"I'm Fine Without You."

I saw Ralph Breaks the Internet a few days ago. Walking out of the theater, I felt it was the best film of the year outside of Avengers: Infinity War, so I wanted to write something about it.

In the first film, Ralph and Vanellope’s meeting was so unexpected. Both of them were “abandoned” people — one dreaming of a gold medal, one dreaming of racing, neither wanted by anyone. Their partnership was, in a way, a meeting of kindred spirits. I didn’t like Ralph much at the start — he broke rules, he only knew how to wreck things. Vanellope’s mischievousness in the beginning wasn’t particularly endearing either.

But watching them strive together, make up after a fight, that sincerity and that goodness — it made the liveliness genuinely charming. Maybe that’s what “dimensional depth” in a character means. They have their beautiful sides, but also their particular little flaws. They present themselves as they truly are, without pretense. That realness makes them feel close.

So the second film’s story hits so much harder.

They’ve spent six years together. He sees her as his best friend, and she is, without question. Every day they travel through different games together, drink together, talk together, confide in each other. They understand each other, share hardship and joy, and know each other better than anyone. When she says her racing track is boring, he finds ways to surprise her. When her home is about to be destroyed, he works desperately to earn enough money just to buy her world back. So when she finally says she wants to leave, he is completely unwilling.

Ralph is too clingy, too fragile — qualities worth examining. But as I said, it’s precisely those flaws that make him real. Real enough that I find him pitiable.

At the end, he lets go of that obsession and lets Vanellope chase her dream. Friendship really shouldn’t become the cage that traps someone’s dreams. That’s why so many reviews say friendship is the coat of growing up — we should learn to smile and wave goodbye. Growing up is a process of learning to part with those we hold close.

I remember a friend from middle school and I both wrote an essay titled “Friends Forever” in our weekly journals around that time — but no one can truly guarantee that friendship will last forever. The people who genuinely accompany us through growth are very few; maybe you never even find one in a lifetime. Friends from middle school, high school, university — no matter how close, no matter how inseparable, they fade after graduation.

I believe Ralph’s future will be full of wonder. He still has so many friends around him. That’s already so much better than the lonely beginning — back then he had no one, alone in the world, sleeping on the dump every night. And the world he has now is because of Vanellope.

“I’m fine without you.”

Ralph will play with Q*bert, talk with his Bad-Anon buddies, meet and connect with characters from other games, get to know more and more people. Vanellope will have a better time with Shank and the others — no more complaining about a boring track, every day full of surprises and joy.

And they’ll still call each other sometimes. Real friendship has none of romance’s stickiness and complications; it’s more like a long, deep familial bond. Even if you don’t see each other, even if you’re far apart, it shows up in moments of difficulty — lending each other inexhaustible strength.

Chen Peisi once described his friendship with Zhu Shimao this way: “Never think about it; never forget it.” Rather than “never think about it,” I’d say: on some sunlit afternoon, a sudden memory of the deep friendship you once had still makes the corners of your mouth curl up involuntarily. That’s enough. You contain not just yourself, but the roads you’ve walked, the books you’ve read, the people you’ve met. What Vanellope gave Ralph wasn’t just a friendship — she also helped him become a better version of himself.

At the end of the film, Ralph stands alone watching the sunset, having declined Q*bert’s comfort, lost in some thought. Perhaps that’s the best moment for the story to end.

He was once the richest man in the world, never having thought about parting — but the best days, once they’re over, are gone. We will all grow up, and there will also be a future without Vanellope. No one to continue writing the story of his life. The road ahead may have more and more beautiful scenery — but who will he share it with?

I keep thinking of that lyric from Lost Oasis: “The more I see the vast sky and open sea, the more I regret that you’re not here to share in my wonder.”

Thank you, for accompanying me through one of the worst and best times of my life.

“I’m fine without you.”

“But if you were here, it would be a little better.”