Ralph Breaks the Internet, but Not New Ground

Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

Ralph Breaks the Internet was a slow build with a worthy finish. I was very skeptical about this movie after the trailers focused so much on lame Internet jokes and a rehash of the Austin Powers mole sequence, and it did not start out strong. I checked my watch 30 minutes into the movie and audibly sighed. The first act was reintroducing characters in the most cursory fashion possible and then introducing the Internet in an equally shallow way. Visually it was cool, but it was bogged down with exposition about what the Internet is, but it actually did a horrible job of describing and portraying the Internet. For the first 10 minutes in the Internet, I felt like the movie should be paying me to watch because of all of the cheap plugs for different sites and services. It was lazy and forced and I was getting upset, but then the movie changed on a dime. The Internet jokes became more layered and Ralph Breaks the Internet started to have heart and character stand out over the blaring product placement. Once Ralph and Vanellope face actual conflict of needing money, the movie finally brings out the Disney magic. After slogging through the first act, the second act brings evenly paced action, comedy, and consistent references as the protagonists complete their basic fetch-quest. The third act brought the emotion, which wasn’t as impactful as Wreck-It-Ralph, but it still gave a powerful and important message about friendship. The message felt more directed at teens and young adults than it did children, but that may just be me projecting my experiences. What Ralph Breaks the Internet did better than its predecessor was utilize all of the licenses for games and movies to create a world with more Easter Eggs than anything except for Ready Player One. Many original voice actors appeared in cameo roles, like Ming-Na Wen as Mulan and Anthony Daniels as C-3PO. The best use of licensed characters was with the Disney princesses. I was afraid that the best part of their roles was in the trailer, but they were given an opportunity to really shine. While on the topic of Disney princesses, I am very reticent to judge Frozen 2 based on the trailer after the credits, but you should all stay and watch to form your own opinions. Besides the weak first act, the only other major problem I had with the movie was its flippant approach to the Internet. It made it seem like making money online is very easy and that the dangerous parts of the Internet are cute and not really dangerous. A lot of parents are going to have to explain to their kids that YouTube videos cannot make them thousands of dollars in one day with minimal work. Overall, I enjoyed Ralph Breaks the Internet, even though it was deeply flawed. I give it 16 out of the 25 cents it used to cost to play arcade games.