'Ralph Breaks the Internet' Review

I apologize for the delay on this review, as I saw Ralph Breaks the Internet over a week ago now, but I've been fairly busy with school work as the Fall semester is coming to a close. Thankfully, I now have a substantial influx of free time since I've just completed my final assignment and only have one more final left to worry about. Within the last week, I've filled a vast majority of my free time not dedicated to schoolwork with watching a few films in theaters which piqued my interest and I was concerned may soon leave theaters. Anyways, you can soon expect reviews for Green Book, A Private War, Can You Ever Forgive Me?, Boy Erased, and The Hate U Give (I'll try to stick to a review or two a day). Otherwise, I've noticed that the first few weeks of December are relatively light regarding new releases, so I'm going to use that time to catch up on titles I missed from earlier in the year which are currently available via streaming or home media. Aside from that, I'm going to soon put much of my time and attention towards editing a video about Star Wars: The Last Jedi which I've been working on for the past three months. The plan is to release that on December 15th, so it's available on the year anniversary of The Last Jedi's theatrical release, and I'm going to write a corresponding blog post detailing my thought process behind it and any other interesting behind-the-scenes factoids I can piece together.

'Ralph Breaks the Internet' Review

Nominated For: Best Animated Feature.

Video game bad guy Ralph and fellow misfit Vanellope von Schweetz must risk it all by traveling to the World Wide Web in search of a replacement part to save Vanellope's video game, "Sugar Rush." In way over their heads, Ralph and Vanellope rely on the citizens of the internet to help navigate their way, including an entrepreneur named Yesss, who is the head algorithm and the heart and soul of trend-making sit BuzzzTube.

Ralph Breaks the Internet is co-directed by Phil Johnston and Rich Moore, features a screenplay penned by Johnston and Pamela Ribon, and credits its story to Johnston, Moore, Ribon, Jim Reardon, Josie Trinidad, and Kelly Younger. While that certainly sounds like a lot of credited names, it's understandable that a story exploring a world as vast as the Internet would require all hands on deck. Fortunately, all of the individuals mentioned above are in-studio talent who have previously worked on Wreck-It Ralph and Zootopia among other recent Disney animation. With plenty of easter eggs, gags, and background elements alluding to popular Internet and Disney IP, Ralph Breaks the Internet could have easily fallen into the same rut as The Emoji Movie and effectively been two hours of obnoxious product placement. Thankfully, that's not quite the case... Though I suppose the "Oh My Disney" site could potentially annoy some viewers.

Regardless, the filmmakers play on the inner-workings of the Internet in plenty of fresh, exciting ways. As a setting, the Internet is almost a character of its own considering how well it's been intricately detailed and fleshed out by the animators. The rules and logic laid out by this World Wide Web are also fairly consistent with our own, so the events shown felt like a valid visual representation of everything which transpires online. In fact, Ralph Breaks the Internet heavily leans into the realism to provide insightful, much-needed commentary about how we handle ourselves online. It's a sad truth, but the worst version of ourselves often manifest on the Internet, and this film does not shy away from that whatsoever by shining the spotlight on toxic male insecurity. I'll be honest in saying I didn't expect Ralph Breaks the Internet to explore such mature thematic material on account of the age of its target audience. While a fair share of animated films can invoke mature discussion amongst families, the trailers made Ralph Breaks the Internet seem light and breezy, so I, therefore, expected a fun, surface-level adventure through cyberspace. 

By poking fun at the digital landscape and focusing on the ramifications of putting our needs and desires before others, Ralph Breaks the Internet delivers the best of both worlds. The film's equal parts hilarious and heartfelt. The jokes pertaining to the web and Disney itself are genuinely funny while the dilemma facing Ralph and Vanellope's friendship might hit a little close to home for certain viewers. Before I continue though, I'd like to say I was very impressed with how relevant the subject matter of the Internet managed to be. Animation's a very lengthy process, so I'm surprised that the story stayed so current in spite of the Internet's tendency to quickly cycle through trends.

As one would expect, John C. Reilly and Sarah Silverman recapture the delightful dynamic between Ralph and Vanellope instantaneously. Both banter and emotional beats are well conveyed by the two of them, but I'll say Silverman really stood out since she has a larger role this time. Otherwise, I was slightly surprised to see Jack Mc Brayer and Jane Lynch's Fix-It Felix and Sergeant Calhoun be mostly relegated to an off-screen B-plot considering their substantial involvement in the original (though there's an excellent payoff at the end which totally justifies it).

As for Wreck-It Ralph series newcomers, Gal Gadot, Taraji P. Henson, and Bill Hader each are impressionable as the tough-as-nails driver Shank, exuberant algorithm Yesss, and shifty click-baiter Spamley respectively. I was very impressed with Gal Gadot's voice work, in particular, considering this is her first voice role. She even sang a little bit and sounded pretty great, so hats off to her! Meanwhile, Alan Tudyk maintains his hot streak of voicing various characters for Walt Disney Animation Studios by portraying the feisty Internet browser KnowsMore.

And of course, I can't leave out the Disney Princesses... Just about all of the voice actresses who have voiced these characters in other mediums reprise their roles for a series of hilarious, engaging sequences. To tell you the truth, any scenes related to the Disney Princesses and the Oh My Disney site were highlights in my book! Their involvement directly corresponds to one particular musical number which had me laughing hysterically. With the proper context, "A Place Called Slaughter Race" warrants a Best Original Song nomination from the Academy.

Ralph Breaks the Internet may not be quite as focused or emotionally rich as the original, but it's a worthy sequel in every sense. At times, the plot proceedings seem a little scatter-brained and reminiscent of long-winded clickbait articles, but exceptional animation, phenomenal voice work, and a timely message regarding Internet behavior more than compensate for any sketchy online detours Ralph and Vanellope made along the way. Now, let's just hope audience members are able to get a strong reception and Disney's stance on Internet toxicity is successfully installed.

Film Assessment: A-

'Kong: Skull Island' Review

Nominated For: Best Visual Effects.

In Kong: Skull Island secretive government organization Monarch sets off to explore the uncharted Skull Island, dropping bombs to map the island's terrain, only to have their expedition brought to a screeching halt when a 100 foot ape trashes their helicopter convoy. That ape is Kong of course, who happens to be the largest incarnation of the raging gorilla yet.

Kong: Skull Island is the second entry in Warner Bros. and Legendary's MonsterVerse which kicked off with 2014's Godzilla and is headed towards a monster showdown between these two versions of Kong and Godzilla (the reasoning behind Kong's size-up), and there are plenty of breadcrumbs sprinkled throughout the film hinting towards that confrontation including a post credits scene I highly advise you wait for afterwards. Kong: Skull Island is unique when contrasted to the other Kong flicks, its set in 1973 and takes place almost entirely on Skull Island once the crew arrives (Don't be hopeful for an Empire State Building standoff because you'll be severely disappointed).

Director Jordan Vogt-Roberts and cinematographer Larry Fong soak Kong's cinematic resurgence in 'Nam napalm to evoke Apocalypse Now's vibrant color palette, leaving Kong: Skull Island's stylistic aesthetic to be one of the film's highlights. On that note, Kong: Skull Island's quite impressive from a technical standpoint. It's got superb sound design and a rousing rock soundtrack but I found the score to be lacking. None of the arrangements from Henry Jackman were particularly memorable, something I found disappointing since I hold Jackman in high regard for his scoring of X-Men: First Class, Big Hero 6, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War.

The various creatures brought to life by the team of visual effects artists assembled for the feature are absolutely incredible though, with the great ape standing chief among them all as the film's crowning achievement. Kong manages to simultaneously exhibit inspiration from cutting edge motion capture animation work showcased in recent Planet of the Apes films while paying homage to the look of the model utilized in the 1933 King Kong production composed of rabbit fur, rubber/foam for muscle structure, and a metal mesh skeleton. It obviously looks much better than that original model but I noticed a few similarities when looking at Kong from a distance that I'm sure were intentional. One thing that annoyed me to no end about 2014's Godzilla was how long it took for director Garth Edwards to show the King of Monsters in his full reptilian glory, I understand the visual effects required to render the beast are expensive but consistently playing with your audiences expectations by teasing the beast's emergence only to cut away was downright cruel.

Thankfully, Kong: Skull Island doesn't suffer from this issue as it doesn't take long for Kong to trample onto the scene and Vogt-Roberts lets you back in his glory once he shows up. Kong's fight sequences against the other monsters are magnificent to say the least. My screening was in IMAX 3D and I can say in these moments the experience payed off, largely due to the larger screen and fuller sound, but overall I'm not quite sure it would be worth the uncharge. However, Kong: Skull Island does have story and character vulnerabilities that somewhat drag it down. Admittedly, that's not exactly what one would come to a monster movie like Kong: Skull Island to see but it doesn't hurt to have characters the audience will actually care about. I legitimately can't remember a single character's name and couldn't tell you any character traits beyond their corresponding skill set, appearance, and occupation for a vast majority of the characters.

This largely derives from the screenplay penned by Dan Gilroy, Max Borenstein, and Derek Connolly featuring a story from John Gatins. The script just has too many characters to juggle so the result is that virtually all the characters are underserved. On the flip-side, I was pleasantly surprised how the screenwriters toyed with genre conventions and cliché moments leading to some fantastic situational humor (I'm not even sure I was supposed to laugh at these moments but I relished in the irony). Otherwise, the plot of Kong: Skull Island is fairly paint-by-numbers so don't expect anything too abrupt.

Kong: Skull Island's cast is stacked with plenty of prestigious talent as well as names you may recognize from a genre film or two. Tom Hiddleston, Brie Larson, John Goodman, Corey Hawkins, Jason Mitchell, and Shea Whigham all do the most with what's provided to them but but it's Samuel L. Jackson and John C. Reilly who were able to flip things around and make the most of meager caricatures. Oh and Tian Jing shows up out of nowhere and literally adds nothing of significance to the story just so Warner Bros. and Legendary could shoehorn in an Asian actress and cover all demographics I guess?

Really just about every cast member but Jackson and Reilly are wasted space, something I'm disappointed to say considering their show of talent elsewhere. Something interesting to note though is that Tobey Kebbell has a small live action role and provided the motion capture performance for Kong, along with Terry Notary, similarly to how previous Dawn of the Planet of the Apes costar Andy Serkis was utilized in King Kong (2005). It's funny how the two were rival characters in the Dawn of the Planet of the Apes and have become the pillars of motion capture acting today. I rarely see motion capture performance driven films today that don't take advantage of all Serkis and Kebbell have to offer.

If you're looking to take a trip to the theater this weekend, I'd prioritize seeing Logan over Kong: Skull Island. However, if you're looking for a dumb popcorn blockbuster then Kong: Skull Island should suit your mindless monster movie needs. Sadly, the vague strokes of characterization hold Kong: Skull Island back from its true potential but the impressive effects work, adrenaline-fueled action sequences, and stylish visuals help position it to be an entertaining monster flick.

Film Assessment: C B-

'Sing' Review

I had the chance to catch Sing about a month early on November 26th for a promotional Sing Saturday event but decided to refrain from posting the review so that my readers would have my thoughts on the feature fresh in their minds before or after they see it.

'Sing' Review

In the world of Sing, animals coexist in a utopian society, think dumbed down Zootopia, and koala theater owner Buster Moon is facing the potential foreclosure of his grand establishment so Moon decides to put on a singing competition in hopes of saving his theater. The prize reward is accidentally advertised as $100,000 that Moon doesn't possess and the film follows the succeeding shenanigans.

For all intensive purposes it's like all televised singing competitions; The Voice America's Got Talent, or American Idol, but with animals. As amusing as it is to watch animals sing, it gets old fast as it's difficult to stay engaged when there's little story present and the film relies almost entirely on the spectacle of singing animals. Also almost every "surprise" or moment of interest was shown in the film's marketing material so you can't help but feel that you've seen the movie already if you've watched one of the trailers. There are admittedly moments of fun, where I laughed hysterically, but those are too far and few between to make up for the lackluster predictable story.

Writer and director Garth Jennings alongside co-director Chrisophe Lourdelet manage to develop interesting concepts but don't ever fully flesh them out. Jennings' screenplay is constantly trying to shoehorn emotional character arcs into the story but when there's so many characters for the story to follow, these arcs can't help but feel lost on the viewer. Lourdelet amasses an interesting bunch of creatures but fails to properly service any of them since he's constantly switching gears, which is really a shame considering the voice talent involved.

On that note the film features Matthew McConaughey, Reese Witherspoon, Seth MacFarlane, Scarlett Johansson, John C. Reilly, Tori Kelly, Taron Egerton, Nick Kroll, and the director himself voicing the exuberant koala, stay at home mother pig, mob mouse, apprehensive porcupine, lazy llama, shy elephant, gorilla reluctant to join the family gang, flamboyant dancing pig, and the clumsy lizard assistant respectively. It's great to hear these stars sing jukebox hits but the lack of any noteworthy or original music makes Sing feel run of the mill, there's so many songs that I won't bother listing any and am simultaneously wondering how much of the film's budget went towards acquiring the rights to all this music. Also, the animation in Sing looked fine but was nothing compared to superior animated efforts this year like Zootopia, Finding Dory, or Moana for starters. 

Overall, Sing is sufficient family entertainment but Illumination Entertainment doesn't dare to traverse the emotional depth or sophistication that Pixar, Walt Disney Animation Studios, or Dreamworks Animation often explore. Illumination appears to be a studio that's capable of churning out mediocre family-friendly content that children adore, leading to big box office returns and the development of even more animated projects from the studio. Illumination's biggest problem is that it plays everything too safe, leading to formulaic features that spread themselves thin with abundant characters and storylines and no means of servicing them all.

When it comes down to it, Sing finds itself in the same rut that plagued Illumination's other release this year, The Secret Life Of Pets, and when placed next to the other animated releases this year it will probably be justly forgotten.

Film Assessment: C-