RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET: A Sequel That Buffers

With the internet monotonously scanning users’ individual tastes for advertisement sake, the folks at Disney have put together an ad scheme in Ralph Breaks the Internet that caters to everyone’s shopping cart. America adores marvelous animation to match big hearted splendor, especially when socio-political issues are brought to the fore. But be forewarned, for all its sincerity, the sequel, like everyone’s favorite galoot, plays as if it were begging for likes.

A lot has happened since the original Wreck-It Ralph released in 2012. Prominently the swift rise of the digital age. So it is only fitting for Disney to take Pixarish ambition while serving audiences a pixelated snapshot of the Snapchat era. Truth be told, I found the original to be a soaring evocation of friendship. A cuddly reminder that friendship doesn’t come without glitches, while all the while revealing that heroics aren’t measured in physical strength, but rather, from the strength of one’s heart. Which begs the question, did this series really need fixing?

That isn’t to say directors Phil Johnson and Rich Moore don’t add a number of zealous updates. By the same token, let’s start with the dynamics of the plot. Picking up where we left off at the archaic arcade, where classic games illuminate forgotten weathered carpets and wooden panels that once proved to be a mecca in the late ’70s, now make way for the the ambiguous internet. (There was a time when guests on the Today Show reveled in a state of ambivalence towards the growth in contemporary internet technology). This film takes place today, of course. But that doesn’t mean society is without concern. We are perhaps in fear of cyberspace now more than ever.

So when the internet finally arrives, it impedes gravely upon Ralph, Vanellope, and fellow video game characters like the monolith did in 2001: A Space Odyssey. The lumbering Ralph and the endearing little miss Vanellope gaze at the wireless router with disdain and awe. She is voiced with clarion cuteness by Sarah Silverman. She’s a racer out of the arcade game “Sugar Rush”, driving with youthful aplomb through Candyland hues while never losing sight of her soft wide-eyed curiosity.

He is voiced with lovable aloofness by John C. Reilly, with a slow confused pitch that doesn’t sound all too different from Reilly as Dale Doback in Step Brothers. Here, he plays the once villain of an ’80s arcade game turned good guy, a ham-fisted (literally, a football looks like a pebble in relation to his hands) protagonist with unswerving affection for his pal Vanellope. They, and we, are forced to brave the internet in search of “Sugar Lands” broken controls.

Losing Hold of the Wheel

Which is where the film loses control. Though the animated internet proves to be a sheen megalopolis brimming with pop-culture squibs and metaphors, by turns, it is above all a means for commercial commerce. An entertainment machine churning corporate products to presumably the highest bidder. After the two accidentally purchase the game’s steering wheel from eBay for $27,000, they venture in search for money while dodging: human avatars, relentless kid friendly pop-up-adds, fluttering blue twitter birds, a Target store with bow and arrow targets, and unabashed Disney product excess that ranges from Storm Troopers to meta princesses, to even a Stan Lee cameo.

Granted, these marvels tend to be assuredly cute, there is a brooding cynical undertone to princess playtime with Snow White, Moana, Ariel, among the rest of the gang in Disney’s Magic Kingdom – this is sure to spell fireworks for toy sales.

Paradoxically, the selling point for Ralph Breaks the Internet is its all-inclusivity. There is a lot going on here. It is in fits and spurts a buddy comedy, then, a quest for acceptance, then, a quasi-cautionary tale about the internet, and by degrees, a satire of modern culture basking in an indulgence of product placement. But the overarching theme, and it’s what makes this latest Disney feature watchable, is its cementing portrait of friendship that holds this sporadic world together. These two best friends don’t need to have the same dreams, but that doesn’t mean they can’t have the same goal.

So the two are off to the races, hoping to cash in on the game “Slaughter Race” to come up with some much needed money. This Grand Theft Auto meets the Apocalypse game is fabricated twofold. For Vanellope, the swagger of head honcho racer Shank (Gal Gadot) feels like belonging, leaving Ralph feeling omitted by their bonding. But Ralph is no stranger to obstacles in the game of life. Trading breaking buildings for breaking the internet, he becomes a bona fide meme on the fittingly named Buzztube; from eating habanero peppers to photoshopping his face on a goat, he desperately needs to get likes for cash.

Ralph Breaks The Internet: Conclusion

The problem is that, in failing to find genuine emotion and cogent narrative structure, the movie itself becomes rather hard to like. Rarely do we take a pit stop for rumination. Instead, the sequel decides to rummage through a myriad of story-lines, when merely honing in on the two’s winsome friendship would have sat perfectly fine with this viewer. Whereas kids might dismiss its flaws for an uplifting swirl of inconsequential sugary adventure, adults might be hard pressed in their quest to find nutritional value.

Furthermore, does anyone find it odd that one diverting message asks, who needs to leave the house when the World Wide Web is at our fingertips? I might add, why leave the house to see this passable picture, when it will be available in a few short months at home?

Have you seen Ralph Breaks the Internet? What are your thoughts? Do you prefer the original or the sequel? Let us know in the comments below! 

Ralph Breaks the Internet releases November 21, 2018.