Ralph Breaks The Internet: Maturing

Ralph Breaks The Internet is an animated adventure film directed by Phil Johnstone and Rich Moore. The plot follows Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), as they explore the internet. To Vanellope who is bored of the same old races in her game sees the internet as a wonderland of new opportunities whereas Ralph sees it and worries about losing his friend.

I think in many ways this is a step up for the first film, with a few issues just keeping it shy of getting the perfect score.

I enjoyed the personal feel of the film and thought Ralph’s arc of questioning his place in the new internet world and seeing it as a threat to the only friendship he has ever had feels earned after the events of the first film. The character actions make sense and feel like a natural next step for the Ralph, the emotional journey is handled in a deep and mature way which I also think is to the films credit.

I think the film uses the Internet in an interesting way that feels creative and full of imagination; I particularly enjoyed the scenes with the Disney Princesses and thought that they were the standout moments of the film. The new characters introduced here also standout Shank (Gal Gadot), is the perfect mentor character to Vanellope and already feels like an ingrained part of this world.

My issues with this film comes from the way it is paced. We get the same scene/ message over and over again, yes, they’re not exactly the same, but from a character development point of view they’re unnecessary and serve no purpose. To that point there are defiantly a number of sub-plots and underdeveloped side characters in this film that are used in a blatant attempt to pad the films runtime; which at close to one hour forty minutes seems far too long.

Overall, a solid sequel that builds nicely on what the first film sets up.

Pros.

The Disney Princess scenes

Using the internet in a novel way

The character development

Feeling natural and not like a tacked-on sequel

Cons.

Pacing issues that become very noticeable.

3.5/5

Reviewed by Luke

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