Big Hero 6 Review

Hello :-)

Few would deny that Superhero films are the hottest properties at the minute. With the unprecedented success of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and seemingly constant casting announcements and release schedules coming from their rivals at DC, it’s a great time to be a fan of the Superhero. Disney Animation Studios are the most recent outfit to jump on this trend with Big Hero 6 an animation very loosely based on a comic of the same name.

Big Hero 6 follows 14-year-old child prodigy Hiro Hamada who lives in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo. Despite his genius Hiro decides that illegal robot fighting is where his future lies until his older brother Tadashi introduces him to his college friends and shows him their robotics lab. Hiro sets his heart on joining them and creates a swarm of mini robots called ‘microbots’ to impress the college. After a tragic accident Hiro discovers his microbots have been stolen by a villainous figure in a kabuki mask so he sets about finding the truth with the help of Baymax, a heath care robot invented by his brother.

Big Hero 6 is a totally immersive delight of a film. Everything looks gorgeous, the characters are great and it’s a lovely, fun place to spend your time.

The story is a tad predictable but it’s nicely realised. There’s an obvious comparison with The Avengers and also a touch of old school Scooby Do but it’s done with such enthusiasm it’s easy to look past some of the slightly hackneyed ideas.

Disney has become synonymous over the years with familial loss but it’s never delved into it as much as in Big Hero 6. It’s very delicately done, it might not trump the likes of Bambi or The Lion King in terms of emotionally scarring a generation but the revenge story fits well with this genuine look into death and grief.

The strength of the characters is the film’s best hand and it plays it perfectly. The additional characters GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred could have easily been side-lined but they’re more involved with the story than that and each of them is a total delight. Fred in particular is a source of a lot of laughs and a love note to comic book geeks everywhere.

Hiro is really likable despite having the potential to be an annoying brat. He’s got just the right amount of adolescent embarrassment and rebellion but also, can you remember the last children’s film you saw where one of the protagonist’s main goals was to go to college and study science? It’s not at the forefront of the drama but it’s still a lovely message to put in there.

However it’s the marshmallow-ey Baymax that will steal your heart and potentially some money from your wallet. His general cuteness and all round hug-ability goes hand in hand with some great physical comedy and full on toyetic-ness. Expect future Birthday and Christmas lists to be full of requests for Baymax goodies (mine definitely will be).

Please don’t compare Big Hero 6 to Frozen; nothing is going to come out well when you hold it up against that behemoth. Still, Big Hero 6 is a charmingly shiny romp around a rainbow coloured future that will have you hooked from the off. You’ll happily overlook a few clichéd plot points in return for some beautiful animation and a Baymax fist-bump (you will ALL be doing it on the way out the theatre). And that’s the joy of Big Hero 6, Superhero movies have never been so fun :-)

Big Hero 6 is in UK cinemas from Friday 30^th January.

Now it’s definitely time for…

Reasons to be Cheerful :-)

1. Speaking of Superheroes the new trailer for Avengers: Age of Ultron is out and it looks excellent. In the wake of the (slightly unfair) less than enthusiastic reception of the Ant-man teaser trailer, Age of Ultron looks like a much surer bet for the MCU.

2. The Oscar nominees list is out. It’s the same as ever; some deserved nominations, some less so, some egregious oversights but more importantly the lovely Shiznit have made some more honest Oscar posters and they’re as brilliant as ever :-)

That’s it for today!

Goodbye till next time :-)

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