Review: "Ralph Breaks the Internet" is a Smart Yet Overbearing Sequel

Scene from Ralph Breaks the Internet

As any of the countless studies have proven, the internet is a crucial tool to how we communicate with one another. So why then is it so hard to capture the feeling of digital relationships on film, itself a medium of equally limitless potential? Disney's latest Ralph Breaks the Internet is a film that attempts to be everything all at the same time. It tries to make the internet seem like a world of wonder, where Disney Princesses can be pulled up in a second's notice, while discovering something darker and more unpleasant about humanity. Ralph may be a video game character, but his insecurity is a real feeling and something that Disney has been grappling with in the past two years with many films exploring toxic masculinity (Guardians of the Galaxy vol. 2, Coco, etc.). For a character who was built in the first film as sympathetic and misunderstood, it's a bit of an odd shift. However, it makes the film one of the studio's boldest films in a long time, serving more as an essay on internet culture than genuine entertainment. It may hurt the film, but it also makes it a unique achievement. 

On its surface, Ralph Breaks the Internet is among Disney's most shallow movies. As a company who has continually made the news for merging with other studios, the idea of seeing mass promotion in the background of an average scene is more indicative of what Disney does and doesn't own in the world. Even in a pivotal scene set in the Disney-centric website called Oh My Disney!, it's a mix of Disney Princesses along with Star Wars and Marvel Studios properties; all competing for one of the most daunting games of brand recognition. If viewed solely as a game of Hidden Mickeys, the film is a towering achievement to itself. It recognizes how much every one of these characters means to audiences in 2018, and it allows them all to have precious seconds of screen time to bring us joy once again. Even if this is meant to be a physical embodiment of the internet, it's the lack of restraint that suddenly makes Ready Player One seem more admirable for not being a self-indulgent love letter to Steven Spielberg. 

But what does it all mean? As much as this is the hardest that Disney has broken the fourth wall, it comes with a certain awareness. Within these jokes comes commentary about the way that the internet as a tool is used. For Ralph, it involves creating shallow viral videos through a YouTube-like website. The question can be read as arguing what the true meaning of art and happiness is if what sells is pointless trends. Even the Disney Princesses - almost entirely voiced by the original voice actors - have moments of levity where they reveal their frustrations as role models to the general public. This is Disney growing a conscience, observing their history through the lens of Ralph's ego, which is desperately trying to keep Vanellope from leaving the cutesy world of Sugar Rush for the Grand Theft Auto-like game known as Slaughter Race. It's a quest to hold onto purity, hold onto the Disney allure while the dangerous world around it becomes more appealing. Even the film's attempt to retcon the Disney Princesses into quasi-superheroes in the third act shows some signs that the studio is eager for change, though is a bit too nimble to fully embrace a darker persona.

While this is only one way to interpret the film, it does make the most sense given that the story is the struggle of Ralph letting go of his closest relationship. His ego is what's keeping her from living a happy life, given that he thinks he knows what's best for her. With the looming presence of Me Too exploring toxic masculinity, Ralph is the culprit for Disney to turn into a villain. It's definitely a new and audacious approach to the character, though one that mostly feels used since he has a landscape for some of the studio's most experimental and creative imagery in awhile. There have been more deftly designed movies out there (Big Hero 6 for instance), but Ralph Breaks the Internet feels like the biggest, and that includes trying to cram every idea about internet idealism into under two hours. It's a bit overbearing and may go over some people's heads. Still, the idea of Disney expressing any form of self-awareness may come across as cynical, but gives the biggest insight into an unstoppable giant in the industry, and that may be enough to give this film a rewatch. It is exciting to see Ralph take on a controversial role that publicly has lead to "cancelled" careers and sell it as something humane. It may not always work, but it's definitely a strong thesis for this film.

As a sequel, it suffers from the need to go bigger. Wreck-It Ralph was a perfect embodiment of gamer culture because it had a chance to play with different graphic styles and comment on identity politics in a streamlined story. Moving to the internet means that everything has a better chance of suffering from malware. There is nothing streamlined about it. Not even the coaxial cable that juts Ralph and Vanellope there is streamlined. It's all complicated in a manner that makes the imagery busy. Few characters, such as pop-up ad character Spamley, are memorable and places like E-Bay do feel grounded in a sense of familiarity. However, the internet's ability to connect everyone means that the film has to rely on too much material. YouTube celebrities make cameos for what feels like "the clicks." The corporations get their logos plastered onto buildings because they can. While the story stays afloat for the most part, the world of Ralph Breaks the Internet is a bit too overbearing. At a certain point it feels like product placement over plot.

As an experiment, the film is another technical achievement. By exploring all of these issues in an accessible manner, Disney has begun the conversation as to how animation can depict this vast universe beneath our fingertips. What are the ethics behind advertising and meme culture? What happens when icons get overused? What happens when egos get in the way of common sense? These all root the story in intellectual debates worth having and lead to a phenomenal yet risky third act that may turn some off. As an essay, it's worth diving into a film that not only gets inside the ideas of internet behavior, but Disney as a brand. As a film, it does have strong emotional stakes but is buried under enough absurdity to be lost on some. It isn't a total misfire for the studio, but suffers from being a film with a goal too impossible to achieve. Nobody could encapsulate the internet and have it mean something profound in under two hours. What it does however is use Disney's power over us to convey both sides of any given argument, including  how icons are exhaustively overused but still fill us with joy. It's an impossible dichotomy to fully convey, but at least they got over halfway there.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is definitely a sequel that suffers from the mindset that "bigger is better." Despite the creativity on screen, the film is never as fun as it sets out to be nor is it always as intellectually fulfilling as it thinks it is. There's enough ideas present to start conversations, but there have been more effective conversations regarding internet etiquette. With that said, there's enough going on that works and makes this a perfectly minor film in Disney's canon. If viewed as a film about Disney, it does have a compelling power to grow and improve with each viewing. Otherwise, it's doomed to be dated in five years, when half of the companies either disappear or people forget what these references ever met. The film isn't desperate about trying to make us like it, though it definitely is part of the subtext. It's a hard film to crack and likely one that will be forgotten in time. It isn't a bad film, just one who is thankfully too lofty to ever, as the title suggests, break the internet in the viral way.