I watched this movie for one reason. To find out what the ‘6’ means. I was pretty sure that this wasn’t a sixth sequel, as I’d never heard of Big Hero’s 1 through 5.Turns out, it was the name of the team.
This movie is set in the futuristic town of San Fransokyo. Two orphaned brothers, Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) is and Tadashi (Daniel Henney), have their own obsession with science. Hiro is into creating robots for robot fights whole Tadashi is more into design and brainiac concepts. Of course, in standard Disney manner, disaster strikes leaving Hiro all by is lonesome, isolated and depressed. His only companion is Baymax, a personal hygiene robot he designed. The two stumble onto an evil plot and must hook up with Tadashi’s street fighting pals in order to take down the bad guys.
In a time when most children’s movies are focused on super powers or physical prowess, it’s nice to see one where brains matter. All the heroes in Big Hero 6 have their own special area of science that they have mastered. They use their brains more often than their muscles and I think this sends the right message to kids.
There’s an Asian fusion element with this story that I find very clever. Even the name of their city, San Fransokyo plays on this, given the movie a multi-cultural feel that is rare, especially for Disney, who generally acts like places outside of the US don’t exist.
The CGI is very well done, with colorful, fun characters which practically scream “merchandizing revenue”. I imagine there will be more than on Baymax toy on the shelves come Christmas. The details are down, from the way the characters move to the futuristic landscape and a lot of effort was put into the animation.
One area that didn’t fall flat was the story line. Too often, animated movies contrive to focus on the animation and action without giving a plausible back-story. In this movie, the story unfolded in a way that made it feel complete and organic. There were no plot holes to be plugged or forced coincidences.
The dialog is cute, snappy and age appropriate for this boy genius. The conflicts aren’t forced and the sidekicks are fleshed out. This truly was a well written script.
One gripe I do have is this movie is more of the Hiro and Baymax story. While the secondary characters were given great personas and voice actors, they didn’t show up until well into the film. The marketing of the movie didn’t really make it clear that “Big Hero 6” was a team of superheroes, hence my initial confusion in thinking I missed the first five movies.
Other than that, I have no complaints. This is going to be one of those Disney Pixar insta-classics and I’m sure we will be seeing more than a few actual sequels. This is a well written movie, with great characters and great animation. Though the beginning does have some rough scenes for younger viewers, it’s sure to be enjoyed by the whole family.
WE GAVE IT: 4.5 Stars: Official Movie Trailer and Movie Poster Below
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