The first fable for a bewildering social media age
Dir Rich Moore, Phil Johnson Starring John C Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Gal Gadot, Taraji P Henson, Alfred Molina, Alan Tudyk
When, in 2012, Walt Disney introduced the world to Wreck-it Ralph – about a villainous galloot from an Eighties arcade platform who is cast out of his own video game and finds his heroic side – it had its admirers, but I can’t say I was one of them. It felt like a missed opportunity; a manic caper heavy on cameos and product placement, rather than the Playstation-age Toy Story suggested by its Pixar-esque premise.
In part two, the cameos and product placement are back for more, but Ralph Breaks the Internet has the substance to back up its pixelly dazzle. Directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnson have crafted the first fable of the social media age: a moving, witty, thrillingly clever dodgem ride through online life. It makes last year’s The Emoji Movie look like… well, like The Emoji Movie, but somehow even worse.
Adults at a loss should know that Ralph, voiced again with oafish charm by John C Reilly, is initially a kindred spirit. An unreconstructed member of Generation 8-bit, he only strikes out down the information superhighway through necessity, to find a discontinued spare part for the arcade cabinet that houses his best friend, cutie-pie kart racer Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman). But when they are whisked via Wi-fi into the heart of cyberspace, they initially can’t get enough of it.
The place is like Blade Runner, but nice: a sunlit metropolis dominated by primary-coloured logos for ebay, Twitter, Google and the like. (The effect is more sinister than was probably intended.) To raise the necessary funds for their purchase, Ralph essentially turns himself into a meme – cashing in on his retro fame by starring in a series of bizarre and demeaning clips that catch the eye of trending algorithm Yesss (Taraji P Henson), who flicks dismissively through the latest posts in her office at (fictional) video site Buzzztube like Anna Wintour hunting for the next season’s biggest look.
Meanwhile, young Vanellope finds herself drawn to a Mad Max-style multiplayer called Slaughter Race, and its dusky heroine Shank (voiced by Wonder Woman herself, Gal Gadot). For Ralph, this feels like a betrayal, and his determination to forcibly win back Vanellope’s friendship leads him down to the shadowy underweb, where viruses seize on insecurities. The moral couldn’t feel timelier: online, our worst enemies are ourselves.
As satire, the film is both intricate and trenchant: an entire Sidebar of Shame’s-worth of food for thought, whatever your age or network mileage. As animation, it’s popping at the seams with exuberance (the fusspot search engine attendant Knowsmore, voiced by Alan Tudyk, is a standout). See also the very funny extended skit involving cameos from various Disney princesses of old – A-listers of the internet’s pop-culture quarter – who loll around chattily deconstructing well-worn princess-movie tropes, to work out if Vanellope is one of their kind or not.
This is pure cultural cakeism from Disney: shoring up the studio’s heritage for a new generation by playfully poking holes in it is about as meta as branding exercises get.
In keeping with those steely corporate instincts, Ralph Breaks the
Internet doesn’t have anything to say about the sites and apps that nurture and incentivise Ralph’s destructive insecurity, and the fault is seen to rest with him alone. It’s a big wide World Wide Web out there, folks: choose your friendly multinational conglomerates with care. RC