Coastal View News
Some people can’t help but wreck everything. Take Ralph
(John C. Reilly). Whether it’s bricks and stone, windows and doors, or indeed, as
it turns out, even if it’s things as diverse in kind as cityscapes, the World
Wide Web, and personal relationships, Ralph—aka “Wreck-It Ralph”—was born to
lay things asunder.
He can’t help it really, God bless his oafish soul.
Although, as we know from “Wreck-It Ralph”, he is a sweet guy when it comes
down to it, Ralph’s DNA—i.e., his gaming code—precludes delicacy. Everything
Midas touched turned to gold; everything Ralph touches turns to rubble.
Which is why it is a minor miracle that, six years into
his relationship with Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman)—a hotshot
racecar driver from the Sugar Rush arcade game—their friendship is, not just intact,
but thriving. They hang out every night in the arcade—they tell jokes, play guessing
games, and sneak into other arcade games.
Vanellope sometimes says she’s bored—mostly because her game is too
simple. But, if you ask Ralph, everything is perfect.
That is, until he breaks Vanellope’s game. Dammit, Ralph!
He was trying to help—he was trying to fix Vanellope’s boredom by adding a track
to her game. But, as usual, Ralph just mucked everything up. Specifically, he
breaks a piece of Sugar Rush. So the game gets shut down. Now Vanellope is
game-less—which, for a video game character, means she’s like homeless or
something. Just great, Ralph.
But Ralph is going to fix it. He hears that the broken
part from Vanellope’s game is up for auction on EBay. So Ralph and Vanellope
use the arcade’s recently acquired wifi to travel into the world wild web.
Luckily, they find EBay, move right into their auction, and quickly win the bid
for the part. Easy as that.
But, small technicality: They don’t have any money. Oops.
Still, Ralph is determined to fix what he broke. So he
puts together a bunch of viral videos—e.g., one of him imitating other famous
characters, one where he does the cinnamon challenge, one where he just chomps
his food really loudly in front of a camera—to gain likes, which of course means
advertising, which of course means money money money.
Meanwhile Vanellope is off doing her own thing around the
internet. And she’s loving life. Her old game was very simple, very
predictable, and thus very monotonous. But the internet … oh, the internet. The
possibilities are endless. She races ultra-fast cars on new and exciting tracks,
has slumber parties with Disney princesses, participates in heists, and, in her
downtime, shoots hoops. For the first time in a long time, Vanellope feels like
she could have an exciting future in front of her.
But then there’s Ralph. That’s not how he feels—he just
wants to get back to the arcade and spend his days hanging out with Vanellope.
And he can’t see how anyone could feel differently. So, for all the fixin’
Ralph has done (or at least tried to do), all is not right in his world.
Maybe that’s just life. Maybe, sometimes, for someone
like Ralph, the best way to not break something is quit trying to fix it.
And so, as with the original “Wreck-It Ralph”, this movie
packs in a nice little moral. When the moment comes, the point, or perspective,
is delivered with feeling and impressive emotional subtlety. It’s not a
particularly drawn-out moment—the depths of its import are hardly plumbed here—but,
still, it’s nice.
More generally, “Ralph Breaks the Internet” is
consistently charming. Take just about any scene and you’ll find yourself amused
and endeared.
However, one could complain—and I do hereby complain—that,
for the most part, this movie is totally formulaic. It’s as if the only standard
for success for movies like this is that they string together a bunch of
likeable scenes. Set aside whether it all hangs together in an innovative or interesting
way. Forget the fact that a story is more than the sum of its parts. Just be
happy at each moment. That’s enough.
Yeah, well, maybe it is enough—and it almost certainly is
for “Ralph Breaks the Internet”. It would just be nice to see the best of the
best—the movies that break the box office and wow the critics—being a bit
better.
