Ralph Breaks the Internet, the long-awaited sequel to 2012’s Wreck-It Ralph is upon us. You can read our review here. In this new adventure, our self-aware video game heroes Ralph and Vanellope venture into the internet to see if they can do a less-cringeworthy version of The Emoji Movie. From there, they take part in a fairly simple quest with minimal conflict, only to go through an emotional discovery later on when the movie asks itself, “Actually, what is this really about?” Being that the first one was Who Framed Roger Rabbit/Toy Story/FoodFight! for video games, it makes sense that there would be plenty of Easter eggs tossed in. Here’s what we noticed. Lots of spoilers, of course. – While in Slaughter Race, Vanellope sees a large, inflatable gorilla on top of a building and thinks it’s Ralph for a second. Similarly, when Ralph’s clones turn into a massive hivemind goliath at the end of the movie, its behavior is very reminiscent of King Kong. This ties into Ralph’s origins as a Donkey Kong pastiche with Fix-It Felix being his Mario. Coincidentally, while Nintendo wasn’t sold enough on the idea of letting Mario show up in the first movie (while letting them use Bowser), this time he isn’t there due to Nintendo’s deal with Illumination. Just as well, considering how brief the arcade realm appears overall. – Slaughter Race is very much a pastiche of Grand Theft Auto, but the emphasis of evil clowns looks to be a nod to Twisted Metal (and its marquee character Sweet Tooth), which appears to be another major inspiration.
INTERNET STUFF
– When our heroes first reach the internet, there’s a big sign saying “I CAN HAS CHEEZBURGER,” a reference to one of the earlier internet cat memes and meme blogs. – In the eBay area, the voice actors (Brian Curless, Ann Colgin, and Viveca Paulin) are actual professional auctioneers. Fitting that Paulin would show up in a John C. Reilly movie considering her husband is his usual partner-in-crime Will Ferrell. – One of Ralph’s videos has him imitating late TV painter Bob Ross. While not really a regular viral video concept, it did do gangbusters when Deadpool did the same thing to promote his second movie.
DISNEY STUFF
– When Ralph is accosted by pop-up ads, one of them is about housewives wanting to meet him. The woman on the image is Aunt Cass from Big Hero 6. – The office worker who first sees the Ralph internet videos is wearing an R2D2 tie. – The Disney website area naturally has all the big franchises. There’s the animated movies, Marvel stuff, Muppets, and so on…but also an “Air Bud Pavilion?” I even had to double-check that that was indeed a Disney property. But hey, it takes all kinds. – A remix of “Let It Go” from Frozen is playing because of course it is. – There’s a “CAST MEMBERS ONLY” sign, which in the Disney theme parks means only employees are allowed. In the internet, things are a little more literal. – Not only are almost all of the princesses voiced by their original voice actresses, but the various cameos in the Disney segment are voiced by their originals as well, including Tim Allen as Buzz Lightyear, Anthony Daniels as C-3PO, and Vin Diesel as Baby Groot. – As dime-a-dozen as those Stormtroopers are, the one leading the chase against Vanellope is actually an established drone. The credits identify him as FN-3181, a trooper from Star Wars: The Force Awakens, with Michael Giacchino reprising the role. – Despite the Disney/Marvel connection, the Disney Princesses switch to t-shirts and sweats via the Batman ’66 scene transition, complete with the music stinger.
CREDITS AND POST-CREDITS
– For whatever reason, Bill Hader’s role as Spamley isn’t credited. He doesn’t even show up in the early credits sequence where they go over all the major characters. Even Alfred Molina as Double Dan shows up in that part and he gets about a minute of screen time while being an extension of Spamley’s role. – There are a lot of fake app icons throughout the credits with some of them being references to real ones. For instance, School of Wizard Folks is most definitely Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery. There’s also a “serial numbers filed off” version of the “Problem?” troll face icon thrown in there. – The post-credits is Ralph not only singing “Never Gonna Give You Up” by Rick Astley, but recreating the music video with Felix as the bartender and the Slaughter Race guys as backup dancers. Rickrolling as a bait-and-switch prank has been an internet staple since the mid-00s. Unfortunately, if you pay attention to the credits, the movie shows its hand too early considering the song is listed there as being performed by John C. Reilly.
DELETED SCENES
– As anyone who has watched the trailers can tell you, there are a few scenes that didn’t make it into the final product. One of the more notable ones is Yesss trying to explain to our heroes that Ralph would “break” the internet instead of “wreck” it.
