Ralph Breaks the Internet (Reviews)
Ralph Breaks the Internet Manages to Take Things to Level 2.
This year we’ve seen some good animated film and some bad animated movies, but none of them have been anything like Ralph Breaks the Internet. The film is a testament to how far Marvel has come over the years and a gentle reminder that they own everything that we hold dear in our hearts. Now, if it were only that, then Ralph Breaks the Internet would be absolutely terrifying (though I was hoping for a “shadowy place” joke at some point). However, this takes everything we loved from the first film and adds a surprisingly deep look at toxic friendships. Needless to say, it had a lot of what I was expecting but tossed in quite a bit that I wasn’t. The only downside is this film is that it can be at times like it’s protagonist, a bit heavy-handed.
John C. Reilly returns as the lovable doofus Ralph. Personally, I don’t thin there’s any one better to play such a part, as Reilly proved in The Sisters Brothers earlier this year. There’s no one in Hollywood better at playing an endearing simpleton. He’s joined by Sarah Silverton who plays the plucky, if not somewhat obnoxious, Vanellope. They slip into the roles like comfortable old robes and play them perfectly. Of course, there are a lot of returning characters, but it’s the new additions that really get a chance to shine, including Wonder Woman herself (Gal Gadot) and Proud Mary (Taraji P. Henson) in major roles. While Gadot struggles at parts to make her character really pop with personality, Henson tackles the role with infectious enthusiasm. Altogether, the voice acting is everything you expect from the high bar that Disney has set over the years when it comes to their animated films.
While Wreck-It Ralph tackled video games, this film dives deep into the internet. The world that directors Phil Johnston and Rich Moore create to represent the net is pretty incredible. I was surprised to see a number of popular websites signing on to have representations of themselves appear in Ralph Breaks the Internet. Everything from Amazon to Pinterest to even Google shows up in one way or another, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The film goes far as to tackle pop-ups, viruses, and even the darknet (though their version is nowhere near as scary as the one we see in Unfriended: Dark Web), and at the center of all this is Henson who plays an algorithm on a popular video site. She’s a trendsetter who understands everything you have to know about the internet in order to be successful. In other words, she’s a meme queen, which is just the cherry on top of this films takes on the internet in general.
What surprised me the most about Ralph Breaks the Internet though is just how comfortable Disney was at poking fun at itself. Of course, Vanellope wonders into the Disney site and manages to encounter all sorts of characters from Baby Groot to Storm Troopers to even Stan Lee himself. However, it’s this films hard look at the inherent sexism behind the Princesses that really got me laughing. Every single Disney princess makes an appearance (save for Leia Organa) and all of them seem pretty fed up with the stereotypes most of them embody. Vanellope manages to show them the errors of their ways and eventually, the Princesses shed their gowns for more comfortable lounging clothing and spend time talking about how everyone thinks that men came along and solved all their problems. It’s nice to know that a company that owns so much of my childhood is good-natured enough to come to terms with their past faults and has started to become more woke.
The animation in Ralph Breaks the Internet shows meticulous attention to detail. This is most noticeable in the way the characters move through the internet. While the characters that strictly exist in the digital world are fluid and lively, the avatars of the people surfing the net are essentially Funko pops wondering around oblivious to everything going on behind the scenes. While these are pretty funny moments, it’s watching the characters in online games moving around that really cracked me up. The way they constantly adjust and tweak around while trying to talk to in-game characters struck home with me as one of those gamers that refuses to stand still while characters are trying to talk to me.
While there were a ton of things I really liked about Ralph Breaks the Internet, it’s far from perfect. As I mentioned, Gadot is a bit flat and uninspired with her character. There’s also the heavy-handed way that the film tackles toxic co-dependent relationships, which is a topic a bit too deep for an animated movie filled with Disney Princesses. Don’t get me wrong, it’s a solid lesson for kids to learn, but it’s far from the typical morals we learn from Disney’s fairytale-esque films. It just feels like a bit awkward at times seeing something so high brow shoved into the film. Of course, that doesn’t negate all the good things that Ralph Breaks the Internet has to offer. It’s a solid film, and one of the better animated movies I’ve seen this year. It’s definitely not going to win for best picture. That doesn’t mean that it isn’t a film that the whole family will enjoy. It’s one that’s worth the price of admission, and even the extra for 3D glasses. All in all, Ralph works in a lot of ways and the places where it doesn’t don’t drag the film too much.
