Film review: Ralph Breaks the Internet

This movie is curiously unengaging. The first film satirized video games, and the sequel seems just as happy to satirize the Internet. And the viewer is thinking, "is that it, a bunch of comical internet references?" Yeah, that's it.

Yeah, it's visually stunning, but the story driving the narrative isn't much to go on. And I'm not saying this because I'm an old geezer, my 11-year-old felt the same way.

The only bright spot is the Disney Princesses interlude where the princesses poke fun at their own tropes (none of them have moms! most were saved by guys!) Not only is it funny, it's beautifully animated. All the characters' facial features and expressions are enhanced and you're seeing the princesses again for the first time.

The sequence got me thinking, maybe they should have made this scene its own cartoon short that would be shown before a better full-length film.

Film review: Wreck-it Ralph

A running gag in "Toy Story 3" has the Ken doll insisting he's not a girl's toy. This existential crisis
becomes the basis of "Wreck-it Ralph."

Ralph is a bad guy in his video game, but wants more out of his life. He goes on an adventure driven by the belief that if he earns a medal, he'll be accepted by his peers.

It borrows a lot from the "Toy Story" films (children's playthings have their own lives when the children leave the room), and everytime the characters are in their Grand Central Station, it makes you think of "Monsters Inc." Though not as good as the "Toy Story" trilogy and about as good as "Monsters Inc." if you can put the comparisons aside, it stands alone as a nifty, often clever, dazzling-to-look at film.

It's top heavy with explanation, it seems the first hour is characters explaining the internal logic of the plot, the pace picks up by the third act when we finally get some action, and interaction between Ralph and Venellope, another outcast character who seems to be dealing with her lot in life better than Ralph.

It's no "Toy Story," but a film that comes close is still worth seeing.