Ralph Breaks the Internet review round-up: An adorable, funny, classic Disney film that deftly defies expectation

Disney's highly anticipated animated feature Ralph Breaks the Internet has earned mostly positive reviews from critics ahead of its release this week.

In the highly anticipated follow-up to Wreck-It Ralph, video game bad guy Ralph (voiced by John C Reilly) and fellow misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman) navigate the vast and dynamic world wide web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope’s game, Sugar Rush.

Ralph Breaks the Internet promo still. Disney

Directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, Ralph Breaks the Internet hits theatres in India on 23 November, 2018.

Here's what the critics have been saying:

Variety (Peter Debruge): "It’s a poignant buddy movie that’s sincere in all the right places but knows better than to take itself too seriously. While the 2012 project was an inspired example of easily expandable world-building, this more-clever-than-expected follow-up skips the obvious next step — simply exploring the other games that share the same power strip — and sets out to conquer the relative vastness of cyberspace instead."

The Hollywood Reporter (Michael Rechtshaffen): "Deftly defying expectation, Ralph Breaks the Internet, the inevitable sequel to 2012’s $189.4 million-grossing Wreck-It Ralph, absolutely crushes it. A turbo-charged satire that swaps out Gen X video arcade nostalgia for our current, all-consuming social-media-fueled obsession, the endlessly inventive Walt Disney Studios Animation follow-up impressively levels up with laugh-out-loud consistency."

The New York Times (Bilge Ebiri): “Ralph Breaks the Internet might look like just another adorable, funny animated family film, but it also connects to our current reality in ways that are downright bone-chilling.”

Entertainment Weekly (Dana Schwartz): "Ambitious, beautifully animated, and clever to a fault, Ralph Breaks the Internet breaks free of the pitfalls of most sequels by never forgoing heart for the sake of bigger franchise pyrotechnics."

The A.V. Club (Jesse Hassenger): "Twice now Reilly and Silverman have helped to give a cartoon’s happy ending real emotional depth. And twice now, they’ve made their characters so endearing that some fans may feel oddly conflicted about the prospect of undoing those endings just to see them again."

IndieWire (Kate Erbland): "It’s classic Disney, but Moore and Johnston, along with co-writer Pamela Ribon, bring such depth of feeling that it’s easy to forgive the film’s convoluted path (it feels like it has two second acts before the story kicks into gear). Younger audiences will surely benefit from its messaging, but with such vivid characters it’s entertaining and emotional for all ages."

Empire (Jonathan Pile): "Entertaining, and occasionally inspired, but Ralph Breaks The Internet is too often content to achieve a quick laugh, rather than exploring the themes its set-up suggests."

Los Angeles Times (Justin Chang): "For better and for worse, this sequel indeed dishes out a lot more noise and destruction, which means it also offers a lot more to look and marvel at beforehand. This is neither a surprise nor a contradiction...Ralph Breaks the Internet is a witty, fastidiously imagined adventure and a touching, sometimes troubling ode to the power of friendship. But it also demonstrates some of the problems that can befall a movie when its vast ambition and confidence outstrip its finesse."