The House of Mouse is getting much better at this sequel thing and Ralph Breaks The Internet is a good example. It’s fun on the surface and not bereft on meaning on the inside. It’s also filled with enough new and fresh ideas to hold its own in this holiday season.
Ralph (John C. Reilly) and his BFF Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) go on a mission to save Vanellope’s old school video game and this involves a trip into the idiosyncrasies of the Internet. The journey is filled with great visual representations of some of the web’s oddest elements.
The film is unafraid of presenting things that are quite dark (for a kid’s film) even including a visit to the dark web and a scary visual representation of a computer virus. It doesn’t undersell its youth audience members and there are a few adult jokes thrown in for good measure.
Translating web crazy into family friendly visuals is handled with skill and imagination. As is taking advantage of the Disney playbook of characters including a very funny bit about the brand’s princesses. The six-year wait since Wreck-It Ralph kicked things off in 2012 has been well worth the wait.
Rob Hudson
www.facebook.com/WreckItRalph
