Hello again! When you’re on a roll…just gotta keep writing. So, for the second of this soon-to-be-over weekend’s offerings, I move to a film that was out back at the very beginning of November. Yes, I know, that was almost two months ago, but frankly, I wasn’t sure at the time if I WANTED to SEE it. Well, thanks to some recommendations from multiple friends, I DID go catch up on what ended up being one of this year’s well done animated features. I bring to you….”Big Hero 6″.
SEE THE TRAILER HERE
Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams and produced by Pixar guru John Lasseter, our story takes us to the futuristic metropolis of San Fransokyo and into the bot-battle filled existence of teenager Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter), who is actually a genius-level creator and thinker, but tends to find himself in trouble AND in over his head, only to be bailed out by his older brother Tadashi (voiced by Daniel Henney). Knowing there is way more potential in Hiro, Tadashi takes him to the university lab he works at where Hiro is introduced to several other creative types, including the extreme adrenaline junkie Go Go (voiced by Jamie Chung), tech-head Wasabi (voiced by Damon Wayans, Jr.), chemistry expert Honey Lemon (voiced by Genesis Rodriguez), and surfer-speak geek Fred (voiced by T.J. Miller). Additionally inspired after meeting a personal idol, the head of the university’s development program Robert Callaghan (voiced by James Cromwell), Hiro works on coming up with some new microbot tech to wow Callaghan and gain admission into the university. His project is successful, ALSO catching the eye of unscrupulous robotics company owner Alistair Krei (voiced by Alan Tudyk). But, when a tragic event brings devastating loss, Hiro’s whole life seems to stop. Only when he accidentally triggers his brother’s (previously introduced) robot experiment, Baymax (voiced by Scott Adsit), does an unexpected turn of circumstances occur via discovering that Hiro’s microbot tech has fallen into another’s hands and is being utilized to bring about potential chaos. After tracking down and having a rather UNsuccessful run-in with a masked villain who appears to be behind the theft of Hiro’s tech, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred come to Hiro’s aid. Together, they begin to formulate a plan to stop the masked thief and retrieve Hiro’s microbots. Via his ever-thinking brain, Hiro enhances each person with specialized suits that fit their particular skill sets, hence turning them all into de facto superheroes. Also turning Baymax into a more action-oriented bot, the team’s initial group encounter with the unknown nemesis yields an unforeseen revelation that causes Hiro’s focus to become something other than it should. But even through the harder events that follow, Hiro and the team find a way to pull things together, think outside the box, and bring everything back to good, even when lessons in friendship and sacrifice are necessary lessons along the way. Further details = SPOILERS. NOT found here!
Given the run of animated successes that Disney-owned Pixar has been on from the beginning, it honestly looked like THEY were going to become the dominate arm for The Mouse’s projects of that nature. However, thanks to proving their OWN in-house animation department was alive and well thanks to hits like “Tangled” and “Frozen“, I actually should have suspected “Big Hero 6” would be a solid effort…and this is definitely the case. Filled with the spot-on combo of laughs, action, AND pathos that Disney has been doing well with for multiple efforts pre-Pixar, the movie carried that same wonderful aura about it that classics like “The Lion King“, “Beauty and the Beast“, “Aladdin” invoked, but also brought its overall sensibility in displaying those traits to the modern era, ala the first two mentioned above. Honestly, all the characters presented here were equally engaging for me, as they all contributed to the greater story and the messages it carries about friendship, teamwork, and creative thinking while dishing out some good old fashioned fun. But in the midst OF all of that were some particularly powerful, deeply emotional moments as well, which surprised me a bit. And of course, there is the absolutely lovable and engrossing character of Baymax, whom I purposely underplayed in my review above solely because part of the whole JOY in this film is getting to experience and know how his over-sized frame and affable demeanor comes together and interacts with the rest of the characters. And Scott Adsit’s vocalizations for Baymax are priceless in helping to capture the essence of who this plus-sized unassuming “hero” supposed to be. Visually, as you would expect, the film is a beautiful tapestry of animated goodness, with crisp colors and vivid details, especially coming out in a certain flight sequence involving Hiro and Baymax. All the actors supply solid voices to their respective characters and they all have traits we love and can grasp onto. This is what animated films should be…sure, have a life lesson or two intermixed with the story, but ultimately, just give us characters we can laugh, cry, and spring into action with and that leaves us with a sense of playfulness…not taking things TOO seriously, at least not the WHOLE time. And the music is always a perfect fit in Disney’s efforts, as they manage to consistently find the right moments to hit you with the orchestrations that tug at your emotions as needed. I liked that, similar to Dreamwork’s “How To Train Your Dragon” or Illumination Entertainment’s “Despicable Me“, this is a film that both kids AND adults can find ground to relate to, and I believe it illustrates the ever-growing development OF animated stories and what they can bring to viewers, allowing them to be more “mature” while still delivering the light-hearted reprieve that we most certainly require sometimes.
As always, this is all for YOUR consideration and comment. Until next time, thank you for reading!
Ryan loved loved this movie it was right up his alley.
Permalink