w w w. s c i fi n ow.co.u k | 077
Ralph Breaks
The Internet
Welcome to the
world of Wi-Fi
Release Out now
Directors Rich Moore, Phil Johnston
Cast John C Reilly, Sarah Silverman,
Gal Gadot, Taraji P Henson, Jack McBrayer,
Jane Lynch
Distributor Walt Disney Studios
Certificate PG
Having spent the last six years
following the same routine with her
best pal Ralph (John C Reilly), spirited
video game character Vanellope (Sarah
Silverman) has grown tired of her predictable
life. While Ralph is perfectly content watching
every sunrise, working all day and downing
root beers each night, Vanellope longs for more.
It’s an intriguing concept – an arcade
creation having an existential crisis - and when
Vanellope’s game Sugar Rush gets unplugged
and she’s found without a home or purpose,
it looks as if that’ll be the story’s driver. To
some extent it is, but when she and Ralph delve
Spider-Man:
Into The
Spider-Verse
Not your average
Spider-Man movie
Release 12 December
Directors Bob Persichetti, Peter Ramsey,
Rodney Rothman
Cast Shameik Moore, Jake Johnson, Hailee
Steinfeld, Mahershala Ali, Liev Schreiber
Distributor Sony
Certificate PGComic books and animated movies
are clearly a match made in heaven,
and yet we can’t remember ever seeing
anything like Spider-Man: Into The Spider-
Verse before. The scale of it, the visual inventiveness,
the heart and the humour – this film is the closest
we’ve yet managed to get to a comic book come
alive. And it’s brilliant.
The film gracefully leaps the ‘oh no, not another
Spider-Man’ movie hurdle by focusing on Miles
Morales, a regular kid from Brooklyn who gets
bitten by that famous radioactive spider. When
Peter Parker as we know him does show up, it’s ashambolic Peter who’s pushing 40 from another
dimension. And he’s not the only rogue Spider-
Person/Pig invading Miles world as he tries to come
to terms with his new powers – thanks to Kingpin’s
nefarious plans, a whole bunch of them are dragged
in from across the multiverse, from Spider-Gwen to
Spider-Ham, each animated in their own distinctive
style, from moody black-and-white to shining anime
eyes. And they’re all an absolute hoot, especially
Nicolas Cage as Spider-Man Noir, spouting
gumshoe nonsense at every opportunity.
But the various Spider-People, as entertaining as
they are, are a side-show. This is Miles’ story – or,
to be more precise, a student-mentor story, with
both Shameik Moore’s Miles and Jake Johnson’s
Peter learning from each other. Anyone concerned
that newbie-Spidey Miles might get lost in all the
pyrotechnics need not worry – he absolutely shines.
Everything about this film is ambitious, from
the voice cast (listen out for some surprise cast
members), to the visuals, adding layer upon layer of
comic book references. The screen splits into panels,
captions appear, black pen-strokes of expression
lines appear on and around characters’ faces. On
top of that the directors and animators have crafted
some excellent, thrilling, often funny, occasionally
heart-in-mouth action scenes. Yes, we’re saying it –
it’s the best Spider-Man movie since Spider-Man 2.
Abigail Chandler
into the World Wide Web to
retrieve a part that could save
her game, Ralph Breaks The
Internet becomes more of a
MacGuffin-led adventure.
Introducing Wi-Fi proves an
ingenious way of expanding
Wreck-It Ralph’s small-
scale world and the detail
is stunning. Well-known
websites such as IMDb and
Pinterest are visualised as
high-tech skyscrapers; eBay
consists of real auctions and
Twitter sees literal blue birds
squeak out memes. Then there
are the worlds within it; the grimy alley-looking
Dark Net and online racing game Slaughter Race- which catches Vanellope’s eye, causing her to
question whether she even wants to save Sugar
Rush – being particular highlights.
Along the way, it touches on interesting
topics such as online fame and cyberbullying
but abandons them in favour of knowing or
meta gags – like when Ralph gets distracted by
pop-up people selling work-out tricks or when
Vanellope stumbles across a plethora of Disney
Princesses in the film’s standout scene – and
action sequences.
Where other Disney films have been bold
enough to tackle subjects like grief, racism
or depression, Ralph Breaks The Internet
keeps things simple by examining evolving
friendships. It’s super sweet seeing both
Vanellope and Ralph come to terms with that
fact as they realise their own dreams separately
from one another, but it’s unlikely to have
any lasting emotional effect. In a sense, Ralph
Breaks The Internet is like most things online
these days; it’s amusing while you’re engaged
with it but as soon as your mind is elsewhere,
there’s not all that much about it to hold on to.
Amy West