Ralph Breaks the Internet is a sequel that transcends its original with a unique story about friendship and moving on that many will enjoy
When Walt Disney Animation Studios released Wreck-It Ralph in 2012, many rolled their eyes at a movie that wore its love of advertising on its sleeve. But underneath the corporate synergy was a sweet tale of a video game character trying to rewrite the persona society imposed upon him. It’s sequel, Ralph Breaks the Internet (why not Ralph Wrecks the Internet?), is much of the same, but with an added infusion of awareness regarding nostalgia and its limiting factors. Ralph Breaks the Internet may be littered with Disney logos, but at its surface is a movie about growing up and moving on… and still loving Disney princesses.
Six years have passed since video game character Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) discovered he didn’t have to wreck everything. Now inseparable from the adorable Vanellope von Schweetz (voiced by Sarah Silverman), the two find their friendship threatened when Vanellope’s game is threatened with being unplugged. Using the newly installed arcade Wi-Fi, the two travel the internet in search of a new game controller, only for Vanellope to find herself pulled to the madcap racing world of Slaughter Race.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2. (2018) Photo Credit: Disney
Wreck-It Ralph established a breathtaking world of video game references and corporate in-jokes to make a world that felt 100 percent lived-in and realistic. Ralph Breaks the Internet does that one better, manifesting life into the internet in a way that makes so much sense. Ralph and Vanellope are overcome with the differences between their small arcade world, where the main point of entry looks like a train station, and the bustling metropolis that is the internet.
Literal tweets fly through the air, clicking a spam link takes you to a shadowy office building straight out of a film noir. Every conceivable element of this world has been thought of and transformed into a real city, making Ralph Breaks the Internet a film designed for rewatches to catch everything.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2. (2018) Photo Credit: Disney
But much like the first film was about finding one’s own identity in a world of clearly defined roles, Ralph Breaks the Internet is about setting out to redefine yourself. Vanellope is getting restless in the world of Sugar Rush, where all the roads are the same, yet she worries, “if I’m not a racer, who am I?” The script positions Vanellope as a young woman who wants to go out into the world and find herself, and how that butts up against her best friend, Ralph’s, love of the same old thing. Though the central conceit is friendship and how friends negotiate their relationship in the wake of moving, it’s also worth exploring how the film plays with gender and Ralph’s insecurity about being alone.
The movie is nothing without its brilliant voice cast. Reilly’s performance as Ralph bonds you to a character who is a walking manifestation of insecurity, literally if you consider the third act which draws from the likes of King Kong. Reilly’s befuddled reactions to things like “Ebay” are hilarious because they feel like dad jokes, something directly referenced in the film. Silverman took a character who could have been treacly sweet with her “duty” jokes and turns Vanellope into a little girl/young woman who, like the Disney princesses she interacts with, wants to become an independent person. Her relationship with Ralph isn’t completely father/daughter, but there is an unspoken element of fear between the two in how she and Ralph will be able to let go of each other.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2. (2018) Photo Credit: Disney
In Vanellope’s quest to find her own definition of home, she enters the world of Slaughter Race, a video game that plays like Grand Theft Auto meets Need for Speed. Silverman’s rendition of a song about the game is sidesplittingly funny and simultaneously lampoons Disney’s own history of musical reflections. But anyone over the age of 20 will really connect with her sentiment of wanting to find belonging in a new place. Helping her come into her own is Slaughter Race‘s leader, Shank (voiced by Gal Gadot). Having Wonder Woman herself voice a tough video game character does a lot, and much like Ralph, Gadot’s Shank doesn’t see Vanellope as a little girl; she’s an equal.
Since the film is about Vanellope’s state of becoming the majority of Wreck-It Ralph’s characters are shunted to the side. Jack McBrayer’s Fix-It Felix and Jane Lynch’s Calhoun have a great cameo as they adopt 15 children left homeless by Sugar Rush’s closure. The emphasis, though, is on new characters. Bill Hader’s J.P. Spamley makes an impression as a shady spambot with an utterly creepy sidekick.
Ralph Breaks the Internet: Wreck It Ralph 2. (2018) Photo Credit: Disney
But, marketing wise, the movie’s bread and butter is in the reunion of nearly all of Disney’s princesses, nearly all of whom are voiced by their original actresses. In a movie all about moving on from childish things, there is a tacit acknowledgment of how some things never change. More specifically, how a love of Disney is eternal. Is this a cheap marketing ploy? You bet. But it’s a marketing ploy that works so well. If you grew up on Jodi Benson’s Ariel, Paige O’Hara’s Belle, or Ming-Na Wen’s Mulan, you’ll tear up hearing them take their characters to a new generation. Earlier this year, controversy brewed over lightening the skin of Princess Tiana (voiced again by Anika Noni Rose), but it’s also worth pointing out how slim all the princesses’ faces look. It’s noticeable in the animation of some characters (Ariel, especially) than others and a troubling sign that things have changed.
Regardless of princess slimming, Ralph Breaks the Internet takes the characters into a whole new world, relying on Disney tropes of old and moving them into an environment that’s changed so much since video games were in vogue. Beautifully acted and animated, if you didn’t enjoy the first film, this one will make you a believer.