‘Ralph Breaks the Internet’ Cast & Crew Assemble To Discuss The Internet & Disney Princesses

Wreck-It Ralph and Vanellope von Schweetz may exist in the digital world in Ralph Breaks the Internet, but the stars and directors appeared in the flesh to talk about the movie.

Six years after Wreck-It Ralph first hit theaters, the crew is back with a movie that examines internet culture and how relationships evolve over time. John C. Reilly, Ralph himself, described the “arcade as the childhood arena” for Ralph and Vanellope’s friendship while the internet represents “the next step” and Ralph needs to grow in order to help Vanellope flourish.

As returning Co-Directors Rich Moore and Phil Johnston explain, they originally thought the first movie was a complete, air-tight story. But, upon revisiting the material, they kept picking at the last moment of Wreck-It Ralph where Ralph feels like he must be a good person because he got one person to like him. While it is a beautiful moment, the directors joked that this washed away a lot of the character’s insecurities, something they wanted to explore a bit more deeply. The internet, a place where people often crave the validation of others, seemed like the perfect place to explore that story.

Everyone on stage temporarily opened up about their own struggles with insecurities and how that impacted their work. Johnston said he connects with movies that show people’s feelings and he recalls certain viewing experiences as a child that made him feel like he “wasn’t alone.” As a result, he said this movie gives off similar emotional beats to help those who may feel isolated.

Taraji P. Henson, who joins the franchise as Yesss, a personified algorithm who controls what’s hot and what’s not on BuzzTube, joked that she finally gets to knock off voicing a character in a Disney animated movie off her career bucket list.

“Getting to voice with amazing actors was such a no-brainer for me.”

Part of what separated production on Ralph Breaks the Internet from other animated films was the recording process. In order to achieve more authentic dialogue, all of the actors recorded in the booths together. Reilly commented on how he’d been in other animated movies in the past where he never met his co-stars and felt somewhat of a disconnect from the final product. In his opinion, establishing a connection and looking his co-stars in the eye “gives the film a soul.”

“We get to improvise, we get a lot of freedom and the script itself is so fantastic,” Silverman said.

The actors all may have been in the booth to work on a kid’s movie, but Silverman insists there’s enough raunchy material in the audio files from when they were warming up or goofing around to make a rated R-comedy album.

The conversation eventually turned to the film’s inclusion of the Disney princess. All of the original voices returned to voice their respective princess save Pam Ribon, one of the film’s writers, who brought Snow White to life in Ralph Breaks the Internet. She said it was “amazing to be able to work with all the original voice actresses.”

More than just a minor series of minor cameos, the moments with the Disney princesses help highlight what makes Vanellope such a unique character for the studio. Instead of waiting around for a man to save her, like most of the princesses she meets, von Schweetz wants to establish her own path and find meaning in her life.

“The hoody princess reigns supreme,” said Riblon.

Silverman described having her own Disney princess song as a “dream come true.” The music was composed by Alan Menken, the man behind the music in Little Shop of Horrors, a movie Silverman pointed out as one of her favorites.

“We recorded with a whole orchestra, you know, like in old-timey movies.”

Despite the fact that she’s now an animated princess, Silverman assures that it won’t impact her act on the comedy circuit.

Ralph Breaks The Internet is a kids movie, but hopefully that doesn’t deter hardcore cinema fans looking for deep storytelling. Reilly wants people to be entertained, but he also wants them to leave the audience thinking. In his opinion, the internet is “the central issue of our time,” and we still don’t even understand it.

“You come away from the film thinking about some of the most important issues of our time, ” insists Reilly.

Ralph Breaks The Internet is now playing in theaters.