Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope leave the confines of the arcade in Ralph Breaks the Internet. Over the past six years, Wreck-It-Ralph (John C. Reilly) and Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) have become the best of friends in the video game arcade. However, when Ralph accidentally causes Vanellope’s Sugar Rush game to break, she is left without a home. Using the arcade’s new WiFi connection, Ralph and Vanellope venture into the Internet in attempt to acquire the required part for the game from eBay, along the way befriending Slaughter Race driver Shank (Gal Gadot) and viral marketing algorithm Yesss (Taraji P. Henson).
In this sequel to 2012’s Wreck-It-Ralph, we leave the confines of the video game arcade and into the much larger world of the Internet. Ralph and Vanellope venture into this new world in attempt to acquire a replacement steering wheel of Vanellope’s Sugar Rush game. However, when they accidentally overbid on the wheel, they must find a way to make the thousands of dollars needed, with Ralph resorting to starring in viral videos on the site Buzztube, run by Yesss. At the same time, Vanellope begins to find a new calling for herself in the very dangerous racing game Slaughter Race, much to the dismay of Ralph.
Even more so than the last film, Ralph Breaks the Internet has some major pop culture overload, with the film referencing pretty much anything popular on the internet. In addition, thanks to the properties that Disney now owns, the film features a whole sequence that has cameos by Stormtroopers, certain Marvel characters, and probably most notably, every single Disney Princess, with most of the original living voice actors returning for the roles, while also making mention of some of the notable stereotypes about the princesses Disney has been accused of over the years. I also have to say that there is a very entertaining take on the typical Disney musical number.
On top of all the pop culture references, Ralph Breaks the Internet is ultimately a film about friendship and how you should be accepting of individual dreams. The film goes into a very interesting direction with the villain, which is more a personification of insecurities than an actual character. The film also sports a very stacked voice cast, with most of the characters from the original returning, along with new characters voiced by Gal Gadot, Taraji P. Henson, Alfred Molina, and Disney regular Alan Tudyk.
Overall, I would have to say that Ralph Breaks the Internet is an enjoyable follow-up to the original.