***** outta *****

5 outta 5

Ralph Breaks the Internet is, amazingly, an improvement over the modern classic that was 2012’s Wreck-It-Ralph.  There is still the great character dynamic of the two leads yet this makes their emotional connection even deeper. The world building and character design, already great beforehand, is even more impressive. And it’s consistently hilarious with a lot of in-joke references for videogame and tech nerds. Also Ralph Breaks the Internet has classic Disney Princesses being incredibly perky and helpful and weird which is really awesome. This movie is a whole lot of everything but it never feels overstuffed, it’s simply a whole bunch of fun.

Wreck-It-Ralph (John C. Riley) and Venellope (Sarah Silverman) live inside the games at a small arcade, but one day Venellope’s kart racing game loses a steering wheel, rendering her machine useless and destined for the scrap heap. But with the new wi-fi connection Ralph and Venellope jump into the Internet to buy a new steering wheel off eBay. Unfortunately, as videogame characters, they don’t quite understand the concept of money and overbid by tens of thousands of dollars. Now with the clock ticking down, Venellope and Ralph enlist the help of a pop-up advertiser, Spamley (Bill Hader) to get as much cash as possible. They try hijacking a spiffy virtual car from Shank (Gal Gadot) in the Slaughter Race game but soon turn their attention to monetizing videos off a platform run by Yesss (Taraji P. Henson). But things get even more complicated when Venellope starts to like life on the web which freaks out Ralph. 

Riley and Silverman are both fantastic in their roles as the animation compliments their expressive performances. They’re best friends and have a very familial dynamic which makes when Venellope decides that she quite likes it in Slaughter Race heartbreaking for Ralph.  Unlike almost all big animated Disney movies there isn’t a real “villain” in Ralph Breaks the Internet which makes this different. This is more of a road trip film and any struggle comes from the main characters and their opposing ideas of happiness.  It’s a surprisingly mature and thoughtful conflict; if Ralph is Vanellope’s substitute dad this is about him letting go.

After Vanellope dives through the Disney portion of the Internet, dodging Star Wars stormtroopers – and rudely interrupting a panel by a famous Marvel character – she receives shelter from the fabulous Disney Princesses. Their characterizations are great as they keep reframing Venellope’s problem in their own Disney Princess-y way. When Venellope says that she needs insight they tell her she has to just stare into “special water” and she’ll start singing about it. The result is a sweeping Disney Princess style ballad about how Vanelleope loves the crazy violent Slaughter Race which is both really hilarious subversive and yet entirely perfectly earnest for her character.

Since Ralph and Vanellope spend so much of the movie on the Internet the original film characters really aren’t in it that much however they get in some great, funny stuff in the arcade before Ralph and Vanellope venture off.  The design of the Internet is sprawling and imaginative as the human query avatars are simple little pop up people that from website to website. Pop up ads are intrusive sign holding salesmen, the search engine is a nebbish bookworm and the comment section is to be feared. Hader is awesome as Spamley the pop-up ad guy as a charmingly old school con man.  Slaughter Race is a massive online multiplayer version of Grand Theft Auto as Godot’s Shank can be cold and ruthless but deep down her and her crew are progressive and understanding.  Yesss as the video views overlord is a snazzy, fast talking agent as Henson is very exuberant. Ralph’s progressively crazier attempts to get video views are hilarious as he simply, and badly, copies popular video trends.

Things get really heavy in the third act as Ralph’s desperate attempt to hold onto Vanellope spirals out of control. Their problems get continually crazier eventually unveiling a really awesomely designed giant monster and providing some big action. But the movie still remembers to slow way down. Even though the fate of the entire Internet is at stake it is still about the relationship between two characters as the chaos fades into the background. This is a big movie that keeps throwing out crazy funny ideas as the gags come at a zippy pace as co-director and former Simpsons veteran Rich Moore keeps it lively. It even has two post credit scenes, one is a scene involving bunnies eating pancakes that was made famous in the early trailers so they put in as a mid-credits stinger. Amusingly, even the kid in the post-credit scene notes that what they saw in the trailer wasn’t in the movie. Also at the very end is a very inside Internet joke reference that is worth sticking around until the end.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is a sequel that expands on the original and still is a very satisfying singular conclusion. There are a lot of awesome scenes with lots of big laughs. Also in unexpected places it has also a lot of heart and joy. And just about everything else.