Story Structure Analysis: Ralph Breaks the Internet
Format: Movie
Released: 2018
Screenplay By: Phil Johnston and Pamela Ribon
Directed By: Rich Moore and Phil Johnston
Run Time: 98 minutes
Character: Wreck-it-Ralph
New Role: An internet explorer
Plot summary of the 2018 computer-animated comedy film Ralph Breaks the Internet continues below…
Story Structure Analysis: Ralph Breaks the Internet
DRAMATIC PHASE ONE: THE SETUP
All of the main characters are introduced. The story world and its mechanics are established. Foundations are laid for the main throughline, subplots and central conflict.
ACT ONE: DEALING WITH AN IMPERFECT SITUATION
A character in an Imperfect Situation faces Oppressive Opposition as he pursues an Initial Goal. But when there is a Disturbance to his routine, he faces a Dilemma regarding his situation and must assume a New Role.
Ralph and Vanellope do the same thing everyday (the imperfect situation) which she has become discontented with (oppressive opposition) while Ralph wants to do it forever (initial goal). But when Ralph and Vanellope inadvertently get her game unplugged (the disturbance), Ralph has the idea to get a replacement steering wheel from eBay (the dilemma) by physically going to the internet (the new role).
The Imperfect Situation: Ralph is content to do the same thing everyday with his best friend Vanellope, but she has grown bored of the repetitive daily routine and the lack of challenge in her game.
Initial Goal: Goof off with his best friend Vanellope everyday after work.
Oppressive Opposition: Vanellope is discontented with her life in the arcade, while Ralph is content just to have her as a friend. Litwak plugs in a wireless router, but Surge Protector bans anyone from entering the internet. After Ralph inadvertently breaks Vanellope’s game, Litwak unplugs it, displacing all the Sugar Rush characters.
Turning Point Catalyst – The Disturbance: 6 minutes (6.1%) – Ralph builds Vanellope a new track but when she tries it out, the girl playing the game breaks the steering wheel. Mr. Litwak looks into buying a replacement but it’s too expensive. He decides to sell the game for parts and unplugs it, displacing the residents of Sugar Rush.
While Ralph is excited to have Vanellope staying in his game, Vanellope is sad not to have her own game anymore. Now that she’s no longer a racer Vanellope feels like she no longer has a purpose.
Turning Point One – The Dilemma: 13 minutes (13.2%) – Felix and Calhoun adopt the Sugar Rush racers when they can’t find a home. Vanellope stands Ralph up at Tapper’s, but Felix shows up needing a drink due to his unruly new kids. Felix says something that makes Ralph get the idea to go to the internet to get a replacement steering wheel for Sugar Rush. Ralph runs to Vanellope and tells her the plan.
The New Role: An internet explorer
Act Run Time: 17 minutes (17.3%)
ACT TWO: LEARNING THE RULES OF AN UNFAMILIAR SITUATION
The character Learns the Rules of an Unfamiliar Situation and faces Incidental Opposition in pursuit of a Transitional Goal. But when he receives a Reality Check, he makes a Commitment to his New Role.
Act Start Time: 17 minutes (17.3%)
Ralph and Vanellope arrive in the internet (the unfamiliar situation) and struggle to navigate it and the rules that govern it (incidental opposition) as they attempt to locate eBay and get the steering wheel (transitional goal). But when they drastically overbid on the wheel and realize they have to pay for it (the reality check), they recall a pop-up for making money playing video games and plan to steal a car from Slaughter Race to make the money they need (the commitment).
The Unfamiliar Situation: Ralph and Vanellope go to the internet.
Transitional Goal: Find eBay and get the steering wheel.
Incidental Opposition: The router isn’t initially on when Ralph and Vanellope enter. Vanellope worries that the internet is too big for them to ever locate eBay.
They have to bid against another person. They don’t have any money to pay for the steering wheel.
Turning Point Catalyst – The Reality Check: 24 minutes (24.4%) – Ralph and Vanellope walk through eBay and try to figure out how it works. They see another user bidding on the steering wheel. Not knowing what they’re doing, they make an outlandish bid of $27,001. When they go to collect the wheel, they realize they actually have to pay the amount of money they bid. They’re told if they don’t pay in 24 hours they would forfeit the bid and lose the item.
Turning Point Two – The Commitment: 27 minutes (27.5%) – Vanellope is despondent that they couldn’t get the wheel. Ralph tells her they just need to figure out a way to make some money. When Vanellope reminds him they’re video game characters with limited skills, he recalls the pop-up he saw earlier about making money playing video games. They run back and find Spamley who takes them to his website.
Spamley initially offers them lower dollar loot hunting items, but Vanellope demands something more lucrative. He tells them they can make $40,000 by acquiring Shank’s car from a game called Slaughter Race.
Act Run Time: 14 minutes (14.2%)
Ralph Breaks the Internet Analysis
DRAMATIC PHASE TWO: CONFRONTATION
The character is thrown in the middle of the Central Conflict and is placed at direct odds with the forces of antagonism. He undergoes a series of success and failures as he works toward resolving the main throughline.
ACT THREE: STUMBLING INTO THE CENTRAL CONFLICT
The character stumbles into the Central Conflict and faces Intentional Opposition in pursuit of a False Goal. But when there is a grave Turn of events, he has a Moment of Truth.
Act Start Time: 31 minutes (31.6%)
Ralph and Vanellope face the denizen of the internet (the central conflict) and contend with murderous racers and internet challenges (intentional opposition) as they attempt to make enough money to pay for the steering wheel (false goal). But when Vanellope realizes she wants to live in Slaughter Race and Ralph reads the negative comments about his videos (the turn), he overhears Vanellope confiding her intentions to Shank and hatches a plan to put a virus in Shank’s game to get Vanellope to leave (the moment of truth).
The Central Conflict: Ralph and Vanellope square off with the denizen of the internet to make money.
False Goal: Make enough money to pay for the steering wheel.
Intentional Opposition: Shank and her crew attempt to stop Ralph and Vanellope from stealing Shank’s car.
Ralph’s videos go head-to-head with other internet videos. Vanellope is pursued by Storm Troopers for soliciting pop-ups.
Turning Point Catalyst – The Turn: 49 minutes (50%) – Vanellope volunteers to be a pop-up to help spread Ralph’s videos. Ralph wants to go with her, but Yesss needs him to stay and keep making videos. When Ralph tells her he and Vanellope have been inseparable for 6 years, Vanellope insists that they’ll be fine apart. Ralph begrudgingly relents. Yesss wants to send Vanellope to the gaming district where Slaughter Race. Ralph insists they send her to the Oh My Disney fansite, which Vanellope finds lame when she arrives. Vanellope is caught advertising pop-ups without a permit and chased by Storm Troopers. She evades them by sneaking into the Disney Princess room.
After convincing the other princesses she is one of them, they tell her how to sing about her dreams to discover what it is she really wants in life. When she tries and fails, they suggest that she try it while staring at important water.
Back at BuzzzTube, Ralph and Yesss race to get the final hearts needed before his bid expires in 30 minutes. When he goes back onto the BuzzzTube floor to get more hearts, he wanders into the comments section and is saddened to see all the negative comments being made about him. Yesss finds him there and tells him never to read the comments. Ralph tells her as long as Vanellope likes him, that’s all he needs. She cheers him up by letting him know they reached their goal. Ralph summons eBoy to get a ride to eBay.
Turning Point Three – The Moment of Truth: 61 minutes (62.2%) – Vanellope is trying to sing about her dream when Ralph calls Vanellope to tell her they can go home and everything can go back to normal. She sadly reflects on this in front of a puddle of water and sings a song about her dream to stay in Slaughter Race.
Ralph bumps into Spamley while looking for Vanellope. He’s muted when he calls her and overhears her chatting with Shank in Slaughter Race about how she feels like she’s home in the game and that Ralph wouldn’t understand. Shank tells her that best friends don’t have to have the same dreams. Ralph wants to storm over to the game, but Spamley convinces him that’s a bad idea. Instead, Ralph comes up with the plan to inject a virus into Slaughter Race.
Act Run Time: 38 minutes (38.7%)
ACT FOUR: IMPLEMENTING A DOOMED PLAN
The character implements a Doomed Plan and faces Self-Inflicted Opposition in pursuit of a Penultimate Goal. But when an unthinkable Lowpoint occurs, he pulls himself together and discovers a Newfound Resolve.
Act Start Time: 69 minutes (70.4%)
Ralph releases a virus into Slaughter Race (the doomed plan) but nearly destroys the game and kills Vanellope (self-inflicted opposition) as he tries to get her to come home to the arcade (penultimate goal). But when Ralph confesses to planting the virus and Vanellope says she doesn’t want to be his friend anymore (the lowpoint), they discover the internet is being overrun with thousands of Ralph clones created by the virus and come up with a plan to destroy them in the antivirus district (the newfound resolve).
The Doomed Plan: Ralph releases a virus into Slaughter Race that destroys the game and his friendship with Vanellope. The virus escapes and replicates Ralph’s insecurity throughout the internet.
Penultimate Goal: Put a virus in Slaughter Race to trick Vanellope into coming home.
Self-Inflicted Opposition: Ralph intentionally releases the virus. When Vanellope finds out she dissolves their friendship. Ralph accidentally lets the virus out into the internet where it wreaks havoc.
Turning Point Catalyst – The Lowpoint: 76 minutes (77.5%) – Ralph gets her out of the game just as it reboots. Vanellope is distraught for having crashed the game with her glitch. Ralph confesses that he put the virus into the game and that he overheard her talking to Shank about staying in Slaughter Race. She takes his medal and tosses it over the railing. As Ralph tries to stop her from storming off, the virus escapes Slaughter Race, sees Ralph’s insecurity and begins replicating it throughout the internet.
Turning Point Four – The Newfound Resolve: 79 minutes (80.6%) – Ralph digs through rubble on the ground floor of the internet and finds his medal broken in half. He berates himself for being an idiot. Vanellope runs into several Ralph clone viruses who chase after her. She discovers there are thousands of them overrunning the internet.
When one of them spots Vanellope they all chase after her. She runs to KnowsMore and tells him what’s going on. Together they take shelter in his stand as the mob of Ralph’s attacks the building. Ralph arrives by following the clones there. Ralph asks KnowsMore for a solution to their problem. He tells Vanellope to lead the clones to the antivirus district where they will be destroyed.
Act Run Time: 14 minutes (14.2%)
Ralph Breaks the Internet Analysis
DRAMATIC PHASE THREE: RESOLUTION
The character and the forces of antagonism engage in a final confrontation to resolve the Central Conflict. The main throughline and all additional subplots are resolved. The new status quo is established.
ACT FIVE: TRYING A LONGSHOT
The character tries a Longshot and faces Ultimate Opposition while trying to accomplish the Ultimate Goal. But just when it seems All is Lost, he makes a Final Push against the forces of antagonism and either succeeds or fails.
Act Start Time: 83 minutes (84.6%)
Ralph and Vanellope lead the clones to the antivirus district (the longshot) (ultimate opposition) (ultimate goal). But when Ralphzilla threatens to kill Ralph and Vanellope sacrifices himself to save him (all is lost) (the final push).
The Longshot: Ralph and Vanellope attempt to lead the Ralph clones through the antivirus district where they will be destroyed.
Ultimate Goal: Destroy the insecure Ralph clones.
Ultimate Opposition: Ralph faces off with Ralphzilla, a monstrous embodiment of his self-destructive codependency.
Turning Point Catalyst – All is Lost: 86 minutes (87.7%) – The Ralph clones join together to form Ralphzilla.
Ralphzilla captures Vanellope and takes her to the roof of the Google building where Ralph can’t reach her. Vanellope tells Ralphzilla she’ll never be his friend and he becomes furious. Ralph uses the mail train to free Vanellope but is captured himself. Vanellope sacrifices herself to Ralphzilla to save Ralph from being crushed to death. She offers to go with Ralphzilla if he frees Ralph.
Turning Point Five – The Final Push: 89 minutes (90.8%) – Ralph tells Ralphzilla it’s not right to hold a friend back from their dreams and that they both need to let her go because she’ll always be his friend. Ralphzilla releases her. Having cured his insecurity, Ralphzilla disappears. Ralph plummets to his doom, only to be rescued by the whole lineup of Disney princesses.
Act Run Time: 9 minutes (9.1%)
ACT SIX: LIVING IN A NEW SITUATION
Having accomplished (or failed to have accomplished) the Ultimate Goal, the character is shown living in a New Situation.
Act Start Time: 92 minutes (93.8%)
Vanellope is now a permanent resident of Slaughter Race. Ralph has come to accept their long distance friends, chatting with Vanellope by video phone and meeting in person on occasion. He has also made more friends with others in the arcade (the new situation).
The New Situation: The virus is announced to have disappeared. Vanellope and Ralph chat outside Slaughter Race. We learn Shank added Vanellope’s code to the game so she can regenerate. Ralph gives Vanellope half of the broken medal so they can each have one. They hug each other and express their love.
Ralph goes back to the arcade alone. Felix and Calhoun have transformed the Sugar Rush urchins into well-mannered citizens. Ralph joins Zangief’s book club and hosts his own party in his game. He and Vanellope chat over the communicator and make plans to see each other in the near future.
Felix asks if Ralph is okay. Ralph says he’s doing great and the two go off to work as Litwak arrives to open the arcade.
Act Run Time: 6 minutes (6.1%)
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Full cast and credits for Ralph Breaks the Internet at IMDB
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