Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet - Review
Release date (US): November 21st, 2018
Directed By: Rich Moore and Phil Johnston
Rating: PG
Directed By: Rich Moore and Phil Johnston
Rating: PG
Starring: John C. Reilly, Sarah Silverman, Jack McBrayer, Taraji P. Henson, Gal Gadot, Jane Lynch
Expectations/Background: These days, the sky's the limit on animated feature length films. There's almost no emotion that an animated film can't make you feel that a feature length film can't. We've seen it all with Pixar alone, and lately, Disney Animation has been stepping it up as well. Back in 2012, a small animated film called Wreck-It Ralph was released and took the world by storm. Nobody saw how big this film would become, and immediately people knew there was potential in this film for a sequel. It had heart, charm, laughs, and above all, genuine heartfelt emotion. I, personally, was too young to truly grasp these concepts and ideas. I only remember a fun time at the theater with my friends, but 6 years later, I think I, as well as the world, am ready for a return to this world. The trailers thus far have looked phenomenal, taking FULL advantage of the Disney IP - showcasing Star Wars characters, Disney princesses galore, and so many other properties (including Google, Twitter, and Snapchat). If done right, this movie has the potential to transcend the genre of animated "kid's films" and can become one of the best animated films of the year.
The Movie: As I mentioned before, animated movies are now at a point where they can be as good, if not better and more mature than live-action movies. And while this movie does try to be more adult than other animated genre films, and in some ways it does transcend the typical "children's movie" genre, I found that it fell short to the next level and in the end, was only an entertaining animated film.
It was good to see a lot of the cast and voice actors returned to the movie. John C. Reilly perfectly embodies the gentle giant of Ralph, which his voice encapsulates. Something that I had not anticipated going into the movie was the character growth. I hadn't realized it had been six years since the first film, and it turns out that in the movie (minor, minor spoiler) six years have also passed. And because of that, characters like Ralph have grown a little more - in the six years following the events of the first film, he's developed a life style that he maintains and considers normal and routine. And through the movie you really get to see him grow even further as a character as he faces new challenges. He has dimensions, unlike a lot of animated characters, which is always something that I love to see. Speaking of characters, Ralph's best friend Vanellope, voiced by Sarah Silverman, returns and is more of a constant presence throughout this movie. She, in many ways, is actually the main character of the movie, which took me a couple seconds to adjust to. But once I began to realize where the character arcs were going, it became clear and I began to appreciate what the filmmakers were going for.
In terms of side characters, we have some new additions such as Shank, played by Gal Gadot, and a couple returning characters, namely Fix-It Felix. But those returning side-characters are relegated to fun cameos and sight-gags. They don't have much to do at all, which was fine; the story didn't call for them in this particular narrative. And really, at the core of this movie, this is a film about Ralph and Vanellope. There are a lot of surprises, some given away by the marketing and some hidden away, but at its heart is Ralph and Vanellope.
I always say that a movie stands on the story; without a good story, even good characters cannot hold a movie up. Let me say this about the story; I understand that it was not trying to appeal primarily to adults. As an animated film, yes this is aimed towards the younger demographic. So I understand, then, why the story came off as very simplistic, because it did. The story structure had very, very little nuance, and while it used its situation and setting to create some interesting spins on cliches and tropes, at the end of day, I could predict almost everything that was going to happen. That's one of the movie's biggest downfalls - it's predictable. It's cliche in many spots where it could have been something more and it doesn't bother trying to break the mold of the tried and true hero's journey.
HOWEVER - this is not a bad thing. I think that the story focuses more on character development and growth as well as moments. The story is more of a vessel that feeds the characters and serves them. Sometimes this doesn't work, especially if your characters aren't strong. But in this case, watching Ralph and Vanellope is enough to carry the story forward. There is a driving catalyst and motivation, or a MacGuffin if you will, but it actually gets ditched about halfway through the third act, showing that it really was never the main focus of the storytellers.
And because the filmmakers chose to spend more time with the characters, we have some great moments. Again, some of the character development is very cliche. There are tropes that the filmmakers don't bother subverting. But then again, I'm glad to see that the directors and writers are attempting to develop and grow these characters at all. The two protagonists learn a very valuable and hard lesson at the end, even if it is kind of spelled out for you in dialogue. I appreciate when a film of this genre tries to do something like that. Kids will pass it off as something "sappy", but I feel that when the movie tried to go for emotion, it mostly hit, though perhaps not as hard as they would have wanted.
But as I alluded to before, this is a film of moments. There are so many memorable scenes in the film. This film, in a typical three act structure, is actually shaped like a mountain in my eyes. The first act is not quite that strong. The story is trying to gain its footing and you're launched back into a world with these characters. But the second act is really where the film takes off. I think the second act contains some of the best scenes in the movie. The Disney IP is taken full advantage of, as you see (as seen in the trailers) Disney princesses, Stormtroopers, and some Marvel characters.There is one scene in particular involving a surprise that amazed me and made me laugh so hard in the theaters.
And speaking of, this film has humor, and lots of it. There is an abundant amount of reference to Internet platforms like (as seen in the trailer) Twitter, Google, and a search engine, as well as the Disney website, but unlike The Emoji Movie, these aren't blatant product placement moments shoved into a movie. They have real value and purpose. And most of them are used to comedic effect. This film has jokes for days; and a lot of them hit for me. Again, this is subjective, because I found that I was the only one laughing at a couple of the jokes, but they were right in my vein of humor and I loved them. A few of them will fly over kids' heads because they are about topics that are more heavy, or are simply more clever jokes, but I think kids will find a lot of the movie's humor to be amusing.
But what about the third act? The film is rising on a dramatic incline for the first two acts and is ready to end the film with a bang, except it doesn't. To me, the film's weakest third is the third act. There were so many different directions in which the filmmakers could go, but they decided to go a very different, yet predictable route. They made some questionable choices and threw something in that seemed very last minute. Granted, the third act wasn't terrible, but it added in elements that were not even relevant in the first couple acts that I found to be annoying and somewhat distracting. The message that the film is trying to give seems to jump out of nowhere in the beginning of the third act, and from there, the movie becomes a lot of predictable nonsense.
Really, my major complaints stem from the story and the focus. What does this movie want to be? At a certain point, I was even questioning if a kid would enjoy this movie. Yes, it has colors and animated goofy characters, but the way they talk is sometimes very adult, and the things they talk about are as well. It doesn't seem to know where it wants to head, and like I mentioned before, it's a story of moments, albeit, very good and funny ones.
The Villains: Heading into the film, I had no idea who or what the villains were. And let me say this; while in the first two acts I thought the villain was something that I rather enjoyed, the third act introduces a couple of elements that threw me completely off guard and took me out of the movie for the remainder of the run time. The third act "villains" (no spoilers) did not need to exist at all, in my opinion. It felt very lazy and ham-fisted, that I didn't know what to make of it. It's very hard to talk about this without spoiling, so all I will say is that the villains detracted somewhat from the movie, but not enough to leave a sour taste.
The Music/Score: The music, as I expected, was very heavily influenced by a synthesizer. There were a lot of electronic keyboard tones, and that fit with the movie. But overall, nothing to really talk about; nothing good, nothing bad.
**DISCLAIMER**: This is a subjective, opinionated article that does not have, nor should have any affect on your opinion on the given material. As such, my opinion is entitled to change over time and whatever is written here at this given point in time may not and should not be held to me in the future. You are not meant to agree with me 100 percent of the time, because the nature of subjectivity is we see everything differently. Please keep this in mind.
It was good to see a lot of the cast and voice actors returned to the movie. John C. Reilly perfectly embodies the gentle giant of Ralph, which his voice encapsulates. Something that I had not anticipated going into the movie was the character growth. I hadn't realized it had been six years since the first film, and it turns out that in the movie (minor, minor spoiler) six years have also passed. And because of that, characters like Ralph have grown a little more - in the six years following the events of the first film, he's developed a life style that he maintains and considers normal and routine. And through the movie you really get to see him grow even further as a character as he faces new challenges. He has dimensions, unlike a lot of animated characters, which is always something that I love to see. Speaking of characters, Ralph's best friend Vanellope, voiced by Sarah Silverman, returns and is more of a constant presence throughout this movie. She, in many ways, is actually the main character of the movie, which took me a couple seconds to adjust to. But once I began to realize where the character arcs were going, it became clear and I began to appreciate what the filmmakers were going for.
In terms of side characters, we have some new additions such as Shank, played by Gal Gadot, and a couple returning characters, namely Fix-It Felix. But those returning side-characters are relegated to fun cameos and sight-gags. They don't have much to do at all, which was fine; the story didn't call for them in this particular narrative. And really, at the core of this movie, this is a film about Ralph and Vanellope. There are a lot of surprises, some given away by the marketing and some hidden away, but at its heart is Ralph and Vanellope.
I always say that a movie stands on the story; without a good story, even good characters cannot hold a movie up. Let me say this about the story; I understand that it was not trying to appeal primarily to adults. As an animated film, yes this is aimed towards the younger demographic. So I understand, then, why the story came off as very simplistic, because it did. The story structure had very, very little nuance, and while it used its situation and setting to create some interesting spins on cliches and tropes, at the end of day, I could predict almost everything that was going to happen. That's one of the movie's biggest downfalls - it's predictable. It's cliche in many spots where it could have been something more and it doesn't bother trying to break the mold of the tried and true hero's journey.
HOWEVER - this is not a bad thing. I think that the story focuses more on character development and growth as well as moments. The story is more of a vessel that feeds the characters and serves them. Sometimes this doesn't work, especially if your characters aren't strong. But in this case, watching Ralph and Vanellope is enough to carry the story forward. There is a driving catalyst and motivation, or a MacGuffin if you will, but it actually gets ditched about halfway through the third act, showing that it really was never the main focus of the storytellers.
And because the filmmakers chose to spend more time with the characters, we have some great moments. Again, some of the character development is very cliche. There are tropes that the filmmakers don't bother subverting. But then again, I'm glad to see that the directors and writers are attempting to develop and grow these characters at all. The two protagonists learn a very valuable and hard lesson at the end, even if it is kind of spelled out for you in dialogue. I appreciate when a film of this genre tries to do something like that. Kids will pass it off as something "sappy", but I feel that when the movie tried to go for emotion, it mostly hit, though perhaps not as hard as they would have wanted.
But as I alluded to before, this is a film of moments. There are so many memorable scenes in the film. This film, in a typical three act structure, is actually shaped like a mountain in my eyes. The first act is not quite that strong. The story is trying to gain its footing and you're launched back into a world with these characters. But the second act is really where the film takes off. I think the second act contains some of the best scenes in the movie. The Disney IP is taken full advantage of, as you see (as seen in the trailers) Disney princesses, Stormtroopers, and some Marvel characters.There is one scene in particular involving a surprise that amazed me and made me laugh so hard in the theaters.
And speaking of, this film has humor, and lots of it. There is an abundant amount of reference to Internet platforms like (as seen in the trailer) Twitter, Google, and a search engine, as well as the Disney website, but unlike The Emoji Movie, these aren't blatant product placement moments shoved into a movie. They have real value and purpose. And most of them are used to comedic effect. This film has jokes for days; and a lot of them hit for me. Again, this is subjective, because I found that I was the only one laughing at a couple of the jokes, but they were right in my vein of humor and I loved them. A few of them will fly over kids' heads because they are about topics that are more heavy, or are simply more clever jokes, but I think kids will find a lot of the movie's humor to be amusing.
But what about the third act? The film is rising on a dramatic incline for the first two acts and is ready to end the film with a bang, except it doesn't. To me, the film's weakest third is the third act. There were so many different directions in which the filmmakers could go, but they decided to go a very different, yet predictable route. They made some questionable choices and threw something in that seemed very last minute. Granted, the third act wasn't terrible, but it added in elements that were not even relevant in the first couple acts that I found to be annoying and somewhat distracting. The message that the film is trying to give seems to jump out of nowhere in the beginning of the third act, and from there, the movie becomes a lot of predictable nonsense.
Really, my major complaints stem from the story and the focus. What does this movie want to be? At a certain point, I was even questioning if a kid would enjoy this movie. Yes, it has colors and animated goofy characters, but the way they talk is sometimes very adult, and the things they talk about are as well. It doesn't seem to know where it wants to head, and like I mentioned before, it's a story of moments, albeit, very good and funny ones.
The Villains: Heading into the film, I had no idea who or what the villains were. And let me say this; while in the first two acts I thought the villain was something that I rather enjoyed, the third act introduces a couple of elements that threw me completely off guard and took me out of the movie for the remainder of the run time. The third act "villains" (no spoilers) did not need to exist at all, in my opinion. It felt very lazy and ham-fisted, that I didn't know what to make of it. It's very hard to talk about this without spoiling, so all I will say is that the villains detracted somewhat from the movie, but not enough to leave a sour taste.
The Music/Score: The music, as I expected, was very heavily influenced by a synthesizer. There were a lot of electronic keyboard tones, and that fit with the movie. But overall, nothing to really talk about; nothing good, nothing bad.
In Conclusion: For a film that's directed towards kids, this film addresses themes that can be relevant to almost everyone. That being said, it goes about it in such a way that is cliche and utilizes many classic tropes. The story is a little muddled and doesn't know where it wants to go after the second act, which is vaguely connected to the third act by a loose string. But the strong characters of Ralph and Vanellope, whom you learn to love throughout the film, carry the movie to the finish line without any major hiccups. The laughs and heart of this film are what lift it up over the top for me, and I think that the big heart of both Ralph and the movie cover up the flaws and imperfections.
**DISCLAIMER**: This is a subjective, opinionated article that does not have, nor should have any affect on your opinion on the given material. As such, my opinion is entitled to change over time and whatever is written here at this given point in time may not and should not be held to me in the future. You are not meant to agree with me 100 percent of the time, because the nature of subjectivity is we see everything differently. Please keep this in mind.
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