Movies For Juniors – Ratchet and Clank

Cinema: Ratchet and Clank (2016)

I am a massive fan of this years reboot/reimagining of Ratchet and Clank on the PS4. Considering the game only cost £29, the visuals, gameplay and production values were absolutely stunning! It easily sits in my top 10 games of the year and I highly recommend people check it out.

I knew there was a movie being made to coincide with the release of the game and that it received largely negative reviews. Considering the high quality of the game I was surprised by the reviews and thought that maybe the movie critics were out of touch with video games. Still, I was intrigued to see it and a Movies for Juniors trip to Cineworld gave my family and I the perfect opportunity.

The plot follows mechanic Ratchet who dreams of becoming a Galactic Ranger like his idol; the confident but hugely inept Captain Quark. Meanwhile the nefarious Chairman Drek (Paul Giamatti) plans to create an army of robots to destroy Quark and his team. A mistake on the production line creates reject Clank who is immediately hunted by Victor Von Ion (Sylvester Stallone). Clank manages to escape and crash lands on Ratchets home planet and the two are thrown into an adventure where the fate of the galaxy depends on them.

The movie follows the game extremely closely and I even recognised some of the footage that was used in the game, so in that respect it’s actually a decent companion piece. There are references to other PlayStation characters like Sly Cooper and Jak and Daxter too and they even managed to cram in the original PlayStation sound that played when you turned on the console.

Although Ratchet and Clank zipped along nicely it felt soulless and empty. Unlike Disney and Pixar movies I didn’t really care for any of the characters and even felt a little bored in places. Despite a fairly decent voice cast nobody really stands out apart from Stallone’s distinctive drawl.

Despite there being lots of weird and wonderful aliens and robots my daughter was quite restless, so maybe the film is aimed at pre-teens rather than 4 year olds.

Ratchet and Clank was a major disappointment. Ultimately I came away feeling like I wished I’d played the game rather than watched the movie. I could only recommend it if you are a hardcore fan of the franchise.

Laughs: 1/5

Peril: 1/5

Fidgets: 4/5

Overall: 2/5

Review by Chris (co-host of 60 Minutes With and The Same Coin)