Ralph Breaks the Internet (2018)

Welcome to the most meta of all the Disney movies, a movie which really doesn't have a story, more of a sequence of cool events strung together on the thinnest of plots, and tacks on a moral just to give the appearance of a purpose. And yet despite all of this I still loved it.

Wreck it Ralph was a strong film in its own right. Despite it not being from Pixar Studios it had that Pixar vibe of having a truly original story that didn't fall into any cliches never really telegraphed where it was going. It's an enduring enjoyable rewatch with great characters. So I get the urge to want to return to that world.

But honestly Ralph Breaks the Internet sort of feels like it doesn't know what to do with these characters now that the original story idea is done. The film starts out with the characters just talking about how great their lives are. Sure Vanellope yearns for some new adventure in a very cliched and familiar way, but everything feels very resolved.

Then the film starts to take short cuts. It invents a series of rather quick and convenient "problems" which the characters are able to resolve rather quickly. The film is quite episodic and jumps from one crisis to another, none of them feeling very threatening, until the film's ultimate purpose, learning to respect each other enough to let each other follow our dreams, comes into focus. In all honesty it's rather contrived in a way that the first film was not.

But as I sat watching the movie realizing all of this, I didn't care. I was enjoying it all none the less. The film is filled with a sort of referential joy that is infectious. The film is about the internet, personifying aspects, creating an entire livable world to interpret it. And Ralph and Vanellope are so enjoyable to watch, following them from one cameo to the next, seeing them explore the wink wink world created for them, is truly wonderful.

And the new characters are fun too. Gal Gadot's Shank is a dream of coolness. Taraji P. Henson's Yesss is suave and stylin. You don't really mind that Felix Jr. and Calhoon, as well as most other characters from the first film as sidelined almost completely. Especially when the much hyped cavalcade of Disney Princess deconstruct themselves live in front of your eyes. 

So yeah there's no real story and the character development is mostly heavy handed. But Ralph Breaks the Internet defies all of this to be entertaining and fun. It may be more entertaining for the parents than for the children as it is so much about how we view animated films more than actually being an animated film. It's meta meta.

And it works.

Ralph Breaks the Internet 
Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Jane Lynch, Taraji P. Henson, Gal Gadot, Alfred Molina, Alan Tudyk, Ed O'Neil
Directors: Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
Writers: Pamela Ribon, Phil Johnston