What happens when you cross “Guardians of the Galaxy” over with the kind of movie-making magic that Disney is known for? At first glance, that doesn’t seem feasible, but Disney didn’t take that for an answer.
Instead they handed us “Big Hero 6”, a CGI-animated film from the masters behind “Wreck-It Ralph” and “Frozen” that is actually based (loosely) on a team of superheroes of the same name in Marvel comics.
Hey, they own this joint. They’re working on owning every joint in the world, too. But I digress.
“Big Hero 6” sets its focus on Hiro (pronounced “hero”) Hamada, a 14-year-old boy genius who starts the film playing the part of the prodigal son, squandering his talent on illegal robot fights. His older brother, Tadashi, recognizes this and invites him to come to the robotics center at his university, where he meets a colorful cast of supporting characters, along with Tadashi’s robotic medical assistant, Baymax. Hiro sets his sights on the university after this and tries to convince Professor Callaghan to let him in, developing microbots. The future looks bright when Callaghan commends his work, but when tragedy strikes, Hiro is left in a desolate emotional state. Baymax, innocent as ever, tries to cheer him up. In doing so, they discover that someone has stolen Hiro’s microbots and is using them for a sinister purpose.
That’s all I can say without giving away the biggest major plot points but I’ve already given away quite a bit just with that blurb. Sorry about that, but this review won’t make sense if I just review.
It’s not exactly easy to look at a CGI film and immediately peg it as Disney, given that anyone growing up before the millennium turned knew Disney best for its traditionally animated films, while the CGI department was dominated by Pixar and Dreamworks. Even though that’s changing, it’s going to take some getting used to, even after the massive success of “Frozen”. Nevertheless, “Big Hero 6” has a ton of material that’s just what you’d expect from Disney, including, but not limited to, a colorful cast of characters, including a big guy with a big heart.
That’s Baymax, of course. Think of Groot from “Guardians of the Galaxy”, only big, puffy and won’t scare kids even if he tries. The other characters are mostly comic (no pun intended), but they do play a critical role in the story when they join Hiro and Baymax to form a Disney-esque superhero team.
So some people may be wondering what the difference is between these guys and Pixar’s “The Incredibles”. Well, “The Incredibles” took its superhero genre label a bit more seriously, while the villain revelled in his role. “Big Hero 6” takes the complete opposite approach, creating a superhero team that doesn’t take itself too seriously at all and enjoys its role, while the villain is more tragic. In fact, at the turning point of the film, when the villain’s identity is revealed, we soon discover that Hiro and Villain (wait, what?) are both doing what they’re doing essentially for the same reason.
Bravo, Disney. Bravo.