Talking About Wreck-it-Ralph

Family night out to the movies last night to see Wreck-it-Ralph is giving us some serious Sunday conversation material.

If you can get past a little potty humor (which apparently we have no problem doing), there’s some great stuff in there to dig into as a family.

Here are the questions I’m asking our kids today since I’m an overthinker an all–feel free to steal ’em and get your families thinking about things beyond a good laugh and creative animation:

* Why was Ralph frustrated with who he was and how he was treated?

* Ralph decided to try to get a medal so that things would change. If he had been able to get the medal and get back to his own game, do you think things would have been different? How?

* What did Ralph and Vanellope have in common? What did they both want more than anything else?

* When Ralph and Vanellope were almost ready for the race, King Candy visited Ralph and fed him a lie to get him to do what he wanted him to do. Ralph believed him and made a big decision based on it. Can you remember any time that you’ve believed something and made a choice based on it that wasn’t the best decision and then found out that what you believed wasn’t true?

* In the end, we find out that Vanellope isn’t really the “glitch” everyone–including herself–believed she was. How did her experience of being the “glitch” change who she really is? What did she learn by her experience of being the one who didn’t fit in?

* How did we see Ralph’s life change? What did he learn about himself?

* As we saw Ralph’s and Felix’s perspectives change, we also saw another change to their game–there were new characters in it. What were they able to do because of what they learned about themselves?

* At the very end, Ralph shared what his favorite part of the day was. It was a part of the day that he used to hate the most. Why did he like it now? How does a change in the way we see ourselves and others help us do and see the same things in a new way?

* In the Bible, there were some people that struggled with some of the same things that Ralph struggled with. A lot of folks saw these people as “bad guys” and, honestly, before they knew God, they were doing a lot of bad stuff. God sent one of his workers named Paul to give them a very important message: “If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.” Because of what Christ did for us on the cross, those people didn’t have to be bad guys anymore. They were new creations and no longer stuck being what everyone thought they were. They were free. What do you struggle with? What would you like to put behind you? How do you want to live differently with God’s help?

* Watch the video below together. There are a lot of people who have broken hearts because of things they feel really bad about in their own lives. How can we be like the little girl in this movie and help people understand who they really are? What is one thing you can do right now to help someone see himself or herself the way God does?