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It’s been six years since Wreck-it Ralph introduced two loveable characters — gentle giant Ralph and pint-sized dynamo Vanellope von Schweetz — and together, they saved Litwak’s arcade. As the first Disney sequel in recent years, revisiting these characters brings both opportunities and challenges — keeping the concept fresh and making sure the story remains true to the duo’s evolving friendship.

In Ralph Breaks the Internet (Nov. 21), directed by Rich Moore and Phil Johnston, the steering wheel from Vanellope's arcade game, Sugar Rush, breaks and Litwak doesn't think it's worth spending the money to buy another one from ebay. Vanellope's life as she knows it is about to change but Ralph decides the two should go to ebay and get the steering wheel themselves. What follows is an adventure through the Internet that tests their friendship and, despite Ralph's best intentions, sets loose a virus that threatens to destroy the World Wide Web.

INSIDE THE WEB

One of the biggest challenges at the outset of story development was designing the location itself. "What does the internet look like?" says Josie Trinidad, Head of Story (with Jim Reardon). The team needed to visually conceive this amorphous entity and create a physical world that filmgoers could relate to. Early on, story artist Steven Markowski researched the Internet and shared his findings in a very detailed presentation.

'It was great because he started to use computer jargon that could then be inspiration," she says. The idea of data encapsulated in a little packet, for example, would inspire the transportation method for Vanellope and Ralph.

"The best way to figure out how something might look on the internet was to just ask ourselves what would we do right now in the human world and how can we then personify it,' she says, but adds that the characters aren't technologically savvy sO it's "your mom's or grandma's approach."

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