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
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