“Big Hero 6” is one of the quickest 102 minutes you’ll experience all year, but it still accomplishes everything you could hope to want from a Disney superhero movie.
When Disney purchased Marvel Comics a few years back, they went to work on finding ways to profit from the acquisition other than the Scrooge McDuck cash they would rake in from all those Avengers flicks. One of the ideas was to dig through Marvel’s back catalogue and find some properties that could be made into feature-animated films. Big Hero 6 is one of these properties, a Z-list team of Japan-centric heroes that are as obscure as it gets. However, thanks to that obscurity, the film ignores all ties to the larger Marvel universe and shines all on its own.
The movie follows Hiro Hamada, a 14-year-old super genius, as he tracks down his brother’s killer with the help of a huggable nursemaid robot and a crack team of genius college students. As the stakes become higher, the team outfits themselves with various scientific weapons and gizmos that aid them in their adventure and bring the mysterious Kabuki mask-wearing villain to justice.
There’s nothing really to say on the animation quality and style other than “it’s Disney.” Everything is rendered beautifully. The hybrid world of San Fransokyo is vibrant and has a charm all on its own. The titular “Big Hero 6” brings something new to the superhero table, even if they do it along broader power-trends. The standouts for me being Wasabi-No-Ginger’s impressive laser-hand tech that easily makes him the best designed character in a movie that already has a lot of wonderful designs to begin with, and GoGo Tomago’s dynamic take on the concept of a super-speedster.
But the star of the show is Baymax, Hiro’s trusty robotic nursemaid who he outfits as a war machine to kick some butt. The heart and soul of this film are linked to the relationship between Baymax and Hiro as the former tries to help the latter through his survivor’s guilt and feelings of vengeance with well-meaning naïve seriousness and unending compassion. This focus on Hiro and Baymax does leave the rest of the cast with barely any characterization of their own, but what we do receive works, and I suppose we’ll be getting more from the inevitable sequels.
However, despite all this charm and character “Big Hero 6” has some major pacing issues. It’s always in such a hurry to go and keep moving that you really want it to slow down and stay with some of the great characters or explore the world a little more. Instead, we’re hopping from one plot point to another without allowing any breathing room. It does slow a bit later on, but some of that was desperately needed during the beginning of the movie where the problem is most severe.
“Big Hero 6” is a great, if speedy, time at the movies that will leave you laughing, crying, and wanting more from this world and its newest team of super-powered nerds.
