While Ralph is content after his adventure to at least be a hero in Vanellope’s eyes, Vanellope is longing for something more. If Wreck-It Ralph was Toy Story, Ralph Breaks the Internet is fittingly reminiscent of the emotional payoff and stakes of Toy Story 2 and 3.Īfter the events of Wreck-It Ralph, Vanellope and Ralph finally have each other, friends who accept each other for who they are. In the rare sequel for Disney Animation (only their third, after The Rescuers Down Under and Fantastia 2000), Ralph Wrecks the Internet is one of the few followups that at least matches the quality of the original.
Wreck-It Ralph very much follows the same arc as Toy Story and could’ve easily been made under the Pixar brand, but the addition of a new Disney princess in glitching race car driver Vanellope von Schweetz is distinctly a sign of the old guard. Reilly) leaving his arcade cabinet in the hopes of finally becoming a true hero. There may be no better example of the confluence of Disney and Pixar’s ideas and styles than Wreck-It Ralph, the story of video game villain Ralph (John C. Meanwhile, Disney animation has thrived, almost taking Pixar’s place with commercial and critical successes like Zootopia, Big Hero 6, and revitalizing the Disney princess with Frozen and Tangled. Pixar has lost some of its cache as the studio who could seemingly do no wrong, as they released too many sequels and created new properties that didn’t take off. Since Disney’s acquisition of Pixar in 2006 and placing the heads of Pixar to run Disney’s animation studios, the dynamic of both Disney and Pixar have vastly changed. In the last dozen years or so, Walt Disney Animation Studios has been fascinating to watch.