The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Digital mystery tour
Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope go to a creatively visualized Web in enjoyable if familiar ‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ The World Wide Web comes to vivid life in “Ralph Breaks the Internet.” ¶ The sequel to Disney’s delightful, video game-inspired 2012 animat
When the story begins, all is well with the chums, who, as you’ll recall, live in a shared digital word connected by old-fashioned stand-up games in a video arcade. Before the workday begins with the arcade’s opening and after it ends with the business’ closing, Ralph and Vanellope hang out, playing games such as I Spy and sipping root beers at the watering hole Tapper’s. She affectionately calls him names such as “Stench Vessel.” It’s cute.
The only way Ralph sees that things could be any better is if they didn’t have to work at all. Vanellope, though, is yearning for a more fulfilling life.
She loves spending time with Ralph, but her racing game, “Sugar Rush,” long has stopped thrilling her. For instance, she knows the twists and turns of every track, and she isn’t challenged in the least.
Ralph gets what he thinks is a great idea: He visits her game and alters a track, giving his pal a real thrill as she experiences something new for the first time in a while. However, Ralph’s meddling leads to a girl playing the game to break its steering wheel, a replacement for which is too expensive for the arcade opener’s liking. He unplugs the game, displacing Vanellope and its other characters, and sets the game for trash pickup in a few days.
Ralph’s next big idea: He and Vanellope, via the modem the arcade owner has just installed, will venture into the Internet to buy the steering wheel for the business themselves, earning the money in some to-bedetermined way.
Once they are surfing the web, the fun really starts. They make fun stops such as the Mr. KnowsMore, where the namesake character (Alan Tudyk, who voiced a different character in the first name) spits out rapid-fire search results. They also see Google, causing Ralph to remark, “I guess we know where to go if we ever need a pair of goggles.”
When they arrive at an eBay auction for the steering wheel, Ralph thinks the objective is merely to say the biggest number you can think of.
“And I though Q*bert’s game was weird,” he muses.
Now on the hook to pay a hefty price for the wheel, they venture into the scary urban world of the game “Slaughter Race,” where they try to steal the valuable car of the game’s heroine, Shank (Gal Gadot of “Wonder Woman”). After a thrilling, well-executed race sequence, Shank befriends Vanellope and helps her to see some life choices she didn’t know existed.
As with the first film, Ralph will make a choice that threatens his friendship with Vanellope, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” feeling a bit too much like “WreckIt Ralph” at this point and others. (This choice also, you know, has the potential to break the Internet for everybody. No bigs.)
Another really fun sequence in “Ralph Break the Internet” is a long stretch in which Vanellope and Ralph visit a virtual Disney land, full of Marvel and “Star Wars” characters, as well as Disney princes. While it feels a little bit like Disney is showing off with just how much valuable intellectual property it owns, it’s also seems like it’s poking a little fun at itself, which is nice. There is a funny payoff as two of Disney’s very different worlds are tied together.
On the other hand, a running plot line revolving around viral videos — featuring Yesss (Taraji P. Hensen of “Hidden Figures), an algorithm that determines what videos are trending on the platform BuzzTube — is less successful. It does have its moments, though, such as when Ralph, who becomes a viral star, discovers a room full of constantly cascading user comments, which at first are kind and cause him to exclaim, “The Internet is so positive!” (He is disabused of that notion very quickly.)
Overall, nice work is done by Phil Johnson — a co-writer on “Wreck-It Ralph” who also wrote the 2011 comedy “Cedar Rapids,” which starred Reilly — does nice work as the director of “Ralph Breaks the Internet,” keeping things moving at what feels like a zippy Web connection.
For “Ralph Breaks the Internet” to succeed, of course, we have to enjoy spending time with Ralph and Vanellope, which we do. Both Reilly (“Guardians of the Galaxy”) and Silverman (“I Smile Back”) continue to give charming voice performances in these roles.
The ending of this second “Ralph” is at least a little surprising and meaningfully game-changing, which is satisfying.
That said, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” doesn’t exactly feel it’s game over for Vanellope and Ralph.