Ralph Breaks the Internet

The modern era of Disney's animated movies has been rather fascinating with the choices it's been making for this current generation. The point that marked the newest featured trends can be traced to their first computer animation projects in the 2010s with Tangled and Frozen relying on a mixture of comedy, song soundtracks, new environments to experiment with, and meta commentary that rely either on pop culture or Disney references. One of these successful projects from the studio was 2012’s Wreck-it-Ralph, which is one of my favorites out of the studios current batch of films. This brings us to Ralph Breaks the Internet, the sequel to that 2012 hit which was co-directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston (the former directed the predecessor). The marketing campaign seemed to be bank on the angle where it's displaying all of the properties that the studio owns and made it appear that this would be more "Disney Store The Movie" rather than a proper sequel. It gained a positive critical reception from critics but didn't seem to be popping up too much on social media. I went in ready to see how it followed up one of my favorites and left the auditorium liking it but feeling a little underwhelmed.

Thoughts on Wreck-it Ralph (2012): Taking place inside the video games of an arcade, the story follows a villain character who sets out to prove to the dwellers within his home that he can be hero (while causing unintended problems in the process). As mentioned before this is one of my favorite movies from the House of Mouse and one reason for this was the charm and nature of their world. A lot of care and detail was put into making the environment and characters feel lively. The type of prejudice here can even be attributed as practice for the studio's project that focused on it with Zootopia. The performances, action, comedy, and story all blend together so well that the only drawbacks for it would be the third act climax kinda being rushed against the antagonist. ⭑⭑⭑⭑1/2

Plot: Set 6 years after the predecessor, the story follows the lead protagonists friendship entering a new development as they go into the internet find a piece needed for one of the arcade games. This type of storyline might be a bit off-putting with how these individuals interact but upon a rewatch of the predecessor, their behaviors make natural sense given their history together from that adventure. In fact, the kind of growth they are going through is quite endearing and can be uncomfortable at times with how relatable such circumstances might be for some. It also deserves credit for limiting the screen time usage of the Disney properties shown in the trailers as they don't take over the film but rather help with the developing characters.

Outside of that, however, there's a weird unfortunate case of sequel-itis going on with the other elements being implemented here. There's a weird balance between sequences that work really well regarding the internet and a sizable portion of jokes that don't land as well as they think. Because the environment is the internet and properties owned by the studio, the meta commentary is overloaded, which can risk overstaying its welcome and can become tedious. It should be noted that the end credit scenes aren't really necessary to stay and wait for since one of them is actually in the trailers (it's one that is completely distant from the flow of the film).

Characters: The leads to focus on are Wreck-it Ralph (John C Reilly) and Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman). Ralph is the soft-hearted antagonist of his arcade game who undergoes growth during his adventure with Vanellope. John is proving to be having a good year with his career as he gives a good performance for a returning role of his where both the joy and emotional distress can be found in his solid delivery. Vanellope is a glitchy racer whose personal dilemma causes tension in her friendship with Ralph. Sarah gives the best performance of the film that manages to showcase a spunky fun attitude while conveying empathy for her situation. Honorable mentions goes Yess (Taraji P Henson), KnowsMore (Alan Tudyk), and J.P. Spamley (Bill Hader) for being great additions to the environment along with very enjoyable acting chops. A mixed honorable mention goes to Shank (Gal Gadot) for not being directed to act as a new character but rather as herself.

Overall Consensus: Ralph Breaks the Internet delivers on an endearing message, entertaining performances, and nice creativity but suffers from common sequel problems. ⭑⭑⭑1/4💻 Runtime: 1 hour 52 minutes PG

Reasons to watch it: You like any of the aforementioned actors. You enjoyed Wreck-it Ralph (2012). You like Disney's newest cliches and want to see product placement. You want to see a better interpretation of the internet than The Emoji Movie. You like friendship stories.

Reasons to avoid it: You ldisike any of the aforementioned actors. You didn't enjoyed Wreck-it Ralph (2012). You dislike Disney's newest cliches and don't want to see product placement. You are annoyed with friendship stories in family films.