Really Late Movie Review: Ralph Breaks the Internet

Date: 04 July 2019

Ralph Breaks the Internet, is on Netflix! How does the Wreck-It Ralph sequel hold up?

It’s fun watching Ralph Breaks the Internet now when the movie is still relatively fresh. The little sight gags and cameos with Twitter, Instagram, and nearly every big name on the Internet was fun. I suspect that people watching this 20 years from now will laugh at how Snapchat and Facebook were a thing once.

Unlike the meme-worthy jokes about trending and Internet culture, the story is timeless. It’s a classic one about friendship and letting go. There’s a tough lesson in there about letting your friends follow their dreams even if it means putting some space between you.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is an amazing movie. I don’t think I’ve laughed that hard at a movie in a long time. Seriously, every scene with the Disney Princesses had me laughing. Even the bit that was in the trailer had me be laughing. It was even funnier in context. I loved the little jokes on the Princess' shirts. Moana’s “#shiny” and Elsa’s “Just Let it Go” shirts especially caught my eye. (There’s a fun interview on Disney’s site about the designs.)

The modern 3D characters fit perfectly in the movie, of course. The older princesses like Snow White and Cinderella looked pretty good, too. The only one that didn’t translate quite as well was Pocahontas. I don’t know what it was about her character model but she seems a little out of place.

I have to hand it to Disney’s team for a joke that works best if you saw the teaser trailer. (Included below.) There’s an end credit scene with a little girl (who looks suspiciously like baby Moana) where she says “Don’t you hate it when there’s a scene in the trailer that’s not in the movie?” That missing scene was in the teaser trailer and then played out in the end credit scene. Having seen that trailer, the meta joke gave me a good laugh. What made it especially fun was watching my kids' reaction. You see, I’ve seen the trailer and knew what was going to happen. The look on my girls' faces was priceless.

Anyway, if you haven’t seen it yet, do it now. It’s worth it.