If you are looking for an entertaining family film for the holiday season, the animated movie “Ralph Breaks the Internet” fills the bill. Directors Phil Johnston and Rich Moore (“Zootopia”) have crafted a picture that has something for both adults and children in this sequel to 2012’s “Wreck-It Ralph,” also directed by Moore.
Once again we find ourselves in Litwak’s Family Fun Center and Arcade. After the last movie, Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) of the Sugar Rush game are now best friends. When the arcade closes for the night, they, along with the other game characters, gather and enjoy themselves. Ralph in particular likes the routine.
They soon discover that Mr. Litwak (Ed O’Neill) is improving the arcade by installing the mysterious WiFi, which leads to the Internet, an unknown realm. As a new day is about to begin, Vanellope complains that her racing routine, which she always wins, is becoming too monotonous for her. Ralph decides to spice things up in her game by creating a new track.
When Vanellope goes off-road onto this new path, she wrests control of the game from the girl who is playing it inside the arcade. Desperate to regain control, the girl ends up destroying the steering wheel for the game. A replacement steering wheel is available on Ebay, but it costs $200. Mr. Litwak does not want to pay this money, so the game is going to be shut down until it can be hauled away in a few days.
All of the characters in Sugar Rush abandon the game and become homeless. Ralph realizes that he is the cause of this dilemma and he decides to venture onto the Internet to get the steering wheel from Ebay.
Once he and Vanellope go through the WiFi unit to the world of the Internet, the film takes on an entirely new dimension. The Internet is visualized as a super-modern metropolis with flying vehicles and towering skyscrapers representing the most powerful websites.
Ralph and Vanellope unfortunately bid up the price on the steering wheel not knowing that they will need to buy the product at the inflated price. Needing to make money, they end up in a crime-filled, dangerous game called “Slaughter Race,” where Vanellope takes on Shank (Gal Gadot) and her gang.
Vanellope discovers that she really likes the game and feels that her place is there. She is encouraged by Shank to fulfill her destiny and join the game. Ralph of course is shattered when he hears the news that Vanellope may stay in the Internet game and abandon the arcade. In his attempt to rectify the situation by placing a virus in “Slaughter Race,” Ralph sets chaos afoot in the Internet.
The basic theme of friendship and what being a friend means anchors the film. It may be instructive for younger children to ask themselves the question of whether or not you can be friends if you don’t always like the same things. Is it possible to be friends from a distance?
The movie is extremely clever, whether it is spoofing how things operate on the Internet or incorporating other Disney properties such as the Star Wars universe into the film. The wittiness and cultural references are akin to that of “Teen Titans Go! To the Movies” and “Lego Batman,” even if they don’t reach the latter’s level of excellence.
There is an extremely charming sequence when Vanellope ends up entering the dressing room for the Disney princesses. As she is a princess in her own arcade game, they end up bonding. That no one understands Princess Merida from “Brave” is particularly humorous.
Other featured characters include KnowsMore (Alan Tudyk) as the anticipator of queries based on initial words and Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), who controls the algorithms for memes. Ralph enlists Yesss’s help in creating several wacky memes in an attempt to get likes (aka money) to buy the steering wheel.
The appearance of a musical number, “A place called Slaughter Race,” is a stand-out of irony. Vanellope extols the virtues of this violent game as it were Cinderella’s castle.
John C. Reilly does an excellent job voicing Ralph as a well-meaning if sometimes clueless character. He adds an everyman quality to the depiction of what could be an annoying portrayal.
Gal Gadot adds much to the character of Shank in her voicing. She conveys both the sternness as required by her game and the mutual admiration of a fellow talented race-car driver. Her bond with Vanellope seems utterly believable despite the differences between them.
The fact that every person is familiar with the Internet means that there is a low threshold for appreciating the technical allusions in the film. For adults, there are no pressing lessons to be learned (unless you failed the life course on friendship). So you can just sit back and enjoy the ride for what it’s worth.
The movie has some scary moments that are more like the villians in Disney films from the fifties and sixties. So they should not be too terrifying for children. There also is enough slapstick and action to entertain the younger audience.
I give the creators bonus points for crafting a sequel that took these characters out of their familiar realm. I also liked the creativity of the screenplay and the animation. This movie will not change the world, but it is an entertaining and worthwhile view.
Rating: Three and a half out of five stars
In “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” video-game bad guy Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) and best friend Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman) leave the comforts of Litwak’s arcade in an attempt to save her game, Sugar Rush. Their quest takes them to the vast, uncharted world of the internet where they rely on the citizens of the internet—the Netizens—to help navigate their way. Lending a virtual hand are Yesss (voice of Taraji P. Henson), the head algorithm and the heart and soul of the trend-making site “BuzzzTube,” and Shank (voice of Gal Gadot), a tough-as-nails driver from a gritty online auto-racing game called Slaughter Race, a place Vanellope wholeheartedly embraces—so much so that Ralph worries he may lose the only friend he’s ever had.
Voice cast: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Alan Tudyk, Alfred Molina, Ed O’Neill, Timothy Simons, Ali Wong, Hamish Blake, Glozell Green and Taraji P. Henson.
Directors: Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
"Ralph Breaks the Internet" mixes friendships and fun
Summary
If you are looking for an entertaining family film for the holiday season, the animated movie “Ralph Breaks the Internet” fills the bill.
I give the creators bonus points for crafting a sequel that took these characters out of their familiar realm. I also liked the creativity of the screenplay and the animation. This movie will not change the world, but it is an entertaining and worthwhile view.