Ralph Breaks the Internet

When Disney tries to tap into something as widespread and sometimes vastly inappropriate as the internet, it isn’t really able to fully go through with its coverage because of its family-friendly persona (which is something the Internet definitely doesn’t). While that element of Disney of always trying to appeal to all demographics rather than secluding out one is an admirable quality, its going to run into a conflict whenever they try and explore something out of their comfort zone. Ralph Breaks the Internet is an example of when it doesn’t work. Six years after the events of the first film, Wreck-It Ralph (voiced by John C. Riley) and Vanellope (voiced by Sarah Silverman) have stayed best friends and enjoy spending time with one another outside of their games. Whilst Ralph is content with this lifestyle, Vanellope claims that she’s grown tired of the repetitive nature of her game and wants something more. That very request may come to pass when Vanellope’s game, Sugar Rush, is broken and disconnected, with plans to throw the machine out for good as the price of a replacement part on eBay is too high for the arcade to afford. With an entire kingdom out of machine and home, both Ralph and Vanellope decide to head into the internet through the arcade’s recently installed Wi-Fi adapter in order to find the part required to save her game, but both find themselves distracted by this new world of the internet. With Ralph becoming internet famous as a means of paying for the part, and Vanellope getting caught up in an aggressive online racing-centre game called Slaughter Race which she might prefer over her old home, both characters will need to come to terms with their own problems before they get corrupted by the internet in more ways than simple metaphors. While the film did well critically and at the box office, Ralph Breaks the Internet fails to impress audiences when it came out, with many seeing it as a massive downgrade from its previous film. While not an awful film by any means, it struggles with several moments of rushed storylines, forced current jokes that seriously date the film, very little humor, and a script that raises cool concepts, but fails to execute them in a manner that’s consistent to the story and characters

For a follow-up to the 2017 animated film that gave a lot of focus to gaming, it’s bizarre that this film has practically nothing to do with that space anymore. Even though the premise has the potential to explore the world of online gaming, which would lead way into a lot of commentary that Disney would be capable of exploring, that element is ditched and is replaced with just a generic overview showcase of the internet, which can’t go to the appropriate extremes because its Disney. You can tell that the movie knows and is taking advantage of the previous film, but is somehow getting lost within its script to the point where it seems to go against several things established in the previous film. The directors of the movie, Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, worked on the first film, but some things must have just got lost in the delivery. The plot never seems to be able to stick to one specific path, always shifting to another goal after establishing one previously and never really returning to it afterwards (the sugar rush dilemma gets sidelined halfway through the film, and then gets hastily resolved in the very ending without much knowledge). While the film establishes a directive and a goal for the characters to follow, that all seems second-fiddle to what feels like the main focus of the film, presenting internet culture and memes to an annoyingly extreme degree. The time spent within the internet doesn’t do much outside of presenting things from the online culture, but without anything being said about them, as various internet memes, celebrities and lifestyles are addressed and then never seen from again. It makes the plot stale, the writing underwhelming, the pace long and meandering, and the atmosphere overly modern and no-longer timeless. The film is smart enough to keep one of the major focuses on the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope, which does lead way to some of the own intentionally smart commentary involving insecurities growing within the internet space, but even that isn’t explored to its fullest underneath everything else they’re throwing at the audience. One of the writers on this film along with Johnston was Pamela Ribon, who has been attached to a few sitcom and comedy-central series like Hot Properties, Samantha Who, and Mind of Mencia, and was also the creator of the Oscar-nominated 2022 short film, My Year of Dicks, so she seems capable, but her style just doesn’t seem to mash with the rest of the film’s atmosphere.

The characters that return are still very likeable and a lot of fun, but all aren’t used to the most of their potential. Ralph and Vanellope both have their own personal problems that while bluntly spell out, are unique issues that could be explored within this story to an interesting degree, but it comes at the cost of making both of them kind of selfish and unlikeable. A decision Ralph makes during the final act involving sabotaging Vanellope feels very hurtful and cruel, and Vanellope’s desire to escape her arcade and run away to another one not only comes across as very selfish and dismissive of her own people, but it pretty much throws away the entire point of the first film where she wanted to belong in her arcade, it just feels like a waste of time now. It’s not that these act out of character, but rather the writing is forcing them to make bad and mean decision in order to serve the story they’re telling rather than in service of their characters. With that said, John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman are still quite good as these roles, when they are allowed to just act like friends, they are pretty likeable together, and while the ending is pretty forceful and even a little distracting considering how much of the first film cemented how this shouldn’t be allowed (going Turbo and all that), it has an element of bittersweet-ness that could’ve been effective if handled better. Some familiar faces aren’t even given the chance to be wasted as Fix it Felix and Sergeant Calhoun (voiced by Jack McBrayer and Jane Lynch), despite playing a crucial role in the first film, are completely tossed aside for this movie outside of a single punchline joke at the end. This wouldn’t be a problem if the film had new characters to introduce and endear to the audience, but that sadly isn’t the case. The designs are very simple, the animation on them is good, and they are portrayed by decent voice actors like Bill Hader, Taraji P. Henson, and Gal Gadot, but they barely leave any impression on the audience, their scenes are minimal and don’t allow for a lot of character, and they just don’t have the same level of personalized charm that the cast from the first film had.

The film does suffer from not being especially funny. Despite how many current jokes are forced in through the Internet sections, it doesn’t go quite as painful as you’d expect, but it doesn’t feel like it’s trying to be funny most of the time. The first film was very funny either, but the stuff with the characters and the emotions distracted the audience well enough that it didn’t rely on it, and because these elements aren’t as strong as the first, it leaves an empty hole in this film. Arguably the only funny section of the film is when Vanellope travels to the Disney section of the internet and hangs out with the Disney princess, with a majority of them having their original voice actors return for this brief section. While it’s a short scene and in the context of the film, adds very little outside of a quick pep talk, it’s the only moment where the film feels like it’s got a good comedic edge as the multiple ways they mock the various tropes Disney been associated with in regards to their princesses is amusing and even pretty bold of them as a company (they can make fun of themselves when they want to, which is nice). There is another cute scene where Vanellope has a song number about wanting to live in this new game, and the preppy and whimsical tone matched with the aggressive and brutal nature of the game, is pretty entertaining, but any signs of humor are few and far between in this film. The animation in the film is very colorful and you can tell the effort that went into many portions of it from the character designs and the expressions, but it doesn’t showcase its world in a very interesting. The world of the internet, though very colorful and nice looking, looks like every other version of the internet made in film, which even the first film was able to showcase the video game space in a visually appealing while still being unique, whereas here there isn’t much creative being showcased in this film. This does change a bit during the climax where it uses the location to its advantage, knowing it can get away with more out-of-the-box aspects because of the endless possibilities of the environment and even manages to create a genuinely creepy creation that will stay in people’s minds after the film is complete.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is not an awful movie, and it does have its fair share of decent ideas behind it, but coming off the hills of what many people consider a great Disney film, the sequel doesn’t really live up to its predecessor. It still has an element of heart attached to it and some scenes are entertaining or even kind of clever, but the constantly changing plot points, the lack of any real humor in the film and its dated story and locations matched with the restriction from Disney’s involvement holds the film back from what it could’ve achieved. Wreck-It-Ralph has a lot of potential to explore the world of gaming and at first, the idea of showcasing that on the online space was a cool idea, but instead of following through with its basic premise, it went its own direction with its own ideas and messages that in many ways conflict with what this franchise is supposed to be about. It might work for some people, and it won’t be a painful sit to get through (despite how many internet memes are attached), but it’s not really something spending a ‘continue?’ on.