Seven years ago Wreck-It Ralph wrecked my heart with its sweet and touching story. Now, it's time for Ralph and Vanellope to find something new to explode. And we're talking about something big, like... the whole modern internet pop culture!
Basing your narrative on something as familiar and natural to everyone these days as breathing and web-surfing (whoops, reflexive puns detected!) is both a blessing and a bane. To get all the deeper level references from a certain superhero-based animation, you'd need to be a fan of that character and its universe. But you don't need any special training to be a fan of Google, Instagram or Disney princess movies, so the entertainment should find an easy way from the studio to the viewers' heads, while their cash finds an equally easy way in the opposite direction.
But, just like the case with the first LEGO Movie, being easy to digest doesn't make RBTI a shallow film. Under the disguise of the big e-brands and popular memes, this is still a story of two very different personalities who are trying to learn to really agree to disagree and pursue different dreams while still remaining close to each other. You might think it's quite impossible to deliver a serious message via an arcade game character, but here we are: what Ralph 2 did with the "loving is not possessing" idea is as believable and sincere as it's relevant for a lot of real world people here and now. So if you call this a cash grab, then shut up and take my money!
But there's more to RBTI than just what's explicitly delivered. If you take your time to just let it all seep in while the ending credits are rolling, you might come to feel the love for that big wide world Internet has become during our lifetime. It might seem scary or contrived at first, but it's the magic that lets virtually anyone to become a part of something unifying, something endless, something... liberating. We're no longer confined to where we live or whom we've been born, today just a few taps on a screen and a green light on a WiFi router would bring us anywhere and make us anyone we want. A great power, something that imposes a great responsibility too, but a power nonetheless. What better time for that gentle reminder than just a few days after the 30th anniversary of World Wide Web?
So, if one has to get rickrolled to get this far, then I call it a fair deal! And let the sour balls in the comments post whatever they want.
Basing your narrative on something as familiar and natural to everyone these days as breathing and web-surfing (whoops, reflexive puns detected!) is both a blessing and a bane. To get all the deeper level references from a certain superhero-based animation, you'd need to be a fan of that character and its universe. But you don't need any special training to be a fan of Google, Instagram or Disney princess movies, so the entertainment should find an easy way from the studio to the viewers' heads, while their cash finds an equally easy way in the opposite direction.
But, just like the case with the first LEGO Movie, being easy to digest doesn't make RBTI a shallow film. Under the disguise of the big e-brands and popular memes, this is still a story of two very different personalities who are trying to learn to really agree to disagree and pursue different dreams while still remaining close to each other. You might think it's quite impossible to deliver a serious message via an arcade game character, but here we are: what Ralph 2 did with the "loving is not possessing" idea is as believable and sincere as it's relevant for a lot of real world people here and now. So if you call this a cash grab, then shut up and take my money!
But there's more to RBTI than just what's explicitly delivered. If you take your time to just let it all seep in while the ending credits are rolling, you might come to feel the love for that big wide world Internet has become during our lifetime. It might seem scary or contrived at first, but it's the magic that lets virtually anyone to become a part of something unifying, something endless, something... liberating. We're no longer confined to where we live or whom we've been born, today just a few taps on a screen and a green light on a WiFi router would bring us anywhere and make us anyone we want. A great power, something that imposes a great responsibility too, but a power nonetheless. What better time for that gentle reminder than just a few days after the 30th anniversary of World Wide Web?
So, if one has to get rickrolled to get this far, then I call it a fair deal! And let the sour balls in the comments post whatever they want.
