Wifi Ralph

I liked Wreck-It Ralph (2012), I found it charming and original with lashings of vocal talent to assist it but a sequel? Had big shoes to fill, and it didn't manage it.

It tells the story of our heroes venturing from the arcade to the internet to save one of their games and *Sigh* does a plot really matter here? Ultimately that's not what its about.

Full of goofy humor, the occasional adult-ish joke to keep the parents happy and lots and lots of product placement. A lot of people looking at the reviews clearly have issue with this but truth be told it would have been very difficult to show the internet in that fashion without showing off the big names. I'm sure a lot of money passed hands because of this, but I don't see why it's such an issue.

The voice cast once again are fantastic including newcomers such as Gal Gadot. The trailers "Princesses" weren't as obnoxious as I expected and quite frankly the whole thing is passable enough stuff but nothing more than that. Somehow a lot of the original charm seems to be missing, the novelty value has diminished and the whole thing felt more like a cashgrab than a loyal sequel.

That being said Ralph Breaks the Internet isn't bad, it's just not living up to expectations.

The Good:

Excellent voice talent

A couple of nice ideas

The Bad:

Pales in comparison to the first

Lacks charm

The satire really spotlights how pathetic much of the internet community are with "Trends" and viewing habits.

As a standalone film this was funny and nice to look at, but as a sequel it was terrible. Thus overall it was average. Wreck it Ralph is one of my favorite animated films - it managed to be an homage to retro gaming whilst telling a story about a misguided but loveable 'bad guy' finding out what really matters in life.

Ralph Breaks The Internet undoes all the good the first one did - Ralph is now an abusive (or should I say 'insecure') friend who has not one, but TWO cliche 'We were best friends and everything was perfect but now you did something that's upset me so I'm going to walk away and DON'T FOLLOW ME moments'. The film lacks any subtletly in dealing with its themes of toxic relationships (both personal and over the internet), and is far more comfortable in its amusing Internet references than it is in trying to make a statement.

There were so many missed opportunities to link it with the first film. For example, it is made clear that the allure of modern games is that they're constantly being updated and feel new. This was the perfect chance for the film to show that retro games, that always stay the same and live in our memory, have merit too. But nope, that didn't happen. To me, it feels like a Disney exec wanted to tell a story of the dangers / joys of the internet, and the dangers / joys of clingy friendships, but forced these messages into Wreck it Ralph where it just doesn't fit. It's used as a vehicle for this message, weaving its way around a bombardment of internet references in trying to do so.

I can understand why people enjoyed it - I laughed a lot during the first half, and one or two of the emotional moments were quite powerful. But in lacking any nuance or any reverence to the first film, I cannot recommend it to fans of the first.

I'll avoid spoilers here and keep it simple. The original movie is one of my favorites, it stands up to repeated viewing, was excellent in pace and composition. It flowed well, consistently, didn't try to do too much at once. The story was excellent, the voice acting was outstanding.

The sequel here - some of the best parts unfortunately were what we saw in trailers, as it often is. That's not to say there aren't other funny parts - there are. But overall it just left me, and my son, with the impression of them trying to cram far too many bits into the movie. It really stuttered along in parts.

We had a lot of eye rolling at the deluge of Disney when they first got to "the internet" and began looking around. This was the first part for us that started to detract from the story, which is, at it's core, actually an EXCELLENT story.

I wish they had focused more on what made the story flow well, what brought it out the best, rather than just try to cram as many bit part cameos as they could from other Disney franchises.

Voice acting was again well done. I think this would have been a much better movie had more things ended up on the cutting room floor, but it's at least worth seeing once. I'm sure we'll get it on blu-ray when it comes out, but we won't watch it nearly as much as we did the original.

In the antihero's second adventure, he and his friend have a series of online adventures. Probably the most important scene is when Vanellope visits Disney's website (because apparently the Mouse House is a shameless self-promoter). The whole sequence is basically Disney's reminder to us that it's on a mission to swallow all popular culture.

Basically, I got what I expected with "Ralph Breaks the Internet". Just watch it anticipating a bunch of corny stuff that the tykes will find entertaining and you won't be disappointed.

"Ralph Breaks the Internet" seems like the poster child for "what could've been". I like the concept, and there are a couple of good laughs, but the execution is atrocious. I was really into the opening 30 minutes or so (everything inside the arcade is fun) but as soon as they actually make it onto the Internet, it's a downward tumble.

Not gonna lie, I'm disappointed on almost every level. What was heartwarming about the original "Wreck-It Ralph" is lost here. Yeah, it may be ambitious, but it's a waste of the Ralph/Vanellope relationship, the inherent humor of the arcade culture is gone and Disney hijacked the movie for their own (horrifying) studio marketing. Seriously, the Rodent's footprint is massive in this movie.