NYCC 2014: ‘Big Hero 6′ Movie Review

Walt Disney Animation Studios has been a roll for lately. 2012 we saw the very fun Wreck-It Ralph, last year Frozen smashed the box office and this year they’ve got another hit on their hands with the animated marvel adaptation of Big Hero 6, directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams.

After tragedy strikes the Hamada family and young tech prodigy Hiro Hamada’s (Ryan Potter) game-changing invention is stolen, he soon develops a relationship with an adorable and inflatable robot, invented by his brother, named Baymax. When a mysterious figure wearing a kabuki mask emerges, threatening the wellbeing of San Fransokyo using Hiro’s invention, Hiro decides to retrofit the lovable nurse robot Baymax with armor and teams up with his closet friends, who build their own armor, in an attempt to stop the villain from causing chaos in the city.

Even if it was a comic con crowd, when the credits rolled for Big Hero 6 the crowd went wild. Everyone from kids to adults had a blast and I agreed. I thought the movie was downright awesome. All I wanted to do was immediately find a way to be Baymax for Halloween or get myself a little vinyl toy for my desk.

Big Hero 6 is such a cool film to watch for a few reasons. Firstly, from a production design standpoint, the film looks beautiful and the fusion of eastern and western culture allowed the designers the opportunity to create endless cultural mashups. For example, the Golden Gate Bridge was modified to look like a Japanese Torii gate, which I thought was a clever move. Secondly, for the most part, Hiro and his friends were fun characters to watch and listen to. The voiceover work was solid and each of the heroes had their moment to shine. Go GO Tomago (Jamie Chung), Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), Fred (T.J. Miller), and Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) each contributed laughs in some way but the presence of T.J. Miller as Fred, a not-so-smart yet super hero obsessed school mascot who dreams of breathing fire and fighting crime steals almost every scene he’s in.

Like with many of the good comedies out there days, there is always one incredibly lovable character that audiences just can’t get enough of. Think Olaf from Frozen, Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy, and now, we have a “new” character to obsess over, Baymax, the kind, lovable, slow-moving inflatable marshmallow looking robot. Voiced by Scott Adist, there is so much to love about Baymax, from his simple and precise personality to the way he moves, he’s always one to provide a good laugh for the audience, especially when Hiro’s trying to teach him human things like a fist bump. I don’t think I can do a fist bump again without thinking of his hilarious impersonation of the explosion after the bump.

The one thing that irked me about Big Hero 6 was the way the story unraveled. The film felt like a Scooby Doo mystery and, on one hand, that’s good. I used to love watching Scooby and appreciated this style and plot progression to a certain extent. On the other hand, it’s also bad because as you get older, figuring out the mystery gets much easier and this is where the stumbles a bit. If you’re even passively paying attention, 20 minutes into the film you can figure out who the bad guy is in the kabuki mask. It’s a little frustrating knowing who the bad guy is when you have another 70 minutes left in the film, but thankfully there is so much to enjoy from the movie that you can almost let it slide without being too annoyed.

Overall, Big Hero 6 is going to be another certified hit for Walt Disney Animation Studios and it’s cool to see how they handled animating a Marvel property versus sticking with just live-action work. The film is great for both kids and adults and is, what I would consider, this year’s How to Train Your Dragon (when the first one came out), a box office success, universally accepted and an Oscar contender, but a film that won’t win the prestigious award (that’s going to The Lego Movie). If you’re looking for a fun, clean movie to watch between all the heavy award’s season contenders, this is the movie to see.

Rating: A super fun, high-tech, and family friendly Scooby Doo-like mystery (7/10)