Review: Big Hero 6 (2014)

Whilst settling down to engross myself in the city of San Fransokyo, before the film began we were given the chance to watch Walt Disney Animation Short Feast, about a small puppy and his deep love of food and his even deeper love for his owner. It was adorable and beautifully animated which was a perfect set up for Big Hero 6, making me even more excited for the film. If the short could be this good, the movie had to be even better – and as I expected, it didn’t disappoint.

WARNING! The following first two paragraphs may contain spoilers.

Big Hero 6 is set in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo and follows the story of Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter), a 14-year-old robotics genius who has an interest in back-street robot fighting. His older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) worries that Hiro is wasting his scientific potential and takes Hiro to the university where he studies. There, Hiro meets Tadashi’s friends GoGo (Jamie Chung), Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), Fred (T.J. Miller) and Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez), who show him the wonders of their scientific experiments and where Hiro has his first encounter with Tadashi’s creation, Baymax (Scott Adsit), a personal healthcare robot. From then on, Hiro decides that he, too, wants to study at this university and begins preparing for the annual exhibition in which he must present a creation in order to win a place at the school. During the exhibition the universities are taken with Hiro’s Microbots and offer him a place at the university. However, disaster soon ensues when fire breaks out. On realising that the head of the schools robotics programme, Professor Callaghan (James Cromwell), remains inside the building, Tadashi hurries inside to his rescue and moments later Hiro watches as the building his brother had just entered explodes.

Weeks later Hiro remains housebound after the death of his brother and accidently activated Baymax after hurting himself. Baymax manages to get Hiro out of the house by following the direction of one of Hiro’s abandoned Microbots as it begins acting strangely. The two come to an abandoned warehouse where they get attacked by a man in a Kabuki mask who seems to be controlling the bots and have to flee. On realising that this man had stolen his Microbots which he thought had been destroyed in the fire, Hiro decides to go after him with the help of Baymax whom he upgrades with a battle chip and armour. After the man in the Kabuki mask attacks Hiro, he forms a superhero team with Tadashi’s university friends GoGo, Wasabi, Fred, Honey Lemon and Baymax. The story evolves from here as the six superheroes train up to be able to take down the man in the Kabuki mask and eventually find him to confront him.

After Disney acquired the rights to Marvel Entertainment in 2009, I must admit I was a bit sceptical. As a huge Marvel and Disney fan separately, I was worried about the combination of the two destroying what I loved about them. I found them to be two completely separate and different types of entertainment and could not see how the two would work well together. Big Hero 6 has proved me wrong and re-affirmed my love for both Marvel and Disney. They were so right in combining to make this movie; it has all the action and excitement of a Marvel film and manages to be loveable and family-friendly so the younger generation can fall in love with it just like any other Disney title.

Big Hero 6 features a completely original robot who steals the show. Baymax is a unique character which is not comparable to other robots already seen in film. He was designed to have a ‘huggable’ exterior and movements based on that of a baby penguin, which perfectly match his caring personality. His naivety in social human interactions and unintentional humour make him both adorable and hilarious. The six ‘superheroes’ in the movie are each so different and equally interesting that it is easy for anyone to identify with at least one of the personality types, if not a bit of all of them. With each character bringing something different to the table you find yourself unable to choose a favourite. The film is captivating and side-splittingly funny. I found myself laughing throughout the majority of the film and, honestly, I have not laughed that much during a film in a very long time. It is remarkably animated and has the ability to bring back the nostalgic feeling of wonder and complete absorption. Each scene in carefully captured in 3D, completely immersing you in the action, making you feel everything the characters are going through and rooting for them all every second of the way.

Overall, Big Hero 6 is without a doubt a masterpiece. It has an amazing plot full of heartfelt emotions, hysterical comedic moments, action-packed fight scenes and a plot twist I admit I did not see coming. It is by far one of the best animated films as yet and is able to make you instantly fall in love with the movie again and again with every scene. Although some may argue Big Hero 6 is essentially an origin story for a whole new superhero group, it has more depth than that. It held it’s own story which focused on the relationship developed between a teenager and the robot created by his late brother. It was heart-warming and I cannot wait to see more of this a-dork-able duo in the future. Here’s hoping for a sequel!