Upon its release, Save Ralph was met with critical acclaim. From /Film, Ben Pearson praised the high level of detail in the short and compared the characters designs to those in the 2009 film Fantastic Mr. Fox, writing that the film was "disturbing and heartbreaking and manipulative and powerful, all at the same time."[7] Josh Weiss, writing for Syfy Wire, gave positive remarks to the voice acting and humor, stating that "Waititi once again proves that he is among the most prolific entertainers working today".[2] For Animation Magazine, Mercedes Milligan complimented the story's main message and referred to the short itself as "powerful".[8]