As a consequence of the Covid-19 pandemic, my mom has spent a lot of time in-doors binging movies and sometimes demands that I watch a movie with her. I kind of hate it, but I figure that if I have to be forced to watch a movie, I should mine it for content. So, today we’re talking about Ralph Breaks the Internet.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is the 2018 sequel to Wreck-It Ralph, a video game themed Disney movie that’s regarded as one of the best video game movies there is. Ralph Breaks the Internet commits to the idea of sequel escalation, moving from the field of arcade games to the internet at large. The world of Wreck-It Ralph has game characters acting as distinct people when the games are off. It carries on from the first movie, which highlighted the dissonance of a villain character like Ralph being a good guy outside the kayfabe of his game, and the existential horror of being a glitched character, like Vanellope.

The inciting incident of the movie has Ralph helping out Vanellope, the main character of an arcade racer called Sugar Rush, cope with her growing boredom of her game. Ralph constructs a new track within the game for her to race in, but in the process of racing in it, the player playing as Vanellope breaks the arcade cabinet’s wheel. This forces all of Sugar Rush’s characters to the digital hub world as the game is unplugged.

There is one immediate problem and it’s the sub-plot, or the lack thereof. While Ralph and Vanellope set out to get a new wheel to repair the cabinet, the rest of the Sugar Rush racers are put under the care of Fix-It Felix and Sgt. Calhoun, Ralph‘s Mario-like rival and the military shooter protagonist from the first movie. The problem here is that the movie does almost nothing with them. Their trials of parenthood happen entirely offscreen, with the subplot’s conclusion being shown at the end in an anticlimactic way. As Felix and Calhoun were big likable characters from the first movie, them having a sub-plot that is sidelined entirely is a huge shame and a missed opportunity.

Back with the main plot, Ralph and Vanellope manage to find their way into the internet world, with various sites acting as physical locations and avatars of internet users roaming around the place. They hit up the embodiment of eBay to bid on a new steering wheel for the Sugar Rush arcade cabinet in order to get everyone their home back. However, they bid way too much on it, forcing them to go on an adventure to figure out how to pay for it.

In trying to figure out how to earn the steering wheel, they come across Slaughter Race. Within the context of the movie, Slaughter Race is a racing-themed MMO that acts as a perfect bridge between this movie’s focus of being online, and the more video game-oriented theme of the first movie. It’s also here where Vanellope starts to come to a realization: she wants to become part of a new game. However, Ralph doesn’t quite like that she’s willing to ditch her life for a new one.

This is where the movie’s actual conflict comes in and said conflict is terribly flawed. Toward the end of the movie, Ralph attempts to get Vanellope out of Slaughter Race. He gets called out for being a selfish, clingy friend, but the problem is; Ralph isn’t the only one in the wrong here. Yes, he’s being clingy, but also, Vanellope was perfectly willing to ditch everyone she knows (without telling them) to create a new life. Furthermore, it completely undermines all of Ralph’s actions to get the steering wheel in order to get her original home back. While Vanellope’s boredom with her way of life can be somewhat relatable, she’s completely selfish in trying to break away from that, yet Ralph is the only one called out for selfishness.

What makes Vanellope’s role in the movie even more egregious is that it also undermines the original Wreck-It Ralph. Part of the conflict of the predecessor is that Ralph jumping into another game is presented as a problem. The problem is because him being absent from his own game leads to his game being unplugged. Furthermore, the villain of Wreck-It Ralph is a guy that hijacked his way into a game. More specifically, he took Vanellope’s original role in her own game.

While not as troublesome as that villain, she’s still taking similar actions and her absence from her own game would guarantee that Sugar Rush gets unplugged again anyway, dooming all of her associates to be game-less. This is especially true since there isn’t a replacement available for her. However, all of these possible problems that have precedent go completely ignored and Vanellope is treated completely in the right. Knowing the conflict of the original movie just shoots holes in this one and as a result, the conflict is just really annoying to see unfold.

I previously mentioned it, but how does Ralph earn the money to get the game his friend is now rejecting getting repaired? Why, he basically becomes a YouTuber! Ralph becomes an star overnight by essentially acting like one of those content farm YouTubers. He makes content imitating memes and following trends with him inserted in them, desperately hustling for an honestly ungrateful friend. Now, given the nature of the movie, I think it works. Yet it really does give a “how do you do fellow kids?” feeling with the stuff he imitates. For example, Ralph doing a Fortnite dance already feels aged and just kinda panders to the young audience.

Don’t worry though, they also got pandering for the older viewers via cameos of princesses in Disney canon. This was a big part of the game’s marketing, and honestly It just feels like really shameless nostalgia bait. There’s no real reason for these characters to be in the movie. From a narrative standpoint, they solidify Vanellope’s decision to join Slaughter Race, but besides the fact that said decision is already horrible and flawed, there could have been other ways for her to commit to her decision. She already has a rapport with Shanks, a boss-like NPC from Slaughter Race, so she could have been the reason for Vanellope’s decision instead of some unnecessary cameos.

The Disney princesses do show up at the film’s climax to bail out the heroes, but it’s something that could have been done by any other character. Shanks could have shown up in the movie one last time to save them, which would have further solidified Vanellope’s beliefs while giving Ralph an assurance that she’ll be in good hands in Slaughter Race. Alternatively, Ralph could tell Felix, Calhoun and the rest of the Sugar Rush crew that Vanellope planned on quitting. They could have shown up to rescue her, reminding her of the things that she’s leaving behind and giving more conflict and weight to her decisions. In fact, in my ideal version of the movie, the Disney princess stuff should just be cut out for more focus on the underused sub-plot instead.

Did I hate watching the movie? Well no, it’s still enjoyable. As expected from a big budget Disney movie, it looks really good. The representations of the internet are vivid and creative and fun to watch. I particularly like the certain representation of a virus in the end, because it’s got all these moving parts to it that is legitimately unsettling to look at if you actually look closely at it.

While I think the main story is weak and falls apart to any kind of scrutiny; Ralph Breaks the Internet still has a really great sense of humor. It has a great sense of humor when it isn’t reliant on meme references. While I don’t have any strong feelings on the songs in the movie, Vanellope singing about her motivations is hilarious because it’s a hopeful song about wanting to become part of a violent video game. It kinda rules. I definitely think you’ll get a few laughs out of the movie.

However, as I’ve said, Ralph Breaks the Internet’s main narrative is really flawed. It’s a watchable movie, but it’s easily among the weakest of Disney’s modern offerings in that it falls apart when you consider its predecessor. Beyond that, its emotional core is compromised if you think about it for longer than ten seconds. I recommend just watching the original Wreck-It Ralph if you haven’t, because this isn’t really one to go out of your way to see.

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Ralph Breaks the Internet

6.5

Score

6.5/10

Pros

• Really solid look to it
• Good jokes

Cons

• Lots of missed potential
• Main story falls apart if you think about it
• Subplot gets totally sidelined