Ralph Breaks the Internet is a 2018 Disney animated movie, as well as a follow-up to the 2012 movie Wreck-It Ralph. Given the six year gap between the two films, this one's announcement was met with a great deal of hype. Did it meet them? Well, yes and no. This movie was directed by Phil Johnston and Rich Moore, with then screenplay being written by Johnston and Pamela Ribbon. John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McGrayer, and Jane Lynch reprise their roles from the first movie. They're joined by a slew of new characters: Gal Gadot as Shank, Alan Tudyk (who voiced King Candy in the original) as KnowsMore, Taraji P. Henson as Yesss (which is indeed the actual character's name), as well as a few others. Alfred Molina is in here, too, but he's just in one scene. He does a good job, though. There will be spoilers going forward, so be prepared for that. Let's take a deeper look at this and see if it lived up to the original.
Let's start out with the visuals. Holy Lord, the animation is phenomenal! This is some of the best-looking visuals that I've ever seen from Disney, which is really saying a lot when you consider what they've released in recent years. The "real world" does a very good job of representing what it's called and the video game world also looks great (with the licensed characters looking and acting exactly the way they would in their own universes), but the animation is at it's finest when Ralph and Vanellope enter the internet. It looks friggin' beautiful. Picture The Emoji Movie's visuals and then put them in an actual good movie, and you have Ralph Breaks the Internet. I also loved the way that various websites or Internet features were represented here. Twitter was a tree full of blue birds, eBay was an auction house, AdBlock was a buff guy that randomly popped up to shove Pop-Ups away, YouTube (called "BuzzTube" in this movie, which is kinda strange given the fact that we see YouTube's logo a couple times in the background, but whatever) is represented by all the jokes you'd be expect to be made (cat videos, Bob Ross, people getting hurt), and I also loved how the digital versions of the real life people were represented by Mii-esque characters.
On the topic of representation, another thing I really liked about this movie was the section in the middle when Ralph sends Vanellope to Oh My Disney. It might be the best part of the whole movie. Vanellope meets most of the Disney Princesses, bumps into some Stormtroopers, sees some Muppet merchandise, almost knocks Stan Lee over (who I'm currently working on perfecting a tribute to him). It's all some funny stuff, especially when the Princess try to determine what exactly makes Vanellope a part of their group. But it does raise an interesting question: Disney products exist within the Disney universe? Like, yeah, we got a taste of that with the bootleg joke in Zootopia, but the thought goes all out in this movie. The version of the Disney Princesses that presents them as actors despite them also being the actual Disney Princesses is now a canon part of the Disney universe and I don't know how to feel about that. Writing that sentence has made me question if anything is real. This is like when Goofy namedropped Walt Disney in A Goofy Movie, except, this time, the "universe exploder" meter is turned up to a thousand. Am I real? Do I exist? I legitimately don't know anymore. One thing's for sure, though: This is gonna make my viewings of the previous Disney movies a lot more confusing. I mean, at one point, Anna says "She's from the other studio" in reference to Merida. But, wait, this implies that every Pixar movie actually happened. Does that also mean that every Disney-related thing actually happened? Infinity War? Muppets Most Wanted? Lab Rats? Song of the South? What about the live-action remakes? Which version of Beauty and the Beast actually happened? You know what? I need to think about something else before my brain melts, so let's just move on.
This movie's sense of humor, save for a handful of hiccups, takes a step up from Wreck-It Ralph 1. The previously mentioned Princess scene was probably the cream of the crop when it comes to comedy. Each of the Princesses went down the line of magical abilities or awful things that happened to them in order to see which one Vanellope would relate to, and, major props to Sarah Silverman here, her reactions were really good. And the casual clothes worn by the Princesses were funny, too. Most of them had jokes about whatever movie they came from (i.e. Elsa's said "Just Let It Go", Moana's had a drawing of Tamatoa with the word "Shiny!" written underneath, Aurora's says "Nap Queen"). And the way that the Princesses' first reaction to Vanellope is "ATTACK!" was humorous, too. Loved when Cinderella broke her glass slipper like a bottle so she could use it as a weapon. Basically, the entire Princess scene was great. Everything about the character of Spamley was great, too. An uncredited Bill Hader voiced him, and he did so gloriously. His slimy design, the accent he uses, the fact that his name is Spamley. It's astounding that Ralph trusts him over Shank, but it's funny cause he fits his character. Just like it did when he almost clicked on the various pop-ups that appeared around him when he first enters the Internet (one of them is "Sassy Housewives Want to Meet You!" and I really wanna how how Disney got that past the radar).
Unfortunately, though, the movie wasn't a perfect follow-up. It was a good, but not great, movie. In the realm of storytelling, this movie follows a couple of the same beats that the first one did. Ralph and Vanellope go through the same "I don't like you anymore" b-plot, Ralph does another "heroic sacrifice via falling but gets saved at the last minute" move, Ralph does something with the intentions of helping his friend but ends up causing more damage than he intended, a section of the third act revolves around a racing game being reset, Ralph is still an insecure baby (even though he learned to accept who he is at the end of the first movie). The story was different in terms of events, but predictable in terms of how those events unfold (for the most part). The ending did genuinely catch me off guard. And, yes, some of the jokes don't work at all, whether it be burp jokes or stuff that takes the joke too far. Like, at the end, Felix and Calhoun are telling the blue cop guy about what makes a perfect parent, but their audio keeps getting muffled by the Sugar Rush racers flying by the screen. It goes on for too long to warrant anything past a slight chuckle, and even that is shot dead when the cop guy says "Wow. I wish every parent could've heard that". The animation is great, but the Internet sections suffer from a few of the same "blurry sweeping shots" that I found in The Grinch. It happens, maybe, three times, but it's always very evident and jarring when it does. I really could've done without Sonic the Hedgehog explaining what the Internet is. Which is another point I gotta make: This movie has a few too many moments where one of the characters explicitly say how awesome the Internet is. I understand the "awe" moments from Ralph and Vanellope (who haven't seen it before), but I don't need to hear multiple characters say, "Wow, this Internet thing is really cool! You can do a lot here!" A couple of Shank's gang members really come across as annoying sometimes. And, yes, I still don't like the Imagine Dragons song. It's catchy, but it doesn't capture the spirit of the movie (especially after the ending). You know where the song would have worked? Wreck-It Ralph 1!
But one thing I do have to give credit to is the ending. Ralph unleashes a virus upon Slaughter Race with the intention of slowing it down so that Vanellope won't want want to stay. Well, the virus ends up exiting Slaughter Race and infecting the whole Internet. The virus spreads via insecurities, and it eventually catches onto Ralph. What emerges is an army of Ralphs, all of which are after his only friend. Ralph eventually defeats them by telling them that they need to let Vanellope go. He's telling himself to grow up, essentially. He defeats the bad guy by developing his character. John C. Reilly nails it, major props to him. I also liked the fact that the movie didn't end the way we all expected it to. Yes, the Sugar Rush game is saved from being permanently unplugged by the end, but Vanellope doesn't come home. She stays with Shank in Slaughter Race. I really liked that. It happens after Ralph develops his character and learns to accept himself (again) and the fact that him and Vanellope are different people with different interests. It also leads up to the most heartwarming scene in the movie. Ralph and Vanellope hug tightly, the two halves of the (now broken) "You're my hero" necklace briefly reconnect, the two best friends express how much they'll miss each other. Yes, I cried a little. I'm not made of stone. Sarah Silverman and John C. Reilly portray it beautifully. I've gotta give major props to those two actors. Reilly and Silverman were incredible in this. Vanellope is still as adorable as ever, and so is Ralph. And it's all thanks to their performances. Good work.
Overall, Ralph Breaks the Internet was an enjoyable, yet slightly rehashed, movie. I liked it a lot, but it didn't leave as big of an impact on me as the first movie did. Still a good movie, though. Stellar animation, great voice-acting, decent story, and a good moral. It works on all of those levels. Oh, and Gal Gadot sings in this movie. She has a good voice. Slight autotune, but not enough to warrant backlash. Not as much as Emma Watson's voice, at least. I'm gonna give Ralph Breaks the Internet a 7/10. It's not great, but it's leagues ahead of The Nutcracker and the 2 Hours of My Life That I'll Never Get Back. And now, I have a Stan Lee tribute and another album review to work on. I also need to wrap my head around the Oh My Disney scene. That's gonna bug me until the day I die. I also gotta decide what movie I wanna see next. I'm stuck between Creed II and The Possession of Hannah Grace.
