim Ward). The story’s hero is Ratchet (voiced by James Arnold Taylor), a scrappy feline biped known in this fictional universe as a lombax, who soups up space vehicles in a garage with his pal and mentor Grimroth ( John Goodman). See Video: 'Ratchet & Clank' First Trailer Has Heroes Fight, Joke and Puke Their Way Through the Universe
But as is usually the case with carefully engineered franchise movies with a reputation to uphold, it also feels thoroughly mechanical, as if it should come with the type of amusement-park announcement that departing moviegoers should exit to the right, so the next group can take their seats from the left.
Busy, loud and fast-paced, the animated video-game adaptation “Ratchet & Clank” - based on the Insomniac Games series pitting a crafty cat-like mechanic and a diminutive robot against a megalomaniacal villain - takes the PlayStation controls out of the gamer’s hands in search of all-scripted, feature-sized pizzazz for an interactive title that’s been around since the start of this century.Īs second-tier CG-styled animations go, this origin-retelling diversion from director Kevin Munroe (“Dylan Dog: Dead of Night”) is a serviceable action-and-humor-crammed space hero saga for kids.