Disney Movie Challenge
Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)
Ralph Breaks the Internet is only the second sequel to a Disney Animated movie to get a full theatrical release after The Rescuers Down Under (1990) (I don’t count Fantasia 2000 as a sequel). The movie takes place 6 years after the first one which is the amount of time between films. Most of the cast is back but besides Ralph and Vanellope they are relegated to mostly secondary characters.
The sequel starts with Ralph and Vanellope living a good life. They work all day in their video games then hang out all night drinking root beer and talking. But Vanellope isn’t that happy. She is bummed by the same old routine. When Ralph tries to help her things go wrong and the Sugar Rush game breaks. To prevent the game from being unplugged Ralph and Vanellope must go to the internet and buy a new part from eBay. But things start to fall apart when Vanellope finds the car racing game Slaughter Race. The game gives her everything she dreamed of in a racing game. Ralph sees the game as extremely dangerous and doesn't want to lose his friend. Vanellope must decide if she wants to stay or go home, and Ralph must learn that friendship is more than just hanging out.
To say this is a strange movie for Disney is an understatement. The film is about a video game character having an existential crisis, has no main villain, and openly mocks Disney Princess tropes. So where do you even begin to talk about this movie? I'm going to begin with a few of the negatives. First, it's really long. At 1 hour 52 minutes it is the second longest Disney Animated Film of all time (Fantasia still holds the record at 2 hours 5 minutes). As you get close to a certain point you think it’s going to end but it keeps going. Then the movie started to lose me. I just kept thinking when will this movie end. The next issue I had was more of a question I kept thinking about after it ended, and that is are there too many product placements in the film? I get that when you’re placing the movie in the internet it’s cool to see some recognizable brands. And the joke about Google being where you go for goggles is kind of funny. It all seemed like too much and in 10 years will likely make the film seem dated. It also remind me of The Emoji Movie which got panned for some of the same things that Ralph Breaks the Internet does.
While the internet seemed like too much pop culture references it was beautifully animated. Everything looked great and I loved the way they represented certain internet traits like the pop up ads and the intuitive search bar. I thought it was super creative the way they designed how information moves and made the internet feel like a real place.
The movie also examines what it means to be friends and how friendships change over time. Right from the start we see two perspectives and know that they will clash. Vanellope states that she is tired of the same routine and Ralph responds about how he is living his best life. When Vanellope finds Slaughter Race and realizes that this is what she wants to do, we see her grapple with the decision. We also see how badly Ralph reacts to her choice. One of the final obstacles they face is a virus version of Ralph called Ralphzilla. Ralphzilla is creepy as hell and the stuff of nightmaresm but the way they beat Ralphzilla feels like a bit of a cheat. Basically the real Ralph has a therapy session and “cured his insecurities”. It kind of works for the theme of the film it doesn't work 100%. Of course in the end they are friends again and yet everything has changed. Here is where the movie reminds me of one of my favorite Pixar movies Inside Out. Both movies deal with feelings and how people change. Another similarity is that neither movie has a main protagonist.
While not a major part of the film I feel it’s important to talk about how the Disney Princess are portrayed. As I mentioned earlier the movie pokes fun at a lot of the Disney Princess tropes. Like talking to animals, needing a man to fix your problems, and singing a song while staring at water. The way it was done was pretty smart. While it was poking fun at those tropes it was never poking fun at the Princesses themselves (except Merida from Brave, who some thing they poked fun at because Brave beat the first Wreck-It Ralph at the Oscars). There is actually a really fun scene where the Princesses get their own Avengers style team up, and it makes me want to see more of that team up. They also give Vanellope a Princess song of her own. To make it feel like an authentic Princess song they brought in Alan Menken (The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast) to write her song.
Overall: This is a fun movie that does feel a bit too long but kind of makes up for it with a powerful story about friendship.
Random Facts:
They brought back most of the original voices for the princesses. The exceptions are Snow White, Cinderella, and Aurora. Mary Costa who voiced Aurora is still alive but it was determined that an 88 year old couldn’t do a convincing voice of a 16 year old princess.
The only voice actor not to return from the original film is Mindy Kaling who voiced Taffita in the first movie.
A bit of controversy surrounded the Princess scene prior to release. Many complained that Tiana and Pocahontas' faces were lightened and given a more European shape. This was changed prior to the film’s release.
There is a mid credit scene featuring a scene that was in the trailer but cut from the movie. The filmmakers turned into a joke where a kid complains about the scene not being there.
There is also a post credit scene with Ralph “Rick Rolls” the audience.
Besides the Princesses the movie features various nods to other Disney owned products like Star Wars and Marvel. Vin Diesel reprises his role for Baby Groot and Anthony Daniels reprises his role as C3PO. Tim Allen also makes an appearance as Buzz Lightyear. There is even a Stan Lee cameo. The animators did ask Lucasfilm permission to use Kyle Ren but were denied.
Screenwriter of Wreck-It Ralph Phil Johnston pulled double duty on this one getting a promotion to assistant director in addition to screenwriter. Jennifer Lee who co-wrote the first one did not work on this film as she was working on Frozen 2. Pamela Ribon did come on board as co-writer and wrote most of the princesses’ scenes. She also ended up voicing Snow White.
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