Sorry for bumping WAAAAAAY too late, but I'm surprised we haven't talked about this in depth outside of the Muppet rep, or lack thereof. Also this post contains spoilers so go see both of the Ralph movies then go back to this when you have.
I saw it during its first week in theatres. This was when I was in a rather weak place. I was working two part time jobs and my mom told me to hold off work on the TV show that I'd been developing on-and-off for years. Thanks to the video "
Ralph Breaks the Internet Is Painfully Average" I went in with lowered expectations even though I adored the first movie. At first I was pleasantly surprised; "Open Sesabees" utterly killed me and I loved Ralph and Vanellope's dynamic. But I wasn't expecting to feel anything, as it had been a good long while since I got a real wallop of feels from a movie (Big Hero 6, I believe, was the last at that point; Infinity War also socked me but only when the credits started to roll, so it all sunk in) and I was worried that I'd become desensitized to that kind of stuff.
Then
this happened.
Vanellope blaming herself for the virus Ralph had unleashed hit home SO hard for me that this became the closest I had ever come to crying during a movie. It also left me unprepared for everything that came afterwards, such as the zombie Ralph apocalypse and ESPECIALLY Vanny leaving Ralph in the end for Slaughter Race. That has got to be one of the most emotionally charged scenes I've ever seen in any movie, let alone animated. By comparison, the reviews of Toy Story 4 heavily hyped up the emotions and I only felt mild heart touches, Into the Spiderverse's emotional beats didn't hit me as hard as I wanted them to, and I was outright like a rock during Coco and A Star Is Born.
Since then I re-fell in love with Wreck It Ralph, but it seems to be for naught because much of the fandom seems to have ragequit over the ending of the second movie. The plot holes kind of hold that back from being a true "perfect sequel" along the lines of Shrek 2, but I love it nonetheless. If only Disney+ or Disney XD would give it a follow-up series as a companion to the Big Hero 6 series. It's just wishful thinking at this point but it would be nice.
tl;dr Ralph Breaks the Internet surprised me with swift gut punches that no other movie's been able to achieve for me since then.
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