Ralph Breaks the Internet Review

Ralph broke the internet but not my heart.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is a film which before I seen it made me anxious. Wreck-It Ralph is my favourite Disney film of the last 10 years. As a gaming fan it was so surreal to see the characters I played with on the big screen. The film also wore its heart on its sleeve. Tackling the issues of loneliness and an identity crisis. When a sequel was announced I was excited at first. I expected the series to bring in more iconic video game characters. Maybe even take a deep dive into console gaming instead of arcades. The sequel instead opted to investigate the internet. The trailers made it out that this would be a film made of only memes and references. It looked like product placement the movie. The film does include these things, but this is no Emoji Movie. This is a film which is not just hilarious. This is a film which teaches children about the dangers of the internet. Ralph Breaks the Internet never goes down the preachy route. The film opts to teach its lessons in a way which makes sure that this sequel does not lose the heart of the previous film.

Ralph Breaks the Internet picks 6 years from the events of the first film. Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) go on an epic quest to the unfamiliar world of the internet in a race against time to save Sugar Rush.  The sequel wastes no time in getting into the action; the film goes at a relentless pace from start to finish. Disney sequels often have the problem of feeling unnecessary. The majority of their 90s films have bundles of sequels. The Lion King, Aladdin, The Little Mermaid and Cinderella all have trilogies. Granted, these were all straight to DVD for the most part. Ralph Breaks the internet is the first sequel the studio has released in a long. They didn’t need to churn them out considering the success rate they’ve had in the 2010s. Don’t fear! This is a necessary sequel. The film tells its young audience the pros and cons of the internet. Not only that but the theme of the perils of over dependence is vital.  The animation is spectacular as to be expected from Disney. The Internet feels like a different planet for both the audience and the characters. Returning director Rich Moore and first-time director Phil Johnston deserve a lot of credit. They could have easily created a sequel which capitalised on the internet setting; focusing purely on product placements and references. Instead, the two men have given the fans of the first film an entry worthy to stand alongside it.

An animated feature’s success relies on its characters. If you don’t have vibrant characters, then your film is doomed to fail. Ralph and Vanellope are once again at the forefront. Reilly and Silverman bounce off each other with ease. The chemistry the pair have is akin to the leads in Toy Story and Monster’s Inc. Vanollope is more of a lead character than Ralph. This was a great call as she is the funnier of the pair. It’s Vanollope who is suffering the feeling of not belonging this time around. Her new friendship with Shank (Gal Gadot) leads to a moral conundrum which many children have. What do you do with your best friend when you gain new one? Ralph for the first half of the film annoyed me. He seemed to have lost all of his intelligence seen in the previous film. Many jokes relied on him falling or being idiotic. Maybe I’m wrong but I don’t remember the character being this goofy. The second half of the film redeems him. Seeing Ralph turn into the jealous, overprotective friend is a sad sight to watch. The emotional side of the character is a major preference to the Kevin James side. Felix (Jack McBrayer) and Calhoun (Jane Lynch) make the most of their limited screen-time but it’s the new characters who steal the show. Gadot as Shank is the cool older sister we all wanted growing up. Yesss (Taraji P. Henson) is a better character than her name makes out. Yesss is a PR guru who teaches Ralph how to break the internet (I hate myself), Henson brings the same charm to the role which we seen in last years Hidden Figures. Spamley (Bill Hader) and KnowsMore (Alan Tudyk) are hilarious with 5 minutes of screen time between them. The biggest character of all is the internet.

We live in a generation where no matter what age you are the internet impacts you. Children in prams have phones with YouTube on to distract them. Nearly everyone has a smartphone by the age of 12 at least. The world has never been more connected. It’s about time that film tries to dig deep into it. The Emoji Movie was a gloried 90-minute ad not a film. The product placements are there. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and the rest of the gang. It’s not insulting how they handle these websites. eBay is turned into a literal auctioning event which never ends. It’s sequences like this one which makes up for all the product placement. The dark web too is depicted as if it is New York in Taxi Driver. I was freaked out never mind the children! In the trailer Vanellope proclaims that the internet is the most beautiful thing she’s ever seen. Thankfully, the negative aspects are portrayed too. Over saturation of lazy content is shown rightfully as the downfall of entertainment.  We are also shown the impact hate comments have on a person. It’s all well good making fun of content but we need to remember that the people who create it also have feelings. As someone who uploads to the internet I can’t attest to this lesson. No matter how much good feedback you get, one nasty comment can crush you. Some of the meme humour is out of date; a meme has the life expectancy of a week at this point so no matter which one you use in your film it’ll still feel dated. Ralph flossing is an image that I will never be able to remove from my mind.

Overall Ralph Breaks the Internet is a fun time for all the family. A lot of you are going to this film to see the Disney Princesses. Be warned that what you see in the trailers is pretty much it. The time we spend with the familiar faces are brilliant. The unadvertised cameos bring heavy laughs. One in particular left me with tears in my eyes. My only major complaint is that the tone of the film is muddled at times. When there are 6 writers adjusting a script it’s to be expected. If you’re an avid fan of the original, you will be very more than happy. Ralph Breaks the Internet is another home run for Disney. When will the streak end? Probably Frozen 2. For now, let us count our blessings. Ralph has not broken his reputation. Ralph and Vanellope have saved us from disappointment.

Liam’s Summary of Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Best Moment: Vanellope’s song is amongst the best moments of film this year.

Worst Moment: The Montage of Ralph's videos reminded me why children loved The Grinch last month.

Best Character: KnowsMore has overtaken Bing as the second most popular search engine without even being a real thing.

Worst Character: Cat Memes won’t leave me alone.

Overall Rating: 4/5