The film features an original story, loosely based on the 2002 video game with additional elements from its follow-ups, written by Munroe, Gerry Swallow, and former Insomniac senior writer T.J. Fixman, who began writing for the series with the Ratchet & Clank Future saga. Alongside several cast members from the games, Insomniac contributed to the film's production with character development, screenplay, and animation assets.[9][10]
Released in the United States on April 29, 2016, Ratchet & Clank received negative reviews and grossed $14 million worldwide on a $20 million budget. It was the first and only animated film from Gramercy Pictures as the label was quietly dissolved shortly thereafter.
Plot
In the Solana Galaxy, Chairman Drek and his people the Blarg are systemically dismantling multiple planets to extract desirable material for the construction of an artificial planet New Quartu. The Blarg need this new world as their home Quartu has been rendered uninhabitable by pollution. The destruction attracts the attention of the peacekeeping Galactic Rangers. At a factory that produces Drek's warbots on Quartu, a defective robot is produced due to a black-out and flies to Kerwan to inform the Rangers of Drek's plan. After getting shot down, he encounters a young lombax spaceship mechanic named Ratchet on the planet Veldin. Ratchet names him Clank, and the two fly to Kerwan where they save the Rangers from Drek's army of warbots. Their actions gain both Ratchet and Clank immense popularity, which pressures the commander of the Rangers Captain Qwark to name them honorary Rangers.
Jealous of Ratchet and Clank's acclaim, Qwark is approached by Drek to help him, an offer he accepts so long as Drek never harms the other Rangers. Drek has him disable the Rangers' weapons during an assault on his planet-destroying superweapon, the Deplanetizer. Drek's lieutenant Victor Von Ion boards the Rangers' flagship and attacks Clank, who manages to reduce him to a rusty wreck using a rainstorm-producing weapon. After Drek breaks apart the planet Novalis, his chief scientist Doctor Nefarious (who orchestrated Qwark's betrayal) suddenly fires a sheep transforming gun at Drek, stuffs him in an escape pod, and ejects him to New Quartu. He takes control of the Deplanetizer, intending to destroy the entire Solana Galaxy in revenge for Qwark's mistreatment of him when he was a Ranger. His plan is to destroy the planet Umbris which has a highly unstable core that would annihilate all other planets in its vicinity.
The Rangers attack the Deplanetizer again, but Qwark intercepts and battles Ratchet and Clank. Ratchet pleads with Qwark to stop, causing Qwark to realize he has been used and the three confront Nefarious. Nefarious fires the laser, but the Rangers move it off target from Umbris and towards New Quartu, killing Drek's sheep form who has just crash-landed. Nefarious tries to disintegrate Qwark with his personal weapon, the RYNO (stands for "Rip You a New One"), but is stopped short by Ratchet, causing Nefarious himself to be seemingly disintegrated as he falls into the Deplanetizer's laser chamber. Ratchet, Clank, and Qwark manage to escape through a teleporter as the Deplanetizer falls towards Umbris where it vaporizes in the atmosphere. With Nefarious thwarted, the Rangers return to Kerwan and Qwark is demoted to Private and ordered to apologize to the whole galaxy. Ratchet and Clank reunite on Veldin with Ratchet promising to rejoin the Rangers if he is needed.
In a mid-credits scene, Nefarious is shown to be still be alive on Umbris, having his body forcibly converted into a robotic form to survive.
Jim Ward as Captain Copernicus Qwark, the egocentric and egotistical leader of the Galactic Rangers and a galaxy-wide celebrity. Ward reprises his role from the games.[11]
Brax Lectrus: a large, reptilian Galactic Ranger.[13]
A Solana Trooper
Andrew Cownden as:
Zed, Drek's bumbling assistant whom the Rangers often interrogate.
A Blarg.
James Arnold Taylor as Ratchet, a young mechanic who dreams of being a Galactic Ranger.[11] Taylor reprises his role from the games, though Ratchet was voiced by Mikey Kelley in the original game.
David Kaye as Clank, an intelligent warbot defect who escapes and befriends Ratchet. Kaye reprises his role from the games.[11]
Sylvester Stallone as Victor Von Ion, Drek's robotic lieutenant.[11] He is an original character created for the film and inspired by the Robot Lieutenant from the original game who was voiced by Neil Flynn.
Lee Tockar as Mr. Micron, a Tharpod citizen of Veldin.
The film was produced at Rainmaker Entertainment's Vancouver, Canada studio and executive produced by president Michael Hefferon. Insomniac mentioned they were eager to produce a Ratchet & Clank film adaptation, remarking:[14]
One of the biggest questions we've gotten in the last few years is 'When are you going to make a Ratchet & Clank movie?' The truth is, we've wanted to do a movie for a long time! Ratchet & Clank's action, humor and galaxy-spanning adventures have really been the basis for a fantastic game series, and we think it would translate perfectly to the big screen.
Ratchet & Clank grossed $8.8 million in North America and $5.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $14.4 million, against a production budget of $20 million.[4]
In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking suggested the film would gross $8–10 million from 2,891 theaters in its opening weekend, trailing fellow newcomers Keanu ($10–14 million projection) and Mother's Day ($11 million projection). The film went on to gross just $4.9 million in its opening weekend, finishing below expectations and 7th at the box office.[18]
Following the domestic opening, Rainmaker announced an impairment charge on their $10 million investment in the film. Commenting on the movie's performance, Hefferon stated "We are obviously disappointed with the North American opening release results. The huge success of The Jungle Book, and continued strength of Zootopia, represented a loss of a large portion of the family market. Although support from the Ratchet & Clank fan base has been positive, the turnout for the film was not sufficient to overcome the highly competitive market place for the opening weekend of the film."[19] In its second weekend, the film grossed just $1.5 million (a drop of 70%), finishing 9th at the box office.[20] Rainmaker lost around $5 million on the film, which made $15 million.[21]
Critical response
On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a rating of 21% based on 80 reviews and an average rating of 4.20/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Ratchet & Clank may satisfy very young viewers, but compared to the many superior options available to families and animation enthusiasts, it offers little to truly recommend."[22] On Metacritic the film has a score of 29 out of 100 based on 19 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[23] Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[24]
Bill Zwecker of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 2 out of 4 stars, saying, "I kept getting a sense we've all been here before—both in animated and live-action presentations."[25]IGN gave the film a 6/10, saying, "Ratchet & Clank is not a bad movie by any means, especially when compared to some of the downright-terrible video game adaptations of the past two decades. But given the humor, action and sense of adventure of the games, the movie is ultimately a competent, shallow, disappointing take on the adventures of the plucky Lombax and his robot buddy. My advice is to stick to the stellar PlayStation 4 game."[26]GameSpot gave the film a mixed review, saying, "Ratchet & Clank pulls us across the universe at a breakneck pace, but it never seems to take us anywhere. The series may have found success in video games, but in the meantime, it's merely stumbled into film."[27]
Animated short
In February 2021, an animated short Ratchet & Clank: Life of Pie, was released on Crave TV in Canada. The short was produced by Mainframe Studios in co-operation with PlayStation Originals. James Arnold Taylor, David Kaye, Jim Ward, Armin Shimerman, and Andrew Cownden returned to reprise their roles of Ratchet, Clank, Captain Qwark, Doctor Nefarious and Zed respectively. The short marks Jim Ward's final performance as Qwark, following his retirement from the role due to having been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease.
