D’ya know what? Disney have a had a pretty good run lately, in the past few years I mean. Yes, I know we had Frozen in 2013, which was less than stellar. However, Wreck-It Ralph is definitely in my top ten animated films of all time and Big Hero 6 is definitely in my top fifteen, or maybe top ten, I haven’t really thought about it… yet.
My first impressions of the film, by this I mean before the trailers when I just had a synopsis and a poster, were confused and unknowing. At the time, I wasn’t aware that Big Hero 6 was actually a little known superhero group from Marvel. However, that fact is irrelevant because the only similarities that the film and the comics share is the name. Anywho, at the time I had no idea what a “Big Hero 6” was. I didn’t actually see trailer, as I recall, so I essentially went into the cinema on a couple of recommendations and reviews. I left the cinema amazed at what I saw, a well structured, funny and surprisingly action packed film.
The story was traditional for an animated film, with a few twists in the story. A budding robot fighter and robotics prodigy, Hiro Hamada enters, at the encouragement of his brother, Tadashi, a showcase that can lead to him getting a place in a prestigious engineering college, one that his brother attends. However, when a fire breaks out, killing Tadashi and presumably destroying his entry, a horde of small, telepathically controlled robots called Microbots, he plunges into a kind of depression. So you’re average Disney, family-fun romp. While moping around his room, Hiro stumbles upon Baymax, a project his brother was working on. Baymax is an inflatable, robotic “healthcare companion”, so a robot doctor, basically. What follows is a series of tense battles with a habuki-masked villain with control over Hiro’s Microbots, WHAT? I know, mental. These battles are fought with the help of his brother’s friends from college; Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Go-Go and Fred, who all suit up in suits that grant them scientifically engineered powers.
How lovely.
Surprisingly, for a Disney, especially, the action is on par with some of the blockbusters this year, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man. In some ways, you could say it was better. Unlike the more structured action of Avengers and Ant-Man, the action in this film chaotic and frantic, with everything from car chases to tidal waves of robots.
The characters are some of the best I’ve seen in a Disney film in a long time. The lead, Hiro, is a slightly cocky, highly intellegent thirteen year old. Although he is very flawed, he feels realistic, adding to his charm. Keeping him grounded is Go-Go, Honey Lemon, Wasabi and Fred. Go-Go specialises in speed, her suit being some sort of disc-throwing, roller skating suit. Honey Lemon, a chemistry graduate, has a purse that can create balls of chemicals that can create certain hazards, such as ice and sticky stuff that sticks to your feet and does sticky things. Wasabi, an apparant obsessive compulsive who has laser blades on his arms, think energy sword from Halo and you’re halfway there. Fred, who is an idiot, is a superfan of superheroes and science in general, so he just sort of tags along. He is responsible for accidentally misleading our heroes, so I’m not really a fan. Finally, Baymax’s naivity (is that a word?) is so, so likable. He takes the “fish out of water” concept and makes it so that his character development is really fufilling and satisfying for the viewer. Don’t worry, I don’t really understand what I said either, I’m just improvising really.
To conclude, Big Hero 6 is one of the better animated films this year. You could make some slight comparisons, story-wise, between it and How to Train Your Dragon. However, on the whole, it is a pretty unique film that I would recommend.
86/100
Lots of hugs, kisses and lacerations
Uncle Milo
Stuff and That. 
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