Ralph Breaks the Internet Builds On Its Strong Foundation
As 2018 reaches its climax, it would appear that the kind folks at Disney decided to give us an early holiday gift! That gift is a Wreck-it-Ralph sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet; does it do the original justice, or does it wreck itself?
Ralph Breaks the Internet takes place six years after saving the game Sugar Rush from Turbo’s revenge. Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz are still best friends who hang out every night after work in Litwak’s Family Fun Center and Arcade. After expressing concerns with the increasing predictability of her game, Ralph tries to surprise Vanellope with a new hidden track in Sugar Rush. Vanellope enjoys the track, but goes against the controls of the player to ride it, causing the wheel on the console to get stuck, and Mr. Litwak inadvertently breaks the wheel while trying to unstick it.
Knowing that the company who made the part went out of business years ago, Litwak has no choice but to unplug Sugar Rush, rendering Vanellope and its citizens homeless. Ralph decides to venture with Vanellope via the newly installed Wi-Fi router to the Internet to find and purchase a new wheel for Sugar Rush from eBay.
This one was a lot of fun to experience — it’s honestly been a while since I have smiled this much watching a movie.
The story doesn’t try to replicate what made the first one special, this time around it felt like a “what happens after happily ever after” scenario. The characters start out living their lives, leading to some truly organic character development.
The humor was made for millenials and their kids, if you’re not up on your meme game a lot of these jokes and references will fly over your head.
The music was just right, giving off the right feel for those emotional and intense moments. And do I even need to talk about the visuals? It’s Disney!
Voice acting is everything I have come to expect from this franchise; returning actors like John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman don’t miss a beat as Ralph and Vanellope respectively. Alan Tudyk returns in a different role as Professor Knows It All, showing his mastery of the art of voiceover. And newcomers Taraji P. Henson, Alfred Molina and Gal Gadot all give solid performances.
This is how you do a sequel — put the same amount of love in it as its predecessor and expand on the universe while only retreading on older concepts as needed. It’s not for everyone, but a must see for the nerd crowd.
I give Ralph Breaks the Internet (Walt Disney Pictures; PG; 1hr 52mins) a 4.5 out of 5.
