Reviews For RALPH BREAKS THE INTERNET Have Landed And It's Good News For The Sequel
The first reviews for Ralph Breaks the Internet are now online and things are looking good for the Disney sequel based on these verdicts from outlets like Variety, Entertainment Weekly, and USA Today.
Wreck-it-Ralph exceeded expectations back in 2012 by delivering a strong story alongside plenty of nostalgia for fans of classic arcade video games. The sequel, however, looks set to try and top that by delving into the internet and the world of Disney itself (hence why we're getting cameos from Marvel and Star Wars characters and Disney princesses).
The question fans are asking, though, is whether or not Ralph Breaks the Internet is capable of living up to expectations or if it sags under the weight of attempting to top what's come before.
Well, the reviews have landed and it's mostly good news for the Disney Animation sequel. While some critics don't seem overly impressed (perhaps because they can't relate to the many pop culture references), the overall consensus is very good. So, to check out this review roundup, all you guys have to do is click on the "View List" button to take a look!
At times, the movie suffers from a few cringe-y moments of self-proud internet awareness. (Imagine your mom telling you about the latest meme she saw. That’s the feeling.) But it never steps over the line of merely cute and it never detracts from a fundamentally good movie. Cover your small kids’ eyes during a genuinely unsettling climax, and then cover your own later so no one sees how much you’re crying. [B+]
SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly
If the movie never falls into a feedback loop, credit should probably go to Reilly and especially Silverman, who bring human vulnerability to little bits of ultra-branded ones and zeroes. (This may well become Silverman’s defining film role.) Twice now Reilly and Silverman have helped to give a cartoon’s happy ending real emotional depth. And twice now, they’ve made their characters so endearing that some fans may feel oddly conflicted about the prospect of undoing those endings just to see them again.
SOURCE: AV Club
If Ralph Breaks the Internet were just about satirizing the Internet, that would be fine. It wouldn’t resonate as deeply as the first, but with a weak emotional story it resonates even less. The princess subplot alone makes it worth the movie existing, but the Wreck It Ralph franchise will have to be one with a weaker part two for which part three will redeem itself.
On par if not superior to its original, Wreck It Ralph: Ralph Breaks The Internet is a joy from start to finish. Like all the finest Disney entertainment, it transcends the ages of everyone in the audience, leaving young and old alike gawking in awe at this divinely imaginative world. Stay put in your seats through the credits. Trust me, you won’t want to let go of this dazzling delight. Also, Pancake, Milkshake. Disney, if you’re listening. Can we have the game?!
SOURCE: Awards Daily
Ralph Breaks The Internet is a rare treat. There is not a long legacy of theatrically-released Walt Disney Animation Studios sequels, with the list limited to Rescuers Down Under and Fantasia 2000, and so there was never any guarantee that the movie would come together. As such, the film exists as a gamble, potentially taking the company into a new era, and fortunately it's one that has paid off. It's not only an often-hilarious romp through a fantastical new world, but what feels like a beautiful and emotional reunion with old friends. If you found yourself struck by the end credits of Wreck-It Ralph and asking the same questions in the Owl City song "When Can I See You Again?" you should prepare for an immensely satisfying experience. [4/5]
SOURCE: Cinema Blend
All these winks, nods and gags come careening at you at a furious pace; on the internet, it seems, no one needs to take a breath between jokes. The film’s few moments of reflection, like when Ralph regrettably wanders into the comments section of his videos and discovers how inexplicably cruel people are on the web, are a welcome reprieve from all this chaos and cloying desire to seem relevant. That we should care so about the feelings of this second-tier video game character proves that, beneath the garish mudslide of corporate product, at least the film has a beating heart.
SOURCE: Observer
Ultimately, Ralph Breaks the Internet offers the worst and best you could hope for in a sequel. The worst: its plot feels like a crass pandering to a generation of kids raised on the internet. The movie has no real interest in understanding internet culture, which makes the adventure feel like little more than a lazy plug-and-play. But the best bits are that this sequel dares to challenge and change our established heroes in a character-based conflict that digs into the tender and treacherous terrain of a threatened happy ending. That feels fresh, exciting, and worthwhile. Though sometimes a bit heavy-handed (it is a kids movie after all), the character development here is thoughtful, surprising, and heart-rattling. It will make you smile. It may make you weep. So bring tissues. And be sure to stay all the way through the credits for a bonus bit of fun.
SOURCE: Pajiba
Entertaining, and occasionally inspired, but Ralph Breaks The Internet is too often content to achieve a quick laugh, rather than exploring the themes its set-up suggests. [3/5]
SOURCE: Empire Online
Which, come to think of it, kind of sums up the online experience in a nutshell. Ralph Breaks the Internet is a two-hour journey down a series of rabbit holes filled with laughs, tears, a ton of self-referential meta gags, and a Tumblr-worthy reinvention of familiar characters that eventually delivers something you didn't know you always needed. What could be more internet than that?
“Ralph Breaks the Internet” delivers the ha-ha and the bang-zoom that will keep young audiences engaged, and by the standards of other studios, it would rate as a perfectly acceptable piece of work. But this is Disney, a studio that’s trained us to expect more than the merely-OK from their animated features.
SOURCE: The Wrap
A so-so sequel enlivened by a few inspired moments. Ralph and Vanellope are still good company, but this concept might have worked better as a series of shorts. [3/5]
SOURCE: Games Radar
It’s also got one heck of a sense of humor. In a nifty bit of cross-promotion, Vanellope is sent to a super-charged Disney fansite where she runs into other Disney princesses who are just as bored as she is. As they teach her the ways of being a princess (the weird clothes, the animal companions, the singing), the young racer zooms towards her own inevitable maturation. It’s a big, funny step for Vanellope, but more than that, it’s one for the brand. [B+]
SOURCE: Indie Wire
I loved all of it. The film has just enough of an edge so that matters really do seem high-stakes, and Reilly’s and Silverman’s vocal performances are reliably great, delivering the requisite fart jokes with the same ease as the more emotionally heavy moments. To echo a similar sentiment about Wreck-It Ralph, Ralph Breaks the Internet has no business being as good as it is, but thank goodness that’s the case.
SOURCE: Polygon
The film explores the difficulties experienced by two people who love each other but have conflicting life goals. Vanellope is a female character with refreshingly complicated desires. Ralph is a flawed person who recognizes his failings—neediness, clinginess—and experiences personal growth by trial and effort. They’re both unusually deep characters for a children’s movie, and thus the emotional payoff of their resolved conflict is especially high. When Ralph Breaks the Internet ignores the glittering marvels of the internet and focuses on the rapport between its two leads, it’s deeply moving.
SOURCE: Slant Magazine
Ralph Breaks the Internet is no wreck, thanks to several big laughs and some sweet messages about online behavior that should connect with both kids and parents. The Disney Princesses steal the show in the most hilarious and meta moments, while new characters played by Gal Gadot and Taraji P. Henson prove to be welcome additions to this world. While the fun had at the expense of the internet isn’t exactly the freshest material, Ralph Breaks the Internet works well not because of where it sends its two main characters physically but rather emotionally. [8/10]
You’ll LOL, you’ll cry-emoji, you’ll never look at a pop-up ad the same way again. And while the new “Ralph” falls short of the original’s brilliance, any adventure with the big oaf and his glitchy BFF is #winning.
SOURCE: USA Today
In the end, Ralph Breaks the Internet is a sequel equal to its predecessor. It doesn’t quite pass it by, and there are flaws to be sure, but it’s so full of amazing scenes, thoughts, and visuals that a few weak pieces of connective tissue don’t hold it back from working its wonders.
SOURCE: io9
Gadot, Taraji P. Henson (as Buzztube chief algorithm Yesss) and Alan Tudyk (as the officious search engine KnowsMore) are worthy additions to the cast, although other returning players like Jane Lynch and Jack McBrayer get little more than cameos. The animation and visuals are spectacular and eye-filling as always, the electronic world that these characters move through is endlessly imaginative, and like its predecessor, Ralph Breaks the Internet weaves enough sophisticated humor into the kid-friendly antics to keep adults watching as well -- instead of surreptitiously surfing the Web on their phones.
The film isn’t flawless — by the time things wrap up, it does feel like it’s thrown in one plot turn too many for its own good — but it ultimately succeeds by assuming its audience is smart. Smart enough to understand the meta-commentary, smart enough to follow along with the volley of references, smart enough to accept a theme that’s just a touch more complex than the average kids’ film moral. People have often said that Pixar films are children’s movies that were actually made for adults, giving them two levels of appeal that transcend fluffier animated offerings from other studios. Ralph Breaks the Internet reaches for that level of engagement and accomplishes it.
SOURCE: The Verge
And although Reilly and Silverman again serve as the tender heart of the picture, they get some reliably take-charge voice assists from the aforementioned Gadot and Henson. Alan Tudyk summons Truman Capote as KnowsAll, the professorial personification of a search engine who comes on a little too strong in the autofill department. Of course, the most delightful surprise comes from that tongue-in-cheek gathering of princesses, with the majority of the original voice talent reprising their roles to entertaining effect, culminating in the show-stopping musical number, the Alan Menken-penned “A Place Called Slaughter Race.”
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
Trace Disney animated features back to their roots, as many an academic has, and one can find plenty of sexist and racist problems, though the studio has taken a proactive role in trying to correct that over the past decade or so, culminating in 2016’s brilliant can’t-we-all-just-get-along parable “Zootopia.” Ralph is a disruptor by design, and in many ways, he’s the ideal character to bring about the next seismic shift, creating a space where the studio can poke fun at itself while presenting a more enlightened narrative for fans. The movie isn’t all laughs, however, managing to surprise at times by how nuanced the animation can be. Who would have thought that while breaking the internet, Ralph might be breaking our hearts as well?
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