Between you and me, Wreck-It Ralph is my Disney guy. I know. I know. “What about the frog?” Yeah, see, in the world of cartoons, frogs are princes. While I often feel like a frog, I have never felt like a prince. But Ralph? Off-putting, socially awkward, ill-adjusted to every situation, self-destructive, short-tempered, yet more-or-less good-natured? Yeah, I can identify with that a lot. And the part where Ralph latches on to something he likes as if there’s nothing else that exists? Guilty. So when Ralph Breaks the Internet actually boils down to Ralph being too needy as a friend, well, I have to take that personally. Oh, they’re not wrong; I just have to take it personally. *Sigh*
The title should have been “Ralph Wrecks the Internet.” Yes, they explained this in the trailer – “Breaks the Internet” is a thing while “Wrecks the Internet” is not. But he’s “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Breaking the Internet” conjures images of Kim Kardashian which one should never associate with a family film. Don’t overthink this, Disney.
In the six years since he first wrecked-it, Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) have lived peacefully in their limited arcade world enjoying the company of one another and swapping monster root beer burps in the bartending video game, Tapper — which really exists, who knew? The seeds of discontent have been sown. Hmmm, lousy metaphor. The bubbles of discontent have been belched, but only one party sees the lingering issue. Ralph is perfectly content to spend every.single.day in his version of “Cheers,” while Vanellope wants something more. And the franchise that taught us all about true friendship is off and running with more to say on the subject.
Since Ralph and Vanellope are video game characters, they are limited by a healthy number of taboos and 
restrictions. This doesn’t stop Ralph from creating a new driving path in Vanellope’s game “Sugar Rush” and when Vanellope herself battles a real-life arcade patron for control of the game, the steering wheel on the machine breaks and requires replacement. Locating such is easy, but who’s got the money to cover an Ebay fee? Rescuing Vanellope’s game will require Ralph and Vanellope to visit the internet itself.
Hey, the internet REALLY IS just a “series of tubes.” Thank you, Ted Stevens, what a brilliant and astute observation.
As with its predecessor, Wreck-It Ralph starts slowly and picks up momentum; by the time the pair find Disney.com, this film is genius. I will not overly discuss Princess Vanellope’s heart-to-heart with her royal peer group, but the insights and self-deprecation reveals in these scenes make the movie worth seeing by itself. The culmination of this magic comes in the form of Vanellope’s own subversive diddy “A Place Called Slaughter Race.” If you had told a young Sarah Silverman that one day she’d be singing a self-reflective princess ballad in a Disney box-office smash, how quickly do you suppose you’d get a smack across the face?
Ralph Breaks the Internet, likes its predecessor, is indeed subversive despite the glossy Disney packaging. Ralph’s tack is directly opposed to the standard Disney assumption that everything is well when –and only when- the hunky man finally arrives. As the first film reexamined villainy, this one reexamines friendship, specifically why friends grow apart – and how to react when they do. It need not be a tragedy and it need not be unnecessarily painful. This is an important message for, literally, just about every single child on the planet, and even some adult children, like the author of this review.
♪Switch on hulu like the account is all you
Select a film, ignore that pay-per-view
Don’t close your eyes cuz I dunno if it’s gonna last
It’s just a matter of time before that dude catches on
Welcome to the magic of pinching
The run time on Wreck-It Ralph is how long?
That was fun but now they’re in the know
Before the cops arrive I’ve got to go
Cool. Friends. One heck of a show
But before I hide my cool gizmo
I gotta know, my friend
When can I see this again? ♫
Rated PG, 112 Minutes
Director: Phil Johnston, Rich Moore
Writer: Phil Johnston & Pamela Ribon
Genre: Redefining friendship
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: People who don’t understand why friendships change
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Drones who don’t have a sense of humor about Princess obsession
♪ Parody Inspired by “When Can I See You Again?”
