In the wake of Disney’s worldwide phenomenon, “Frozen,” the company’s newest animated feature, “Big Hero 6,” blasted off with success, though admittedly not for an audience of little girls dreaming of becoming princesses.
Set in the high-tech city of San Fransokyo, Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter), a 14-year-old robotics prodigy, transforms a few odd characters, including a loveable, well-intentioned robot named Baymax (Scott Adsit), into a team of colorful superheros following a dramatic incident.
Baymax, a cross between the Michelin Man and a giant marshmallow, is the focal point of the movie, provoking both laughter and tears, and his appearance and mannerisms make him absolutely impossible not to love.
Traditionally, Disney movies usually have a few sinister plot twists, and this film is no exception, with a number of tragedies from the first few minutes to the final few. These events are rather predictable; yet despite the fact that there is little surprise when these incidents occur, the characters and their responses make audiences’ hearts ache.
However, the film, based on the Marvel comics of the same name, also has a lighter side, as Hamada is joined by an eclectic group of characters, all of whom have very different personalities—from a neat freak to rebel—and add their own form of comedy.
The most hilarious scenes were due completely to the characters’ facial expressions, so compliments to the animators.
The funniest of Hamada’s friends, by far, is Fred (TJ Miller), an easy-going comic book aficionado who is the odd man out in a group of highly intelligent scientists, but is also surprisingly helpful to the team. His crazy, fictional aspirations inspire Hiro to transform his friends into superheroes.
Compared to other Disney movies of the same genre, which focus on superheroes and science, it falls somewhere between “The Incredibles” and “Meet the Robinsons.” It is not like a classic superhero movie, in which the characters are given supernatural powers; here they are more reliant on technology: Think Bruce Wayne rather than Clark Kent.
The superhero aspect of the film is rather small compared to the relationship between Baymax and Hiro, but there are still fast-paced fights and the incorporation of fantastic science, giving the superheroes crazy gadgets. As if the giant crime-fighting robot wasn’t enough.
It may not attract a following as fierce as “Frozen,” but “Big Hero 6” is hilarious and heart-wrenching, and could provide some excellent scientists for future generations.
-Delaney King
