If you're a Star Wars, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pixar or Disney Princesses completist, you've got to own a copy of "Ralph Breaks the Internet" (out now on 4K UHD, Blu-ray, DVD and Digital).
In this sequel to the 2012 Best Animated Feature "Wreck-It Ralph," Vanellope (Sarah Silverman) and Ralph (John C. Reilly) leave the arcade and head out to the internet to replace a broken steering wheel for Vanellope's Sugar Rush game. A misunderstanding about how eBay works leaves them with the near-impossible task of raising $27,000 in 24 hours to buy the part or the arcade game's going to get junked.
Vanellope tries to win the money by stealing the lead character's car in an open-world driving game called Slaughter Race. She falls in love with the game, and Ralph plots to insert a virus so his friend will want to return home with him to the arcade.
Because this is a Disney movie, all gets worked out and there are lessons learned. What's surprising is how much the studio lets writer/directors Phil Johnston and Rich Moore make fun of the company's characters.
The movie's funniest bits involve Vanellope's backstage encounter with a room full of Disney and Pixar princesses. The crew tells "Princess" Vanellope how she's supposed to experience her dreams, and the sequence ends with a wicked parody of all the uplifting songs Disney princesses are supposed to sing.
Unlike the heavy-handed nudge/wink adult jokes shoehorned into Dreamworks animated movies, all the satire doesn't detract from what's really a story aimed at kids. You could argue that the scenes in Slaughter Race are maybe too intense for some little ones, but they're not going to faze a kid who's seen an older family member play any of the most popular console games out there these days.
