This sequel isn’t nearly as tightly structured as the first film, and for the most part the plot is just an excuse for a string of internet-related jokes – but it all comes together for a satisfying and surprisingly emotional final act.

Premise: In the six years since the end of the first film, Wreck-It Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) have become the best of friends, spending all their free time together outside of their arcade games. But Vanellope longs for some new challenges from life, while Ralph just wants everything to stay as it is. Then, a quest for a spare part for the arcade leads Ralph and Vanellope to explore the vast internet for the first time.

Review:

It’s fair to say that stories set inside the internet are generally fairly hit and miss. Whereas we can all imagine what it would be like for the characters in a video game (or book or similar) to come to life when no one is looking, the intangible nature of the internet means that it’s far more difficult to visualise what life inside the world wide web would look like. Perhaps this is why, when Ralph and Vanellope do venture into the internet in Ralph Breaks the Internet, the plot seems to largely go out the window, and instead we just get a stream of jokes, sketches and random scenes.

Perhaps this is not that surprising – I mean how many 8-year-olds out there are likely to have a clear understanding of precisely what “the internet” is? So in Ralph Breaks the Internet, Ralph and Vanellope venture into the internet to try to buy something from eBay – but along the way they also have to deal with personifications of spam pop-ups, age-inappropriate violent games, and hateful forum comments, in a string of set-pieces that are only held together by the loosest of plots. There’s even a gag later on about a scene from the trailer having been cut from the final film, which just reinforces the feeling that most of the film is more a series of sketches than a coherent plot. There were apparently two earlier scripts for this sequel that were scrapped, and I can’t help but wonder whether random jokes and ideas from those made it into the patchwork plot for this version?

“...builds to a surprisingly emotional climax...”

That’s not to say that the various ideas and set-pieces are not entertaining, it’s just that they don’t really hang together as a cohesive plot. Even the main reason for coming to the internet (to buy a spare part from eBay) is largely forgotten about halfway through, and the film oddly seems to reinforce the fallacy that anyone can make a fortune on the internet posting derivative YouTube videos, which perhaps isn’t the best message to be sending young viewers.

But all these issues mainly stem from the middle act of the film, which is where it feels like the film loses its way slightly. It starts off promisingly enough, focusing on Ralph and Vanellope’s friendship, and the fact that they’ll do anything for each other, no matter how dangerous (especially once they travel to the internet via the arcade’s new wi-fi connection). And it’s this emotional bond which is by far the film’s greatest strength – and when the film returns to that relationship for the final act, it makes for a surprisingly emotional climax, dealing with some unexpectedly mature themes (albeit in a way that’s easily accessible to younger viewers, who might not pick up on all of the subtext).

“...articulates complex emotional issues in a way that’s accessible to younger viewers...”

The central emotional themes of the film are friendship and change, and when the film really embraces these themes, it manages to articulate complex issues in a way that reminded me of how Inside Out also made such issues accessible to younger viewers. In Ralph Breaks the Internet, the loving bond between Ralph and Vanellope is there for all to see … but it’s clear that that may not be enough to paper over all of the other issues they’re wilfully ignoring. Of course, a lot of that subtext may go over the heads of the younger viewers, and it only really comes into play in the final act, with the majority of the film adopting a much more light-hearted and looser feel.

As suggested in the trailers, the comedic highlight of the film is arguably when Vanellope stumbles into a Disney fan-site and meets all of the Disney princesses, and that section does live up to its hype (aided by the fact that most are still voiced by their original actresses). There are plenty of other “cameos” too from famous pop-culture characters – but most are just seen in the background, and this isn’t trying to be a mash-up of various iconic characters in the same way that Ready Player One was.

“...the heart that made the first film so loveable is still there...”

The main cast is led by John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman, who are both as great as ever, and there are brief scenes with some of the other characters from the first film, like Fix-It Felix Jr (Jack McBrayer) and Sgt Calhoun (Jane Lynch) - although to be honest, I would have perhaps liked to have seen more from them. New characters introduced in this film include Gal Gadot as Shank, a street racer from a violent online game, and Taraji P. Henson as Yesss, the an “algorithm” in the film’s YouTube substitute “BuzzzTube”. Alan Tudyk is also back, this time playing a search engine with an overly keen autofill function.

Overall, Ralph Breaks the Internet is definitely worth a watch if you enjoyed the first film, but it’s much patchier than the original and does lose some momentum in the middle. Yet the heart that made the first film so loveable is still there, and the film ultimately redeems itself with its heartfelt finale.