Hey Guys!
It's been a while, more than a while actually and for that, I'm really sorry! Truth is since getting home from Run Disney in September, not only have I not had any Disney trips to tell you about, but my life has been totally turned upside down by my new puppy Charlie!
The good news is we're working into a bit more of a routine now, and with my apprenticeship exams finishing for a while I've got a bit more time to put some much-needed love into my blog.
So to ease myself back into things, I recently watched Ralph breaks the internet and want to share my thoughts about it with you all. As always, I'll do my best to keep it spoiler free for those of you who are yet to see the film!
So Ralph breaks the internet is the sequel to the 2012 Disney animation Wreck it Ralph, if you haven't seen the original I would highly recommend catching up. In short, the film follows 80's video game villain Ralph as he learns to accept his role as a "bad guy" and learns that being bad, can be good!
Now, I can probably guess what you're thinking, it's a Disney sequel and these don't always have the best track record. On one hand there's Toy Story 2, but on the other, there's Cinderella 2, it's a mixed bag, to say the least and honestly, when I watched the first Wreck it Ralph film 6 years ago, I didn't feel like it needed a sequel. So I went into this with a certain amount of caution, I hoped for something great, but I didn't necessarily expect this.
The film starts by taking us back to Litwak's arcade, where the first film was based, we find that Vanellope and Ralph are still great friends, they spend the days "working" in their respective games and then the nights hanging out in all the other games in the arcade and watching the sun come up each morning. For Ralph, this is the dream every day is the same, no surprises just routine, however, Vanellope is starting to get a little bored of the same races, the same tracks, she wants adventure.
Ralph decides to try and help Vanellope add some excitement to Sugar Rush by building a new track, unfortunately, wreck it by name, is also wreck it by nature, the new track ends with a broken steering wheel controller. Due to the age of the machine parts aren't easy to come by, and though the kids in the arcade find a new steering wheel on Ebay, the $200 price tag is more than Sugar rush makes in a year. If the machine can't be repaired within a week, the game will be unplugged and Vanellope and all the racers will have no game to call home!
Ralph decides it's time to go to the internet, find ebay and get Vanellope a new steering wheel to fix her game. Meanwhile, Felix and Calhoun, who have been happily married for 6 years, agree to adopt the 15 homeless Sugar rush kids, what could possibly go wrong?
I can honestly say, this film wasn't what I was expecting. I know I wasn't the only one who was excited for this film, but with each subsequent teaser and then trailer, I began to wonder if there would be much of the film I hadn't already seen by the time I took my seat in the cinema. Well, I'm pleased to say I couldn't have been more wrong. Sure I may have missed one or two trailers, so perhaps some elements were more of a surprise to me than others, but I truly believe the trailers were just the same few sections of the film re-cut and re-edited to look different, while not revealing all that much about the final product.
One of my other concerns from the trailers was that this might just be a selection of jokes and memes stitched together for 90 mins, again this was not the case and the film actually had a cohesive and heartfelt storyline throughout. In particular, Vanellope and Ralph's characters were heavily invested upon and we got to delve a little deeper into their emotions, and what makes them tick. I was sad not to see more from Felix and Calhoun, but this was never their story and that's ok.
Now the film does, of course, have a lot of references, it's what makes the film what it is, it deliberately plays off Ralph and Vanellopes characters against well-known characters and brands. The second installment is no different, only that instead of games characters, it is now the biggest and best known online brands and trends that are getting the comic treatment that made us fall in love with Wreck It Ralph. My personal favorites were ebay, twitter and Oh my Disney all 3 of which were, in my opinion, brilliant concepts which I wouldn't have imagined and yet they fit so perfectly.
For a lot of people, the storyline was a huge concern, the trailers really didn't give much away and with so many references and jokes to fit in, it could easily have been lost. I have to say though the plot wasn't anything too different from any standard Disney film, it felt sincere, well rounded and had some truly tear-jerking moments, the latter of which I didn't expect at all. As always there was an important message or two for us all to take away from the film and I really felt like I'd been through every emotion possible.
It would be impossible to cross the entire world wide web and not make a few new friends, Ralph and Vanellope are no different and the sequel offered us some new characters to meet and inevitably fall in love with. My particular favorite was Knowsmore, this little guy is exactly what a human search engine should be, funny, knowledgeable and at times, ever so slightly frustrating. Though I really appreciated Yesss, the social media queen of BuzzzTube! In fact, I have to say all of the new characters brought something of their own to the film and each one connected with us in a different way.
The Disney Princess scene was a huge talking point when the trailer first hit and it would be pretty criminal of me not to give them a mention. I'm so happy to say the scenes with the princesses were everything I could have asked for, and then a little bit more. Though they made up a short portion of the overall film I loved getting to see such well-loved characters together. I loved that for the most part the original voice cast was used, I cannot begin to imagine how much fun was had recording with all of them. I also enjoyed how each character was depicted, their key traits were so easy to pick out and it made for some brilliant reactions from Vanellope. It was great to see Disney poke fun at themselves while staying in character.
Overall I loved this movie, the attention to detail once inside the internet was incredible! As a self-confessed nerd who probably spends way too much time online, it was so much fun to try and spot all the different references and see websites we use everyday imagined in a totally new and fun way. The story was definitely not a weak point as I had feared it might have been and it never felt like a re-hash of the first film.
I'm not sure if Ralph or Vanellope will return for a third film, I honestly can say the story felt complete and there was no need for another film to tie up any plot ends, however, having seen what Rich Moore and his team have achieved with this film, I would wholeheartedly welcome another installment. Maybe in another 6 years, we can catch up with the gang at Litwaks, the internet or beyond, until then, I'll wait rather impatiently for a Blu Ray release!
What about you guys? Have you seen Ralph Breaks the internet yet? What did you think, or if not, have I persuaded you to give it a try now?
Hoodsie xx
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