Sharing God’s Story with Wreck-it Ralph

This Reel Parable has major spoilers, and I mean major. Major like “Did you know Rose Bud was just his childhood sled?” major. This movie bible study assumes that you have seen Wreck-it Ralph or don’t care if we spoil it for you. We warned you…

This is part 3 of a 6 part Christian movie review of Wreck-it Ralph. You can find all of our Wreck-it Ralph content here.

Sharing God’s Story with Wreck-it Ralph

Ralph’s quest for community lands him in Sugar Rush, a sweet-candied-confectioners wonderland that is not as sweet as it seems.

Sugar Rush is a fallen world.

The game was hacked and reprogrammed. It is now a poor counterfeit of the world that it was programmed (created) to be.

This fallen world is also under the control of a fallen character. Sugar Rush is under the control of King Candy.

Ah, King Candy.

He’s cute.

He’s funny.

He looks as sweet and innocent as the world he lives in.

But just like Sugar Rush, King Candy is also not what he seems.

He is also a faker!

King Candy looks sweet. But he is not.

King Candy sound nice. But he is not.

King Candy acts like he wants to help and do good, but he only wants to hurt and do harm.

He is a liar and he is a cheat.

Ask your kids – or yourself – these questions. For such a fun movie King Candy is a pretty complex character!

Does King Candy belong in Sugar Rush?
Where does King Candy actually belong?
What did King Candy do to Sugar Rush?
What does King Candy want?
What lies does King Candy tell?
Why is King Candy so mean to Vanellope?
What is King Candy trying to protect?
What is King Candy afraid of?

Just as Ralph does to belong in Sugar Rush, neither does King Candy!

Candy Coated Devil

After all the lies are found out Ralph learns that King Candy is actually Turbo, a disgraced character from Turbo Time, an old “classic” game overshadowed by the newer and flashier games.

Turbo wants the glory that is not his. He misses the spotlight and longs for attention. He is jealous of the attention other characters are getting in other games.

Due to his pride and jealousy, Turbo falls from grace. Turbo jumps games to be something he is not, a king.

King Candy is more than the main antagonist in Wreck-it Ralph. King Candy is also an amazing or movie metaphor for our adversary, the Devil.

Look how you have fallen from the sky, O shining one, son of the dawn! You have been cut down to the ground, O conqueror of the nations!You said to yourself, “I will climb up to the sky.Above the stars of El I will set up my throne.I will rule on the mountain of assembly on the remote slopes of Zaphon.I will climb up to the tops of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High!”Isaiah 14:12-14

Just like Satan fell from grace, so did King Candy. King Candy fell from grace when he jumped games and hacked Sugar Rush!

Turbo, as King Candy, set himself up as the King of Sugar Rush!

He actually set up his throne and called himself King, the “most high” character in Sugar Rush!

What did King Candy do with this power?

Did he help Vanellope?

Did he help anyone else?

Did he help Sugar Rush?

No…

All he did was help himself. He even hurt others to do so. We will talk more about that when we get to Vanellope.

But how did he do this?

Remember, King Candy is not as sweet as he seems.

He looks sweet, but he is really sour!

He looks good, but he is evil.

He looks sweet, but he is sour.

He looks bright and shiny but is dark and evil.

Why does he do this? Because most of us are afraid of scary things. The Devil does not want to scare us. Instead, he wants to trick us.

Most of us will run from something scary. That is why King Candy disguised himself as something thing sweet!

He didn’t want to scare the girls in Sugar Rush, he wanted to trick them!

Our Adversary, the Devil, does the same thing.

And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. 2 Corinthians 11:27

Pretending to be good, he lied to everyone to protect his counterfeit kingdom.

He is a liar.

In the game of Sugar Rush King Candy is the father of lies.

Just like the Devil. The Devil is a liar.

You people are from your father the devil, and you want to do what your father desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, and does not uphold the truth, because there is no truth in him. Whenever he lies, he speaks according to his own nature, because he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:4

Just like King Candy, the Devil does not want you to know the truth. God loves you.

I am sure there is a lot of other stuff we can say about the Devil and his lies. But to not cause division or controversy I will leave it at this:

The Devil does not want you to know that God loves you more than anyone in the whole entire world! He created you to be in a relationship with Him but the Devil messed that up. And he’s been lying forever so that you won’t find out.

And, like King Candy, he has some control over this world right now.

The bible says:

Be sober and alert. Your enemy the devil, like a roaring lion,is on the prowl looking for someone to devour.1 Peter 5:8

King Candy did the same! Remember when he found Ralph when he and Vanellope were about to leave for the race?

He was roaming around looking for them.

And what did he do when he found them?

Did he tell them the truth?

NO!

Did he help them?

NO!

What did he do when he found Ralph?

He LIED to him and tricked him!

He blinded Ralph to the truth by telling him a bunch of lies. He sounded like he wanted to help Vanellope but really wanted to hurt her.

Just like the Devil.

Among whom the god of this age (the Devil) has blinded the minds of those who do not believe so they would not see the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God. 2 Corinthians 4:4

King Candy did not want Vanellope to find out that she was a Princess!

In the same way, the Devil does not want you to find out that you are – or can be – a Prince or Princess! (More on that shortly.)

Ralph longs for a community so goes on a hero’s journey.

Along the way he finds a fallen world, Sugar Rush, controlled by a fallen character, King Candy.

In this fallen world he meets Vanellope and discovers his purpose. He even finds the community he longed for.

We will look at that next time.

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Until next time, God bless.

Simon L Smith