Ralph Breaks The Internet

Ralph's done it again!

It's been a while since we last checked in on the video game hero, but as it was with the recent decade-long wait for "The Incredibles" sequel the animation wizards at Disney have hit the high score with "Ralph Breaks the Internet". The oafish Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) was the big boss baddie of his video game, but "Wreck-It Ralph" was just getting tired of the misconceptions that often associated him with his role and hoped he could emerge the hero – if just for once!

With his BFF, the stock car, speed racing Princess Vanellope (Sarah Silverman), the pair have truly set themselves apart in the hearts of their analog and digital contemporaries like Q-Bert and Pac-Man (both make reappearances, as do several classic video game favorites) but when a new piece of hardware gets installed into their local arcade, Wi-Fi opens their world up! Suddenly the confines of their realm have been unleashed to the Internet, and all kinds of new possibilities emerge! This may be just the opportunity that Vanellope has been looking for.

The star of the saccharinely sweet "Sugar Rush" racing game, the princess would love nothing more than to discover a new challenge, a test drive that would really shake her to the core. Looking to lift his friend's spirits, Ralph decides to carve a new track along Vanellope's path – unfortunately, it lands her in some hot fudge, and ultimately her outdated video game gets damaged! In order to replace the part, the pair must venture onto the Internet and figure out a way to raise some revenue (and fast), otherwise "Sugar Rush" is heading for the recycling yard!

Neither Ralph or Vanellope are prepared for what awaits them in the world wide web, including a daring and edgy new racer named Shank (voiced by Gal Gadot) that introduced Vanellope to some high-octane online drag racing that would cripple the faint of heart, but really races her engine. Fearful that he might be losing his best friend to the fast-living of the Internet, Ralph becomes desperate; in trying to convince Vanellope that they should stay on task and retrieve the part they need to fix her game from eBay, he introduces a particularly dastardly virus that spells doom!

"Ralph Breaks the Internet," like its predecessor, really benefits from playing up the tropes connected to the video game world, though since then the nostalgia of Ralph's wrecking ball antics have evolved and the Internet is an entirely new realm. It's realized in this beautifully animated piece as a haphazardly wondrous place – just the type of digital utopia you might imagine it would be. Complete with dazzling avatars, one of which is voiced by Taraji P. Henson and is a marketing wizard that helps our heroes become overnight Internet sensations.

The jokes are non-stop and the adventure is non-lethal, with pop-culture winks to "The Matrix" and the megalopolis that is the Disney empire, "Ralph Breaks the Internet" is a feel-good animated journey, and parents can leave the parental controls at home. With cameos from every Disney princess, and some favorites from a galaxy far, far away, "Ralph Breaks the Internet" will break your heart and leave you hopeful, it's an interactive escapade taking animation to an entirely new level. It's worth the pocket full of quarters!