Big Hero 6, the newest title from Walt Disney Animation Studios, stands as yet another home run for the Mouse House.
The film’s blend of action and adventure with close-knit relationships and genuine emotion made for an epic story, one of the best Disney has told in quite some time.
Big Hero 6 takes place in the fictional metropolis of San Fransokyo. It tells the story of 14-year-old robotics engineer Hiro Hamada and his older brother, Tadashi.
The elder Hamada, a robotics genius, has developed a revolutionary robot healthcare assistant named Baymax. Tadashi dreams of helping the world with his creation, but Hiro sees Baymax doing even more.
After a tragic accident, Hiro feels compelled to turn Baymax into a tough fighting machine. The two join forces with a few of Tadashi’s friends (Honey Lemon, Wasabi, GoGo and Fred) to find out the root of a mysterious plot that may correlate with the accident.
Big Hero 6 has a lot going for it. The film’s animation is absolutely stunning. Sure, this is Disney, the animation king, but this movie felt very lifelike.
The animators included several cues from live-action film. In all the fight scenes, production used a lot of “handheld shaky cam” visuals with “poor” zooming and focusing, but the movement never became distracting. Thinking all the way back to Toy Story, CGI animation has come a very, very long way.
But, animation is only a tool used to make the movie. The core of every movie is the story, and this story here is very strong. In fact, this is the best story that Disney has put out since 2010’s Tangled. On top of the wonderful narrative, the film is very funny, and the character development is especially good. Hiro grows so much through the film, as do his superhero comrades. Even Baymax, a robot, grows as a character.
The element that really carried the movie was the relationship between Hiro and Baymax. Despite the fact that Baymax is a robot, he becomes such a lovable character. After all, he is programmed to be a healthcare companion. He is designed to save lives, and he saves Hiro several times throughout the movie. Hiro eventually cannot live without Baymax by his side. The friendship they develop is what really drives the movie home.
Big Hero 6 is a great movie for all ages. It has tons of action for the older kids and lots of fun humor for the little ones. But, most of all, the relationships between the characters really hit square in the heart.
Disney created something of a phenomenon with 2013’s Oscar-winning box office smash Frozen, and to say that movie left some big shoes to fill would be an understatement. However, Big Hero 6 is the perfect follow-up and will definitely cement itself as one of Disney’s best movies.