Sometimes when you go to see a film at the cinema all you really want is a little slice of escapist fun and that’s definitely what you get with Big Hero 6. While it tackles more serious emotions with a lot of empathy it never forgets that ultimately it’s there to put a smile on your face and if that was the only criteria needed for a good film review it would be hitting high. The good news is that with some very cool animation, strong cast performance, a good sense of humour and a well crafted storyline there’s a lot more positives in its science geek locker.
The plot is an adaptation of the Marvel comic book series of the same name, making it the first CGI animated movie collaboration between the superhero legends and its new parent company, Disney. For fans of the comic book series there are a lot of changes that have been made to bring it to the big screen, but for newcomers it makes for a nice introduction to some of Marvel’s lesser known crime fighters.
Big Hero 6 picks up smartly with a 14 year old science and robotics genius called Hiro Hamada, played newcomer Ryan Potter, who’s been using his pretty significant intellect to hustle fighters in back street robot wars. However, when a big hustle gets him in trouble with an even bigger goon he finds himself trapped and about to face a beating when his brother, Tadashi, played by Daniel Henney, shows up to save him. He goes on to try to point him in the right direction by introducing him to his college friends, Fred, GoGo Tomago, Wasabi and Honey Lemon, which gives hero a little new direction to put his efforts into.
However, things don’t come together as Tadashi and Hiro had planned and Hiro finds himself embroiled in a dangerous world of Kabuki masked villains and super science as his childhood world is torn away from him. It makes for a clever coming of age metaphor for the film as Hiro faces the harsh realities of life and some pretty serious consequences, giving kids of the same age a lot to empathise with and a little inspiration in itself.
In and amongst the craziness he learns to find a little strength from his friends and family, making another important life lesson for the film and leading to the creation of a brand new superhero for to take on the nefarious Kabuki masked villain. This is added to be the brilliant inclusion of Baymax, voiced to perfection by Scott Adsit, the healthcare robot that Tadashi created, which Hiro takes on to develop in his fight against Kabuki face. He’s a big part of the comedy elements of the film, along with Hiro’s new friends, resulting in a lot of laughs to run alongside the out and out action at the heart of Big Hero 6.
Adsit’s comic delivery is closely followed by some class comic timing from Damon Wayans, Jr. (Let’s Be Cops) as Wasabi, T.J. Miller (Transformers: Age Of Extinction) as Fred and Génesis Rodríguez as chemist genius action hero Honey Lemon. Even Jamie Chung (Sucker Punch) gets in on the occasional joke as the more serious GoGo Tomago and Maya Rudolph (Turbo) as ‘Aunt’ Cass Hamada makes a pretty good naive and sensible character for Hiro and Baymax to play off.
As well as having some good laughs and high impact action scenes, Big Hero 6 also manages to tackles loss with a lot of skill and compassion, looking at the pressure it puts Hiro under and how he manages to to cope the situation. It makes for an emotional film in parts without losing sight of the other aspects that make the film so much fun to watch.
The CGI is a visual treat for the majority of the film, providing more than a few jaw dropping moments where the sheer effort of the team behind the animation are hard to ignore. There’s a slight flicker of perspective not quite working during some of the earlier flying scenes, but these look like they might be a result of the animation being designed for 3D, so they don’t quite work as well in 2D screening.
Directors Don Hall and Chris Williams (story artist and voice of Oaken for Disney’s Frozen) have done a very good job of piecing together a great new animated movie series with the help of screenplay writers Jordan Roberts, Dan Gerson and Robert L. Baird. It’s a solid adaptation of the comic book by by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau and introduces the characters with a movie that’s got possible series written all over it.
Overall, we’d have to say that Big Hero 6 is an impressive first outing for the combined forces of Disney and Marvel, especially considering the fact that it went on to pick up the best animated movie in the 2015 Academy Awards. They’ve clearly worked hard to make this the fun, action packed and touching film that it is and we’re already looking forward to the sequel. For anyone keen to build up on their Easter Egg count, you can find quite a cool one in the picture of Fred’s family as his father looks uncannily like Marvel creator Stan Lee.
Big Hero 6 review: 4.2/5
