Let’s start the year in the best way with a new animated film, one of those we like! In fact, since January 1st, Ralph Breaks the Internet is in all Italian theatres. The new Disney movie takes us back to the crazy world of video games and sends us, with its protagonists, on the internet. How will Ralph and Vanellope cope with social networks, algorithms and search engines?
Six years after the events of the first movie, all is quiet for the characters living in the arcade. Or maybe a bit too much quiet! Knowing that Vanellope is bored to death by repeating the same levels of Sugar Rush all over again, Ralph tries to make the game more compelling, causing the breakdown of the steering wheel of the cabinet. The only spare part that would avoid switching off the game is on eBay and it’s quite expensive. So, Ralph and Vanellope decide to sneak into the world wide web through the newly installed wi-fi router to try to save Sugar Rush. There is only one small problem: first, they must earn enough money to buy the broken piece!
If Wreak It Ralph focused on the nostalgia effect given by old video games, the second chapter of the adventures of Ralph and Vanellope winks at millennials and digital natives, who will love the big and small citations that appear in each shot. Among the annoying pop-ups, flocks of tweeting birds and the inevitable haters, the real delight is the self-irony that Disney directs towards its stars. We have already seen the Disney Princesses in the trailer (and the two scenes in which they appear are the best of the movie), but there are other famous cameos directly from the Marvel world and the galaxy far, far away of Star Wars.
At the heart of Ralph Breaks the Internet, however, there is the relationship between the protagonists. The discovery of the boundless world of the web, in fact, breaks the balance between the two best friends: Ralph cannot wait to complete the mission and return home, while Vanellope is enchanted by the endless wonders of the Internet (first of all, a game that can enhance her pilot skills). It is a situation in which we have all been at least once in our life, torn between the desire to follow our dreams and the desire that things – and friendships – remain the same.
Directed by Phil Johnston and Rich Moore (formerly directors of Zootropolis), Ralph Breaks the Internet is a brilliant parade of gags, citations and parodies that can be enjoyed by both adults and children. Do not leave the theatre immediately at the end of the movie: a tasty scene awaits you in the middle of the end credits with a surprising protagonist and a very little Disneyesque ending that will make you jump on the chair (in laughing or horror)!