Big Hero 6

Voices of: Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk, Maya Rudolph, Abraham Benrubi
Directed by: Don Hall, Chris Williams
Rating: PG
Genre: Animation, Action, Adventure
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary:After his brother is killed in a fire, a young boy (Ryan Potter) leverages technology and robots to find out what really happened.

Review:

Tim: Big Hero 6 has a pretty interesting background- it's a collaboration between Disney and Marvel (its adapted from a Marvel Comic Book), but you wouldn't know the source material was from Marvel, as their logo is absent from everything involving the film. That might make you think there was something wrong with the production, but this is a solid film and it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature. All in all, it's an interesting background.

As far as the movie, I liked it, but didn't quite love it. Yes, it features gorgeous animation, as the fantasy city of San Francisokyo comes to life on screen. It was very interesting to see San Francisco and Tokyo melted together. The colors and scope of the film are very impressive. Most of the best animated films these days immerse us in amazing worlds we can't access except through animation. This movie achieves that.

The film introduces some good characters- most of them are good and a few of them are truly great. The highlight of the film is undoubtedly Baymax. The idea of a soft, huggable robot is a fun one. I loved the voice work of Scott Adsit. The design work on Baymax was also exceptionally well done. He is clearly the highlight of the film and a joy to watch on screen. I also enjoyed our protagonist, Hiro Hamada. I believe he's the first Disney animation protagonist to be biracial. He is a fun character and one most audiences will identify with. I could certainly go for more adventures with Hiro and Baymax. The other supporting cast members are good. The characters might not be immediately memorable, but each has its own characteristics and it adds to the overall film.

For a film that is rated PG, I appreciated that Big Hero 6 was not afraid to tackle some difficult subject matter. Our hero's older brother is killed early in the film (which can be traumatic for younger viewers). Our hero also struggles with a desire to kill the bad guy out of revenge. There is a pretty sad moment near the end of the film as well. With so many animated movies coddling to the lowest common denominator, it was refreshing to see a film willing to take a few risks.

For the most part, this is a fairly good action adventure movie as well. There are a number of exciting sequences throughout the movie and the conclusion is fairly grand in scale. There was some great humor sprinkled throughout, especially regarding Baymax. However, the film does feel like it recycled from a few too many other films- there isn't a lot here that is especially original. I will say that I liked the powers of the six heroes- it felt like at least an attempt to come up with something new, as opposed to a movie like The Incredibles, which just completely ripped off already established superheroes.

While this is really a Disney movie and not a Marvel one, I hope the two studios continue to work together. I might not have loved this movie, but it's an entertaining, well made spectacle. I would certainly recommend checking this out, but just know the youngest of children may struggle with some parts of the film. If for no other reason, this movie is an Academy Award winning film, so it's certainly worth seeing.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Incredibles, Robots, Wall-E