Monday, 3 June 2019

Welcome to the search bar, what can I help you with today? (Ralph breaks the internet 2018)

 
 
 
220.
Ralph breaks the internet
 
 
 
6/10
 
 
 
Disney decided on a sequel rather than digging up the past and giving us a rehash of an animation. John C. Reilly returns to voice a loveable computer game villain, turned good and along with Sarah Silverman and Gal Gadot, we head into the world of the internet which looks nothing more than watching the Emoji Movie once more. This has a Disney logo on it though so surely everyone will look past that and call it a masterpiece?
The arcade is about to get an internet router, which will open up a whole new world for our characters and when the steering wheel on Vanellope's game breaks, we have to head to eBay to find a new one.
 
 
This is a great time for Disney to flex their muscle as they show off their Princesses, movies, Tv shows and anything else they can, along with different websites. After getting to eBay and winning the auction, they find out that they actually need money to pay for the bastard thing. As always, the internet gives some promises in a pop-up and earning some easy money is one of them. One of these is an online racing game. They must steal a valuable car and sell it onwards for the money that they need. The owner of that car is Gal Gadot's character, Shank. At the end of the race, Vanellope is commended for her racing style by Shank, who doesn't give them the car but does send them in the direction of an algorithm named Yesss.
 
 
 Now Yesss is in charge of a site called Buzzzfeed, which even to the untrained eye, is pretty much YouTube. Ralph is going to make all his money from playing on the latest trends and videoing himself doing so. This gives him love and likes in an attempt to be the next viral sensation. Everything that is becoming wrong with the internet and this movie is exploiting that even more. Vaneloope is starting to feel a little useless but Ralph doesn't want her falling into the crowd at Slaughter Race with Shank.
After finally getting the money, Ralph gets butt dialed by Vanelloe who is with Shank, telling her that she wants to stay there and leave the arcade for good. This leads Ralph to track down the dark-web, way to advertise this Disney, to get a virus to make Slaughter Race boring and hopefully making Vanellope lose interest. Obviously, it backfires, spreads through the internet, causing carnage and manifests into all of Ralph's insecurities, creating mini Ralph's which cause chaos. They all band together and kidnap Vanellope and the only way for Ralph to defeat the newly formed giant Ralph for its possessiveness of the girl. He realises that letting her stay in Slaughter Race and letting her go does not mean that their friendship would come to an end. Finally getting over his own insecurities, breaks down the virus and sets Vanellope free.
The internet is now saved from the virus and Vanellope does indeed choose to stay in Slaughter Race. The two friends now keep in touch through video chat, as they continue on their own journeys. We are treated to two scenes within the credits, one as the friends play a game we seen in the trailers and the post-credits is a mini teaser for Frozen 2, only for Ralph to crash the party.
 

This movie was a far cry from the first. It didn't feel fresh on ideas and instead played of some of the social anxieties that have been too common within social media. Giving the chase for love online and the need to be accepted for money was a little uneasy to watch as our character trailed around the internet like the Emoji Movie that came before it. It had its moments with some humor and piss taking of things like eBay and the Disney Princesses fates within their respective movies. The movie itself looked really clean and crisp too, very visually pleasing. The bad points can keep coming though and in the form of character development. Ralph who just wanted to be accepted has now turned into a selfish character who won't let someone else move on. This goes for Vanellope too. She was just the same and now she is ready to cast aside, a friend who wanted to help to repair her game after helping her to her true potential and now she's ready to move on already. By the second half of the movie, you had totally forgotten that this adventure was even taking place on the internet. Even typing this, I can still feel the disappointment that this movie far from lived up to its potential and instead felt very cliché.
 
 


No comments:

Post a Comment