Susan Granger’s review of “Ralph Breaks the Internet” (Disney/Buena Vista)
The competition for 2018’s Best Animated Film just got considerably hotter!
This satirical sequel to the 2012 hit “Wreck-It Ralph” is set in Litwack’s Video Arcade, where Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) spend all their spare time together. While burly Ralph is totally content, spunky Vanellope yearns to spice up her rote racing routine.
A crisis occurs when the steering wheel off her aging Sugar Rush game snaps off and the only replacement part is very expensive on eBay. Since Litwack (Ed O’Neill) has just installed Wi-Fi, Vanellope and Ralph venture into the vast, cacophonous cityscape of the World Wide Web to find it.
Without money to pay for the wheel, they consult the search-engine KnowsMore (Alan Tudyk) and embark on a cyber scavenger hunt, landing in anarchic Slaughter Race, where they encounter leather-clad Shank (Gal Gadot) and her gritty road warrior gang.
From there, it’s on to BuzzTube, run by the slick algorithm Yesss (Taraji P. Henson), who propels insecure Ralph into humiliating himself as a viral video superstar – and there’s Double Dan (Alfred Molina), the slug-like overlord of the Dark Web.
The highlight is a Magic Kingdom get-together with Disney fairy-tale princesses, including Ariel (Jodi Benson), Moana (Auli’i Cravalho), Mulan (Ming-Na Wen), Belle (Paige O’Hara), Tiana (Anika Noni Rose), Jasmine (Linda Larkin), Pocahontas (Irene Bedford), Rapunzel (Mandy Moore), Anna (Kristen Bell), Elsa (Idina Menzel) and Merida (Kelly Macdonald).
Unsure that Vanellope is really one of them, Rapunzel inquires, “Do people assume all your problems got solved because a big, strong man showed up?”
“Yes – what’s up with that?” feisty Vanellope replies, inciting some female empowerment.
Smartly scripted with irreverent humor by Pamela Ribon and Phil Johnson, who co-directs with Rich Moore, it tackles touchy topics like reacting to other people’s nasty ‘comments’ about you and accepting change, including growing away from your best friend.
On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is an incisive, inventive 9, filled with humor, heart and meta moments.
