Ralph Breaks the Internet

The sugar rush of Ralph Breaks the Internet shocks you with sweet characters and cute humor for a joyride that takes too long to show its depth. Writers Phil Johnson and Pamela Ribon fully dedicated their time to saturate this adventure with timely references and satirical quips about Disney and Social Media as a whole, which took precedence over the consistency of the overarching story.

During the first hour, I was beginning to check my watch, growing nervous about what this film was trying to be. The tone is so forced with perfect happiness that it drags on the first act longer than it should. Everyone is living the dream, their previous “rough around the edges” personalities and faults from Wreck-It Ralph are completely abandoned to the point where it seems like everything is fake. There are moments where this is done intentionally to begin Vanellope’s conflict, but it goes beyond her struggle and controls other characters’ actions. Why is everyone so happy, peaceful, and blissful? What happened in the six years between these two stories? Apart from Ralph and Vanellope, there are no arguments, hints of sadness, dread, or frustration, unless it is quickly done to pull off a joke (especially with Fix-it-Felix Jr. and Calhoun).

Luckily this strange tone and slow pacing only happens until Ralph and Vanellope leave everything they know from the arcade to enter the Internet, abandoning any subplots from familiar characters that are, for some reason, set up a few minutes before. This film is only about these two characters, and the colorful, mainly-female, cast of new characters that await them. Gal Gadot’s Shank and her gang are brief but brilliant in terms of showing online MMO’s, Los Angeles racing games, and family values in rough places. Slaughter Race’s animation fits more with computer graphics than Disney’s refined CGI, which fully immerses its audience through the attention to detail. The princesses were perfect, each one highlighting their gifts to save the day with cute solutions that organically fit within the story.

Just because the characters get better, and the humor is strong throughout, does not mean the narrative gets better. The true, underlying conflict between Ralph and Vanelope is hinted at from the very beginning, but not fully introduced until the midpoint of the film. Each beat of tension is solved immediately, short and shallow. The buildup to the character’s realization of their faults is almost pushed aside; several times they point it out but are interrupted with other—less meaningful issues—so they decide to talk about it later. Once the ending of the film arrives, the heartbreaking reality of the two characters’ friendship matches the quality of the Toy Story films, but it comes completely out of left field—even when the film was supposed to go in that direction the entire time. The final two scenes elevate this film to a noteworthy level of universality and timeless quality, but you have to sit through shallow obstacles and quick character moments before you reach it.

It is a fun ride with several heartbreaking scenes, great comedy, and solid core characters. It just takes a long time to excel in these areas. The witty writing expands this world from its predecessor, fully realizing how to show The Internet through visuals and humor, but it ignores many conflicts’ resolutions in order to move on to funnier jokes. The two central characters show depth and solid development, but many of my favorite characters from the last film were generalized into cute, happy punch lines. I thoroughly enjoyed this film; I just struggled to find its quality from the slow pacing of the beginning and its uncomfortably forced happiness.

P.S. the two end-credit scenes are some of the funniest scenes I have ever scene. The credits comedically have a scroll bar on the right side of the screen, so you can see when the scenes are coming up. I highly recommend you stay through the credits, it is well worth the extra time in the theater.

Story Rating: 6/10

Character Rating: 6/10