Ralph Breaks the Internet

Let me just say that there is a good reason that this film continues to dominate at the box office.

While I have referred to this problem before, it is difficult going alone to an animated film when you are a 72 year old male. In particular, mothers with small children inevitably look with suspicion at me out of the corner of their eye, and there have been moments when they have actually moved to different seats if they feel that I am sitting too close to their family.

Nonetheless, duty called and I had to see Ralph Breaks the Internet. And I am glad I did. While its relatively slow start had me questioning my judgment, the film evolves into a wonderfully fascinating experience that kids and adults will love on different levels.

John C. Riley and Sarah Silverman return in the lead roles as Ralph and Vanellope. They have a warm friendship that centers on Vanellope’s love of car racing in a popular video game and Ralph functioning as a janitor/cheerleader. Everything unravels when the video game is cancelled due to a defect and our heroes are forced on a trip inside the internet to try and recover a device needed to restart the video game that defines their existence.

While the movie is both funny and engaging, it is interesting to watch Ralph and Vanellope struggle on their journey as they try to come to grips with their new mysterious environment. Given the criticism that I face with my own limited involvement with the internet, I felt at times that I was a hidden companion of the movie’s lead characters.

While Ralph and Vanellope are helped out by various characters along the way voiced by Allen Tuddyk as King Candy, Jane Lynch as Calhoon and Tarajai P. Henson as Yesss, the character that becomes Vanellope’s greatest ally is voiced by Gal Gadot as Shank. Shank leads a nasty racing team that Vanellope initially challenges and Ms. Gadot’s Shank is without question one of the most sexy, attractive female characters to have appeared in any animated film. She literally reminds you of her role in Wonder Woman in every respect.

What makes this film so popular is both its great special effects and the creative use of some historical Disney characters. In particular, Vanellope ends up interacting with all of the great female animated characters in Disney’s long history and those moments are something that all of you are going to remember with a smile on your face.

So this is a film that you simply have to see if you have children of any age. And if you decide to see it alone, just do so at an early afternoon setting where there will be few families in the theatre. That will minimize the chances of security being called.