The fight goes on after a rocky start
with the glossy style of Rocky’s 80s fights. Slow motion is kept to a minimum and there is real heft and menace to Munteanu’s blows. But this series can’t survive on nostalgia alone.
IT HASN’T been a vintage year for family animation. Too many filmmakers have acted like babysitters, keeping children quiet with slapstick, and cheering parents with the odd retro buzz. Disney’s 2013 Wreck-It Ralph, a goofy comedy with 1980s arcade game characters, played that game a little. The sequel,
is just as endearing but more ambitious. Once again we are in an arcade where characters come alive at night. Ralph (John C Reilly) has accepted a villainous role in a Donkey Kong-esque
Breaks The Internet, Ralph
game and befriended Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) from cutesy race game Sugar Rush. He then accidentally breaks the controller to Vanellope’s game.
Searching for a replacement, he persuades his chum to follow him through the arcade’s wi-fi connection. They arrive at a visual incarnation of the internet where tower blocks are plastered with names of internet giants, a world of opportunity fraught with danger. Ralph is trying to raise money for the controller by starring in humiliating clickbait videos, a witty sequence that satirises the banality of YouTube stardom.
“This place can bring out the worst in some people,” says “algorithm” Yesss
(Taraji P Henson) after Ralph reads nasty messages in the comments section. “Watching Ralph in anguish fuels me,” reads an aggressive post beneath his viral videos. It’s a fun film but parents could use it as a springboard for serious discussions at home.
Netflix doesn’t feature in his adventure, perhaps because of Disney’s plans for a rival service. Netflix longs to win an Oscar and it seems was made for this purpose, getting a theatrical run ahead of its streaming debut in order to qualify.
Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron has made a personal film set in a middleclass home in Mexico City.
We see a family from the view of maid Cleo (Yalitza Aparicio). Ignored by her mistress (Marina de Tavira) and master (Fernando Grediaga), it’s only when the family begins to fall apart that we realise how much they need her support. The black and white photography is gorgeous, the performances convincing and the story engrossing.
Roma