Ralph Breaks the Internet - Review

When Wreck-It Ralph was released in 2012, I get the feeling that they had an idea of creating a movie like Toy Story but with Arcade video game characters. The problem was that because it was a brand new property, Disney was limited in the amount of creativity they were able to exercise. Now, six years later, after Wreck-It Ralph was a hit, Disney now has the opportunity to take this story of arcade video game characters into a new generation and explore many different opportunities with the Internet.

So Ralph and Vanellope, two characters from arcade games are the best of friends and often hang out with each other after the arcade closes for the day. However, when Vanellope's game get unplugged, it's up to Ralph and Vanellope to go to the Internet to find the part that will fix Vanellope's game, Sugar Rush. How to get that part? A little place called 'ebay'.

This is where the movie shines. With characters limited to a single arcade, there are only so many opportunities you can go with. In the last film, we only got to see about four different game locations. Now, with the internet, there are endless possibilities. However, it would be very easy to simply list off a bunch of different jokes that relate to the Internet and cell phones and current technology, but what works is that each Internet joke is not only funny, but it serves the story.

For example, Ralph and Vanellope need to find out where they are able to buy the missing part for the Sugar Rush arcade machine. So, they go to their local 'search bar' to find out what direction to go. It would serve the story's purpose if the little purple dude behind the counter simply pointed them in the right direction, but the filmmakers knew that this was an opportunity for a good joke. Before Ralph could even finish his sentence, the search guy would keep interrupting him attempting to guess what he was going to say, much like any search engine on the internet. This movie is full of moments like that and they all get laughs out of me. Something that the first movie was unable to do. Going to a version of YouTube called BuzzTube, going into a game called Slaughter Race, and having Vanellope meet with all the Disney princesses and having a musical number come out of nowhere, it's all so fun and it kept a smile on my face.

However, the main reason why I enjoyed this movie more than the original was because of the message. The first film was all about identity. Ralph was programmed to be the bad guy. Nothing more, nothing less. And Vanellope was outcast from her game because she had a glitch. Both characters were outcasts and the movie told us that we can do anything we want to do. This movie's message is about friendship, but not in the way that you would think. In my mind, this message is actually pretty mature for a kids film. The message is that friendships change. People move to different places, decide to do other things and some of these decisions may cause the friendship to be altered. A true friend has to accept another person's decisions. They can't simply own their life and be selfish, they have to take into account what the other person wants. Without giving too much away, that is the main struggle in this movie. There is no surprise villain, it's simply a conflict of friendship. Disney is the best at delivering messages like that to children and they do a great job here.

So if you liked the first film, then I definitely recommend Ralph Breaks the Internet. Or, if you are like me and weren't a big fan of the first film, I would still say give this movie a shot. It's creative, it's funny and it has a lot of heart. Disney gives us another hit this holiday season.