When the trailer for Ralph Breaks The Internet dropped earlier this year, many people were curious as to whether or not this sequel to the 2012 Disney film about two game character best friends was going to be too similar to The Emoji Movie in tone. Fear not, Ralph/Walt supporters- for this movie is actually concerned with good character development, and features an entertaining story with heart and comedy that truly works.
One could talk about how aggressively commercial the Disney brand is with all of its subsidiaries, but there’s an actual tale being told here with substance, and unlike Emoji it doesn’t feel entirely like an hour-and-fifty-minute advertising for a bunch of brands.
Our titular hero (John C. Reilly) has become more content with his day-to-day routine as the villain of the arcade classic “Fix-it-Felix”, hanging out with his bestie Vanellope Von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman)- the ace of “Sugar Rush” partially due to her status as a glitch. Vanellope’s growing bored with “VanellopeWinsLOL” and doing the same old predictable thing constantly, and she wants more out of her life.
But when the duo tries to spice up Sugar Rush’s tracks, they inadvertently cause the arcade’s owner Mr. Litwak (Ed O’Neil) to accidentally break the steering wheel when he tries to fix it. If he can’t come up with a replacement wheel, he’ll scrap Sugar Rush outright, destroying the home of Vanellope and her friends.
Luckily for them, Litwak’s Arcade recently installed a WiFi port (which Ralph pronounces initially as “Wee-Fee) to the internet, so the two sneak their way past security into a portal that zooms them to the sprawling metropolis that represents the web in search of a new steering wheel. Unfortunately, complications with their eBay bid send them on a quest to acquire the funds they need.
Whether they’re trying to steal the tricked-out car of the top racer Shank (Gal Gadot) in the online game Slaughter Race, or racking up likes from Ralph’s trending viral videos for cash with the help of a talking algorithm named Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), they’ll stop at nothing to save Vanellope’s game and preserve their close relationship.
Though there’s plenty of commentary on the nature of the internet to be found, particularly in one surprisingly heavy scene with Yesss and Ralph where he breaks one of the web’s cardinal rules, Ralph Breaks The Internet is more concerned with his and Vanellope’s evolving friendship- notably when Schweetz falls in love with the rowdy Slaughter Race and its unique brand of vehicular mayhem.
As entertaining as most of the online gags are, this is primarily a movie about swimming upstream in the face of eventual change. The constantly-evolving internet is acting as both a backdrop and a strong metaphor.
Much like the first Ralph film, it takes advantage of its setting to hit the references most of the audience would expect, developing its own parody brands alongside alluding to real popular sites. You’ll see some expected cameos from game characters like Sonic and Street Fighter’s Zangief, but the writers can’t help but truly indulge themselves in Disney related easter eggs when Vanellope wanders into the Oh My Disney section.
The glitchy racer bumps into Zootopia and Marvel characters and dodges Star Wars’ Stormtroopers, before getting some advice from Disney’s princesses while hiding in their dressing room. (I’m not sure why Elsa is there given that she’s technically a queen, but I suppose her and Anna are inseparable.) When Vanellope tries her own version of a classic princess “I Want…” song, the results are twisted and hilarious.
Said princesses are part of a good supporting cast that Ralph and Vanellope play off effectively. Bill Hader has some amusing moments uncredited as a pop-up spam hustler, and Alan Tudyk’s online search engine KnowsMore is super cute. Gadot’s Shank is a cool, confident badass, and Henson’s Yesss is a charming ball of energy with an eternally changing style- more internet analogies at play here, as she always knows what’s trending. Fans of Fix-It Felix (Jack McBrayer) and Sgt. Calhoun (Jane Lynch) may find themselves wanting more screen time featuring the happy couple, though the gags they do receive are pretty darn funny.
Not only does the climax tie well into the themes of the movie, it’s also simultaneously heartwarming, chuckle-worthy, and I’d imagine perhaps a little scary for younger audiences. The tone is different, but the way the animation is executed in this scene gave me shades of the “pink elephants” sequence from Dumbo- another testament to the skills of these artists. Visually, the movie’s backgrounds are far more interesting than Emoji’s bland looking settings, with tons of life and energy bursting from every digital building.
Neither the web, nor many of our relationships will ever stay the same. Ralph Breaks The Internet expresses both of these ideas in a movie that has lots of fun features for younger audiences, and plenty of honed wit for older moviegoers- as well as entertaining bonuses for everyone in the theater, so stay after the credits. As child-like and silly as Ralph and Vanellope can be, their ordeal is still extremely relatable for anyone. The structure of the movie doesn’t start to feel fully realized until at least a third into the picture, but this is a solid story that allows both characters to believably mature by the end.
For me, it’s an easy recommendation. If you’ve had the opportunity to boot up a ticket on Fandango and streamed to your closest theater to check it out, as always head to @Official_FAN on Twitter and tell us how you felt about it!