Review: Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks The Internet

It's #ThrowbackThursday today, so let's rewind to last week when my in-laws watched our kids for the day so we could go Black Friday Shopping and continue our annual tradition of eating grilled cheese sandwiches at Pop's Soda Shop and watching a movie at The Grandin.

We deviated a little from tradition last year -- we chose Murder on the Orient Express over Coco -- but we're back on track:

And y'all? 

It was SO GOOD. 

Clarification: if push came to shove, I'd have to say the first one was better -- but in a different way, if that makes any sense. Wreck-It Ralph was so filled with nostalgia for me -- a child of the late 80s/early 90s -- and I loved the newness of it. This, IMHO, was the start of Disney Renaissance II's original stories, those not based on any previous source material (see also: Zootopia). It was also so smart, and clever, and the villain reveal was refreshing, something so different from Disney's long line of obvious, usually offensively stereotyped villains -- as was the way Disney toyed with the idea of villainy and what it means to be bad. 

But Ralph Breaks The Internet was just as good, just in a different way. The nostalgia factor wasn't there, nor was the commentary on villainy. But there were other things, equally new and refreshing for a Disney movie -- especially a Disney princess movie. Because I think it's important to remember that Vanellope is, technically,  a Disney princess. 

📷: Disney

More, spoilery thoughts beneath the cut! 

This Is Not A Drill: The Lion King Teaser Trailer

After an unscheduled 2-month hiatus (😳#momlife #professorlife #whatworklifebalance 😳) of course it would take The Lion King teaser trailer to get me back into blogging.

Fun fact: my husband is a die-hard Dallas Cowboys fan. So, of course, Thursday night after Thanksgiving dinner, he was glued to the TV watching the Cowboys-Redskins game. I was mostly checked out, watching the kids, chatting with relatives, glancing up at the screen every now and then out of habit. It was hard to hear much since I was sitting pretty far away from the TV and multiple conversations in a small space make a fair amount of noise.

So when I looked up at the TV and saw "And the Director of The Jungle Book" -- I had a moment. It went something like, "Disney's The Jungle Book? Or do they mean Andy Serkis' version that's going to straight to Netflix release? Jon Favreau directed the Disney version...that's how he got The Lion King gig. I wonder when we'll see a trailer for that. My students have been clamoring for a trailer for that.  It has to be soon right? WAIT. Cowboys/Redskins is a big event with a lot of viewers...would Disney drop a trailer for one of their biggest hits during a high-traffic TV event on a family-centric holiday? OMFG YES THEY WOULD EVERYBODY HUSH AND BE QUIET." [<--This last bit was actually said outloud to the bewilderment of my husband's family.]

Oh well. I watched it and then Googled it and watched it again. Maybe 5 times.

And, yes. It looks (and, TBH, sounds) like a shot-for-shot remake of the original and I DON'T EVEN CARE. Don't come at me with your negativity, bro.

There's a part of me -- a tiny part -- that wonders, "Why remake a movie if it's just going to be the exact same?" so I do hope they do something different with the film.

But then there's another part of me that just doesn't care because there are cute baby CGI lions and James Earl Jones intoning those iconic lines in Mufasa's voice. Don't get me wrong -- there is literally no one else who could have filled those shoes but...that had to be a super easy day at the office for him, amirite?

Watch (and rewatch) the trailer below: