Chaos im Netz

"Ralph Breaks the Internet" truly surprised me. I was resistant to watching it during its theatrical run, despite being a big fan of its predecessor and knowing the pedigree of Walt Disney Animation. The marketing for this movie, which focused heavily on its new internet elements gave me more "Emoji Movie" vibes than classic Disney. "Look, we have Twitter references! Snapchat! Oh, and Star Wars and Disney princesses!" While I'm sure this strategy successfully got the butts of a lot of kids in theaters, it kept the butt of this cynical-but-otherwise-Disney-loving adult, firmly out. So, when I gave "Ralph Breaks the Internet" a watch recently, I was pleasantly surprised to find it contained all the consistent world-building, charming characters, and genuine heart of the original.

The sequel finds Ralph, and his best friend Vanellope living a charmed but otherwise stagnant life after the events of the first movie. While this stagnancy doesn't bother Ralph in the slightest, Vanellope (in true Disney princess fashion), makes it clear she wants more, and it's this tension that forms the root of the struggle of the story, including causing the catalyst that sends them on their journey to the internet.

I found myself as charmed by the movie's handling of the physical manifestation of the internet as I did by the original's handling of the lives of video game characters. (Side note: although the focus isn't nearly as high on video games as the original, there are still some fun elements there, such as musings on the grooming habits of a certain "Street Fighter" character.) The internet is a living world here, and the filmmakers clearly thought about all the ways they could have its well-known quirks inhabit themselves in the form of characters. Standouts for me were the pop-up street salesmen that aggressively touted their click-bait articles, and the search-engine worm character whose auto-fill was "a tad aggressive."

More than the handling of the world though, what I found truly surprising and compelling about this movie were its themes and the way it handled them. "Wreck-It Ralph" was a movie about identity and self-acceptance. "Ralph Breaks the Internet," far from being the cheap cash grab I thought it would be, actually continues those themes in ways I didn't expect, ways that I even think might even be new and challenging for kids.

Overall, "Ralph Breaks the Internet" was a much more worthy successor to the original film than I anticipated. If you're looking for a fun, humorous, imaginative movie that you can turn your brain off for, it provides all the necessary thrills. But it rarely loses sight of the characters and the heart that make these particular thrills so special.

"Ralph Breaks the Internet" seems like the poster child for "what could've been". I like the concept, and there are a couple of good laughs, but the execution is atrocious. I was really into the opening 30 minutes or so (everything inside the arcade is fun) but as soon as they actually make it onto the Internet, it's a downward tumble.

Not gonna lie, I'm disappointed on almost every level. What was heartwarming about the original "Wreck-It Ralph" is lost here. Yeah, it may be ambitious, but it's a waste of the Ralph/Vanellope relationship, the inherent humor of the arcade culture is gone and Disney hijacked the movie for their own (horrifying) studio marketing. Seriously, the Rodent's footprint is massive in this movie.

As a standalone film this was funny and nice to look at, but as a sequel it was terrible. Thus overall it was average. Wreck it Ralph is one of my favorite animated films - it managed to be an homage to retro gaming whilst telling a story about a misguided but loveable 'bad guy' finding out what really matters in life.

Ralph Breaks The Internet undoes all the good the first one did - Ralph is now an abusive (or should I say 'insecure') friend who has not one, but TWO cliche 'We were best friends and everything was perfect but now you did something that's upset me so I'm going to walk away and DON'T FOLLOW ME moments'. The film lacks any subtletly in dealing with its themes of toxic relationships (both personal and over the internet), and is far more comfortable in its amusing Internet references than it is in trying to make a statement.

There were so many missed opportunities to link it with the first film. For example, it is made clear that the allure of modern games is that they're constantly being updated and feel new. This was the perfect chance for the film to show that retro games, that always stay the same and live in our memory, have merit too. But nope, that didn't happen. To me, it feels like a Disney exec wanted to tell a story of the dangers / joys of the internet, and the dangers / joys of clingy friendships, but forced these messages into Wreck it Ralph where it just doesn't fit. It's used as a vehicle for this message, weaving its way around a bombardment of internet references in trying to do so.

I can understand why people enjoyed it - I laughed a lot during the first half, and one or two of the emotional moments were quite powerful. But in lacking any nuance or any reverence to the first film, I cannot recommend it to fans of the first.

So this film says you can pretty much ditch your best friends (friends who have been through every difficulty to help you for your own happiness) just because your dream says so.

This film was more about being politically correct and safe than being fun. The point is pretty much emphasized when all men are portrayed as insecure and women are portrayed as always sure and confident of themselves.

Seriously, movies and TV shows now a days are just becoming another mediums to promote political and reformative(according to who?) agenda.

In the antihero's second adventure, he and his friend have a series of online adventures. Probably the most important scene is when Vanellope visits Disney's website (because apparently the Mouse House is a shameless self-promoter). The whole sequence is basically Disney's reminder to us that it's on a mission to swallow all popular culture.

Basically, I got what I expected with "Ralph Breaks the Internet". Just watch it anticipating a bunch of corny stuff that the tykes will find entertaining and you won't be disappointed.