With the amount of love I have for the original movie I was a little apprehensive with this one, but I shouldn’t have been. This may be the worst comparison but this is everything the Emoji Movie tried to be and more.

In Ralph Breaks the Internet Ralph and Venelope travel to the internet via the wifi plug to find Ebay and get a new wheel for Venelope’s game that was broken and threatened with being shut down for good. But they don’t understand Ebay and end up bidding over $27,000 and they need to find this money fast. So while going around the internet they meet Scamley who tells them they can make money through playing video games, this is a bust so instead Ralph becomes a YouTube (but not YouTube because I don’t think they had the rights for that) sensation and made the money. But in this Venelope learns where she really belongs and Ralph needs to learn to let go.

What I find commendable about this movie, and what I have said was other movies’ downfall, was that they understood what they were talking about. There were a lot of memes and parodies of viral videos which normally when shown feels outdated or weird but this didn’t. It was strange and it did make you feel a bit weird just because it was so out there but it wasn’t cringey or awkward.

Another part was the game play. So they enter a game called Slaughter Race which is basically a discount GTA. in this game the NPC characters were smooth and very human like while the playable characters were laggy and awkward and jumped weirdly and sometimes ran into walls etc. and this was so true to real life game play and it may just be such a small detail but it made the movie so much more believable.

And that’s another thing about this movie, it created a world that was very believable and easy to follow. Everything made sense and you could definitely see the internet how they showed it. It was very interesting and I could’ve happily just spent hours exploring the internet world. I especially loved how Instagram was an art gallery. It’s these small decisions that really can make a world of difference when watching a film.

If I was going to give it some criticism I would say that it wasn’t as funny or exciting as the original movie and there was a lot that could’ve gone over your head if you didn’t understand it. For myself I live on the internet so I understand memes and YouTube algorithm and the stuff in between but the more ‘normal’ audience wouldn’t and those jokes would’ve been lost. It did make me question who this movie was aimed at? You see Disney as mainly a kids thing but the kids would’ve mainly got the simpler jokes like them belching in the tavern and not the moment Ralph pretends to be Bob Ross or does the floss (something I never thought I’d say out loud). I felt this movie was more intended for the teen to young adult audience and the audience that understands the internet. It’s not really the sort of film you’d watch with your four year old when it’s grandma’s day to take care of them.

I really enjoyed this film and I think most people will be able to find something in this movie they relate to or understand, but, if you’re a little less tech savvy and don’t know the ins and outs of the internet you may find it less enjoyable. I’d happily watch it again and again though.

What did you think of Ralph Breaks the Internet?

Unil next time.

Published by shonaharding

Media graduate with a passion for reviewing film and TV. View all posts by shonaharding