MOVIE REVIEW: BIG HERO 6 (2014)

From IMDB

Storyline

From Walt Disney Animation Studios, the team behind "Frozen" and "Wreck-It Ralph," comes "Big Hero 6," an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax, a plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada. When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago, neatnik Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon and fanboy Fred. Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a band of high-tech heroes called "Big Hero 6." Written by Walt Disney Animation Studios

Ratings: 8.5/10 from 8,913 users   Metascore: 75/100
Reviews: 62 user | 57 critic | 33 from Metacritic.com

From Rotten Tomatoes 

Movie Info

With all the heart and humor audiences expect from Walt Disney Animation Studios, "Big Hero 6" is an action-packed comedy-adventure about robotics prodigy Hiro Hamada, who learns to harness his genius-thanks to his brilliant brother Tadashi and their like-minded friends: adrenaline junkie Go Go Tamago, neatnik Wasabi, chemistry whiz Honey Lemon and fanboy Fred. When a devastating turn of events catapults them into the midst of a dangerous plot unfolding in the streets of San Fransokyo, Hiro turns to his closest companion-a robot named Baymax-and transforms the group into a band of high-tech heroes determined to solve the mystery. (C) Disney

TOMATOMETER 89% | Average Rating: 7.4/10 | Reviews Counted: 126

Fresh: 112 | Rotten: 14

Critics Consensus: Agreeably entertaining and brilliantly animated, Big Hero 6 is briskly-paced, action-packed, and often touching.

AUDIENCE SCORE 94% liked it | Average Rating: 4.5/5 | User Ratings: 37,714

 

 

So a bunch of guys went through Marvel's stuff and found this. Of course the one you see in theaters look nothing like this. ©Marvel

 

My take on Big Hero 6

So Big Hero 6 is the latest offering from Disney with Pixar great John Lasseter on the project as one of the Producers. Now John Lasseter is someone you can trust when it comes to a good story. Big Hero 6 is also the result of Disney digging into the Marvel universe looking for ideas and apparently they were inspired when they came across a series called Big Hero 6 but from what I've read that's pretty much all the similarities that they share.

Big Hero 6, if you haven't read the above synopsis or haven't seen it yet is about Hiro a boy genius and his big balloon robot, or that's what you gather from the trailers. From the synopsis above you actually get a bi more, you find out that he starts his own superhero group and call it Big Hero 6. But what you don't know is that there's so much more fun that happens in between all that.

This is Tadashi, Hiro's brother. You don't see much of him but he's always there. ©Disney

Let me take you on a quick re-cap. (SPOILERS FROM THIS POINT ON!!) Hiro is a boy genius and obsessed with robots and you know this right when it opens when he takes part in a robot battle and hustles the current champion. Now no one likes being hustled and Hiro is about to get his ass whupped when his big brother Tadashi comes to the rescue. Unfortunately on their escape they get caught by the cops. Robot fighting is okay but gambling on it is illegal. Oh yeah, the moment I saw the robot fight sequence I started thinking about Real Steel, the one with Hugh Jackman. Real Steel was another fun movie. 

Anyway, Tadashi tries to talk to Hiro about changing his ways and using that big genius brain of his for something good but being a teenager still he's not about to take any advice the first time around, anyway he's got another robot fight to get to. Tadashi gives up and offers to take him to his next fight, except that instead of going there he takes Hiro to his university and introduces him to his wacky-genius friends. Hiro is totally impressed by them and now has a new goal, which is to get into his brothers college by any means. Hiro is also introduced to Tadashi's project, Baymax. Baymax is of course that balloon like robot that you see in all the posters and trailers. Baymax is a medical robot, when he hears someone say Ouch! he starts up, scans you and offers you treatment. He's also completely adorable, very geneal and sort of silly in his naivete. 

Hiro is with the in-crowd. Or what constitutes the in-crowd in a science lab but they're a fun bunch. ©Disney

So now basically you've met everyone that's important in this movie. Now like I said before Hiro wants to get into Tadashi's University by any means and it  Tadashi tells one opportunity is just around the corner. His university is having a science exhibition and if Hiro comes up with something amazing for it he's a shoe-in at getting a spot in the next semester. Of course, as with all movies, Hiro goes blank and can't figure out what to do until of course his brother comes up and gives him some advice and holds him upside-down which is when he comes up with an invention that blows everyone's mind and guarantees his entry. His invention is so impressive that right after he shows it off he gets an offer by Alistair Krei a businessman who is offering him lots of money if he's willing to come work for him. Also there is Professor Callaghan someone that Hiro looks up to who tells him that Alistair is not a very nice man and is actually an unscrupulous businessman who does whatever it takes to get things his way. So you know which way Hiro goes with his decision, right?

Anyway, the science fair ends and Hiro and Tadashi take a breather outside to have a one-to-one. You know, big brother is proud of you, I knew you could do it, etc, etc. Just then they hear people running from something, they go to check it out and see the hall the fair was being held in going up in flames. Tadashi worried that his Professor is still in there goes in because that's what good people do. The moment he goes in, the hall explodes. 

This is the bad guy. This is also the coolest looking bad guy I've ever seen in any Disney movie. ©Disney

Now Hiro has lost his brother, the only one that believed in him and showed him that he could be more than he thought he could. Hiro retreats from everyone and hides out in his room for awhile and one day while he's wallowing in his sadness he knocks his foot which triggers Baymax. Baymax tries to cure Hiro's owwie and at the same time notices that Hiro is a little depressed. At about the same time Hiro spots his jacket on the floor twitching. His invention is in it and it's twitching. Now's a good time to let you know that Hiro's entry at the science fair was a whole lot of microbots that he could control with his mind and have them do whatever he can think of, from having them build something to turning them into any form of travel he can think of. Go watch it in the cinemas and you'll get what I'm saying. 

Anyway, Hiro doesn't think much about the twitching microbot but Baymax wanting to help him feel better asks Hiro if finding out what is wrong with the microbot will help. Turns out the twitching thing is trying to go somewhere and Baymax trying to be helpful follows the tiny thing. This leads to a silly tour around San Fransokyo with Hiro trying to catch up with them. They eventually get to an abandoned warehouse where they discover that someone is making more of Hiro's little microbots. Except that Hiro thought all his microbots were destroyed in the science fair fire. This is where they meet up with this movie's villain. And he's a pretty cool one too. 

A big silly cuddly robot petting a big fat cuddly cat. Cute quota complete. ©Disney

Anyway they escape the bad guy's clutches and make you laugh at the same time. They get home and Hiro puts two and two together and figure out that Tadashi's death was maybe not entirely accidental. It's at this same time that Baymax looks up different ways to help Hiro's mood and accidentally calls everyone Hiro knows. Where are Hiro's parents you say? Well, they died when he was three and ever since then his aunt Cass has been raising him and Tadashi. Anyway, now that Hiro suspects foul play he sets out to do something about it, but first he needs to do something about Baymax. He downloads some martial arts stuff and makes some armour for him. This is also another fun part. 

So Baymax is all set and off they go into the dark night (see what I did there?) (yes I know this was a Marvel inspired movie). Anyway they trace the villain to the docks and spot him dragging something out of the water. What they don't spot was that the entire time they were being followed, by the wacky geniuses from the university. When they confront Hiro and notice that Baymax now looks different they're also spotted by the bad guy. So they run, this was entertaining but not as much fun as the previous fun moments.

 People do this to my belly too. ©Disney

They escape of course and regroup. And while talking about what's happened and what's going on, Hiro comes up with a plan that has everyone helping out. They're going to become superheroes. So off they go creating their outfits and special weapons. After that scene is done you get to see them learn to use them. This is entertaining too. 

So now they have their suits they go off to look for the bad guy. They trace him to a deserted island. They investigate the island and find out that it was once a research facility run by Alistair Krei. They were using the island to test out a new invention, traveling with portals. The team also find out that things didn't go well and that the first test pilot to try to go through it didn't come back out. They also find out that the test pilot was Professor Callaghan's daughter. So now Hiro knows who killed his brother. This enrages him and in his fury he takes out one of Baymax's data card and leaves the one that will allow Baymax to kill. 

Baymax goes from adorably silly looking to cool better than most heroes. ©Disney

They don't succeed and Callaghan escapes. Hiro is furious at everyone for trying to stop him. He goes back to his garage to mend Baymax so that he can go right out and get Callaghan but instead Baymax pulls him back to his senses when he shows Hiro recordings that Tadashi made while trying to get Baymax to work. This changes Hiro, and now instead of killing Callaghan he tasks the Big Hero 6 with stopping Callaghan. 

Callaghan in the meantime heads towards Alistair Krei's new headquarters with the last remaining portal. His plan is to suck up all that Alistair has built into the portal before he sends Alistair himself into the portal. A big fight scene ensues and it's a pretty good one too. Anyway, the fight ends with Callaghan defeated but the portal still open and threatening to destroy everything. While standing around trying to figure out what to do Baymax tells them that his scans detect a life on the other side of the portal and it's female. So Hiro and Baymax go in to save her. But in the end only Hiro escapes when Baymax's suit stops working inside the portal. 

The movie of course doesn't end this way, it is a Disney movie after all. There's a happy ending of course but go watch it for yourself.

At the end of the day, I think everyone could use a hug from this big guy. ©Disney

What this Baymax fan thought about the movie...

I thoroughly enjoyed this movie. From start to finish this was a fun movie. It's a movie that all ages will enjoy. If you don't like it then there's something wrong with you and not the movie. It's not a kids movie is a movie for everyone. Kids will love it, adults will have fun watching it too. The characters are all fun and Baymax the silly looking robot is absolutely endearing and loveable.

The visuals are absolutely lovely and I read that they pioneered some new lighting techniques while making this movie and man did it work out well. Everything from the characters to the scenery to the background looks great  

When you think Baymax was just a med-bot that's mostly hot air, him looking the way he does now and flying would probably explain Hiro's expression. ©Disney

The storytelling is beautifully paced, nothing feels too slow or rushed. The fun parts were fun and the dramatic parts were well done. As much as it is a Disney movie this has more of the Pixar feel in my opinion than a Disney one, while watching it I kept thinking this feels like Pixar's The Incredibles. 

So there you have it. I liked it. I like it so much I might just go and watch it a second time. It's a good way to waste 90 odd minutes of your life without any regrets. If you're looking for something to watch this is something you should consider. If you have kids or you are a kid at heart then this is a must watch. 

Yeah, everyone loves Baymax. And you will to by the end of the movie. Or maybe after watching him for 10 minutes. ©Disney

I give Big Hero 6 a solid 4.5 out of 5. Yeah I liked it that much. The kid in me loved it. Also here's something to do while watching it. Look for past Pixar characters in the background and also look for Stan Lee. Stan Lee isn't hard to find. 

BIG THANKS TO NUFFNANG, CHURP CHURP AND WALT DISNEY STUDIO MALAYSIA FOR LETTING US WATCH BIG HERO 6 BEFORE EVERYONE ELSE IN MALAYSIA!!

AND THANKS TO GSC CINEMAS @ PARADIGM MALL FOR HOSTING US!!