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Author Topic: Ralph Breaks the Internet  (Read 2332 times)

1SO

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Ralph Breaks the Internet
« on: November 20, 2018, 11:06:17 PM »
"A Place Called Slaughter Race"

This was simultaneously my favorite and least favorite scene in the film. I admire the attempt and perhaps if it was more funny or more subversive visually I wouldn't be so on the fence about it. I can't believe they even went with a musical number sung semi-earnestly by Sarah Silverman and Gal Gadot. Curious to read other opinions and see how it hits me when I watch the film again. While it's the scene I'm looking forward to the most, it also is the moment when the Ralph Jumps the Shark.

I'm also uncertain about the King Kong Ralph at the climax of the film. Like some anime it's visually cool, but also a bit off-putting in its weirdness. For a film racing through ideas, it seemed like a last minute switch to move away from Vanellope's glitch infecting Slaughter Race to Ralph being 100% Insecure. Bringing the princesses back also seemed like a late game idea once they didn't get too much flack from the teasers.

I loved the way they incorporated the teaser trailer into the final film.


FLYmeatwad

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Re: Ralph Breaks the Internet
« Reply #1 on: November 22, 2018, 05:38:10 PM »
I don't remember/recall the teaser, but I didn't care for it as much because of it coming after what I thought was a super effective conclusion that puts distance between the two of them.

With you on the musical number, the subversion isn't really there, so it's just Silverman singing and helping the film transition back to Slaughter Race. But at that point I think the movie really has a grasp of what it wants to explore, so it just feels jarring. The King Kong part is also very on the nose, and kind of overdone. I think it lays the groundwork enough for it to be believable in context, but it's very obvious set up that feels heavy handed (like Ralph, his hands are big). I did like the princesses though, and think they thread Vanellope in with them really well, but mostly I just love all of their casual outfits and the sayings on their shirts. From what I did see of the full on trailers before things, I did go in with some hesitation, and it wasn't unwarranted through the first 30 minutes or so because it gets so terribly memey and referencey and basically just has the two go through the Frisco of Silicon Valley's opening credits, which is fun, but kind of dull.

Turns a little bit of a corner when that gets used more as dressing and we get to Disney proper as it lets the movie finally just have fun, and at that point I'd have been fine with it just being a whole big crossover film because it wasn't emotionally hitting anywhere close to the first and the driving story that made the character work so effective in the original was hardly as compelling. So whatever, just cut loose, do some Disney stuff, and and let me enjoy that in a different art style. But I'm glad about where it goes. As it starts to reveal itself and focuses on that disintegration and restructuring of the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope it gets surprisingly mature for a film that, for a lot of the early run time, felt like an unnecessary sequel. That moment where she hugs him and tells him she loves him, it's so sweet and hits in the way it should. People likely won't like the comparison, and I know I'm the only one who holds it in such high regard, but the ending of Superbad is so wonderful to me because you see that growing distance even though you have also had that reconciliation. It's just so real, and continues to be one of my favorite endings to anything I've seen, so I was glad to see WiR2 not only echo that, but also commit to the separation. Until the threequel, I guess.

Also, not sure if it's just Disney convention and all the talk from the princesses, but this could have strayed in to some real yucky territory with the Ralph/Vanellope/Shank relationship, because it really felt framed like it should have been a romantic plot, but they don't lean super hard in to it and things mostly fall platonic, which is obviously good because Vanellope is most definitely a child. Leave that gross shit to the fan art communities. Though I think the idea that is probed, if applied in another film to different characters in a romantic context would also be super compelling because that idea they eventually hit on is just so strong.

EDIT: I think you were right about the 3-D as well, 1SO, though I only had the 2-D option since my theater only had a single 3-D screening all day. There are definitely parts where things would pop out, and I am always down with having things hurtle towards my face.

EDIT 2: Loved the Jason Mantzoukas cameo as well.
« Last Edit: November 22, 2018, 06:11:15 PM by FLYmeatwad »

1SO

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Re: Ralph Breaks the Internet
« Reply #2 on: November 23, 2018, 12:00:21 AM »
I don't remember/recall the teaser, but I didn't care for it as much because of it coming after what I thought was a super effective conclusion that puts distance between the two of them.
At the end, they say how they'll get to hangout when her game upgrades in a couple of months. I figured this was during that time period.

The King Kong part is also very on the nose, and kind of overdone. I think it lays the groundwork enough for it to be believable in context, but it's very obvious set up that feels heavy handed (like Ralph, his hands are big).
I agree because the moment he's carrying her up the building you can only think of King Kong, but it didn't take me out of the film too far.


As it starts to reveal itself and focuses on that disintegration and restructuring of the relationship between Ralph and Vanellope it gets surprisingly mature for a film that, for a lot of the early run time, felt like an unnecessary sequel. That moment where she hugs him and tells him she loves him, it's so sweet and hits in the way it should.
I've seen the film twice now, first in 3D and now 2D. That moment hits so hard because the theme of friends growing apart is being lightly tapped with a hammer and right then - WHAM - the relationship between them is so well-developed that we understand the need to go different ways.

Also, not sure if it's just Disney convention and all the talk from the princesses, but this could have strayed in to some real yucky territory with the Ralph/Vanellope/Shank relationship, because it really felt framed like it should have been a romantic plot, but they don't lean super hard in to it and things mostly fall platonic, which is obviously good because Vanellope is most definitely a child. Leave that gross shit to the fan art communities. Though I think the idea that is probed, if applied in another film to different characters in a romantic context would also be super compelling because that idea they eventually hit on is just so strong.
God, I hope that never happens, though I've watched sisters Anna and Elsa become lesbian icons and watched Disney stoke that carefully to not crush a small fanbase. I just think Vanellope and Shank represent the top racers in their games so there's respect in that.

EDIT: I think you were right about the 3-D as well, 1SO, though I only had the 2-D option since my theater only had a single 3-D screening all day. There are definitely parts where things would pop out, and I am always down with having things hurtle towards my face.
When the insecurity virus fires around the internet, the last one is a digital Ralph fired right at the screen, but it's the football I love most, especially since the amount of distance varies with each toss.

EDIT 2: Loved the Jason Mantzoukas cameo as well.
Did you notice the girl in the back of the car was Baby Moana? Not literally, but they used the same design rather than design a new child. Her mom calls her Baby Mo.

FLYmeatwad

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Re: Ralph Breaks the Internet
« Reply #3 on: November 23, 2018, 07:30:33 PM »
Didn't notice that at the end, but partially because I was on the edge about staying through the credits since I figured there wouldn't be a reason. Agree that it's later when they hang out, just didn't need that given how strong I found the ending, that's a cool detail though that I'll look for when I see it again on video or in 3-D. Also, once the film ended to the two kids behind me started flipping out and kicking my chair, so I was ready to leave, glad it wasn't a super long scene.

The football part early on in 2-D is the one that stood out to me as well, cool to hear the exact distance changes.

Definitely agree about that respect angle, though I still think a different film where similar ideas are played with that involve adult characters would be cool. I'm sure it exists somewhere though, and is just as bitter as I expect. Who knows.

Keep thinking that I got heavy post-Shrek vibes early on and wonder if the beginning of this film is what the emoji movie felt like. That brief Fortnite thing was just...wow. Also, forgot to post it yesterday, but hard to hear Sonic talk now without just wanting it to be voiced by Ben Schwartz.

In the first film that MGS moment really pulled me out of it, and this continues in the sense that there's no way a stand alone run down arcade like this can possibly still exist in modern America with no specialty angle, though it's cool that they show it kind of economically struggling, even if it's way busier and with way younger kids than I figure most modern arcades would be. And I know it's not 'the point' but one imagines that Vanellope had mentioned before to Ralph that she wanted something new in her game, and if changing the track was something he could do so easily, it's weird that they never made a new track after hours for her to mess around with while they were hanging out during the night.

Interesting development about Elsa and Anna too, like with each other, because that can be similarly gross for different reasons. How has Disney fanned that flame? Side note as well, I was only partially on board with the internet video compilation, but was a big proponent of Open Seasabees.

smirnoff

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Re: Ralph Breaks the Internet
« Reply #4 on: February 16, 2019, 04:18:44 PM »
Ralph Breaks the Internet ( Phil Johnston, Rich Moore, 2018)        6/10

A hit and miss experience. I enjoyed the world more than the story and it's characters. I thought they did a great job of representing the internet as a physical environment. The way a transport would appear and zip characters off if they "clicked a link" never got old. Pop ups, the dark web... basically anything that demonstrated the mechanisms of the internet in a physical way I thought was good. It could've gone further still, but whatever.

The problem I had was the story. It was just too over the top. The basic premise of needing a super rare part to fix an arcade game was a good starting point, but having Ralph and Vanellope not understand how ebay worked, and way overbid and suddenly need huge amounts of money... that felt like a dumb motivator for a story, and showed that the characters were also dumb (or super naive). What's the lesson in that? Don't be dumb? It kind of is if you boil it down. More generously you could take it as "be careful of the internet". A warning to the kids who might not know better. "Don't do what Ralph does!" That's a fine message to try and get across to kids I guess (pretty basic), but as an adult there's not much there for me to contemplate. It just becomes a story of buffoonery.

I thought the opportunity was there to enrich the story with deeper messages. Have it resemble problems with the US healthcare system, and how the media celebrates when someone raises huge amounts of money to pay for life saving medical treatment (through crowd sourcing, donations etc), but it is actually just a reflection of how poorly the healthcare system is serving it's people that that kind of behavior is even necessary. I think the ingredients are there to make that more complex story work. Instead we're simply solving for our protagonists being naive.

None of the viral video stuff worked for me. The algorithm character was too much a character, and Ralph's successes were too easily achieved. The internet isn't nearly as dumb as they make it out to be. Better imo would have been to demonstrate how difficult it is to have a viral success... ESPECIALLY when you're trying to manufacture it. Or how fleeting popular memes can be. It would've been good to have Ralph's character completely fail in that regard, and only find success when he's actually makes a genuine content (or an appeal for charity, which would go back to the healthcare thing...). Maybe have him speak about what he knows... arcade culture. He could be a personality that revitalizes people's love of going to an arcade. It also may have helped if I could relate to the human characters who were enjoying his videos... unfortunately his videos merely reinforce the idea that good viral content is hard to make, while the film pretends like it isn't. I also thought the "reading the comments section" moment fell flat on it's face emotionally. I liked that the film went there, I just thought the scene didn't work at all as written.

Really the film never worked for me on an emotional level. I lost interest by the time the climax came. The princess stuff was fun, but all in all it had too many things that didn't work. A disappointing sequel to a strong first film.

1SO

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Re: Ralph Breaks the Internet
« Reply #5 on: February 16, 2019, 10:14:39 PM »
Well argued and I can't really disagree. I've seen it twice in the theater and I know I'll be buying the BluRay, but I don't see it getting much play. "Still better than Incredibles 2" is my mantra along the lines of "wrong kid died."

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Re: Ralph Breaks the Internet
« Reply #6 on: April 15, 2019, 11:26:40 PM »
I really enjoyed my time with this film and will probably watch it again with my kids.

But I wonder about it's longevity.  There are a whole ton of pop references here-- who will care about this is 30 years?  Will we put this movie on the shelf with Shrek 2?
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Will

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Re: Ralph Breaks the Internet
« Reply #7 on: April 27, 2019, 07:38:38 PM »
I hate that they used real world names for sites and didn't just parody them like they did with Buzzfeed. The OhMyDisney aspect is also soul-crushingly synergetic. I am certain it was a studio mandate. It's such a bummer too because the story here is far better than the first.