I thought it would be hard for Walt Disney Animation Studios to top last year’s “FROZEN phenomenon” – but I think they have nailed it with their newest animated feature BIG HERO 6. And really, it should be no surprise because the same team worked on both films!Â
BIG HERO 6 is inspired by the Marvel comic book series of the same name. The action-packed comedy-adventure focuses on the bond between Hiro, a young boy, and his loveable inflatable robot, Baymax.
After a devastating event occurs in the city of San Fransokyo (a super-cool mashup of San Francisco & Tokyo), Hiro teams with Baymax and enlists the help of his techy friends, GoGo Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred. Together they get to the bottom of the mystery by finding the identity of the masked villain, Yokai, and ultimately bring him to justice.
A Little Background on the BIG HERO 6 Comic Book
In December of 1998, Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau created a new team of comic book superheroes. Using Japanese anime as a major influence, “Big Hero 6″ appeared in their own self-titled ten-issue miniseries. The series was just a side project for the artists, so another edition wasn’t published until September of 2008. When Disney acquired Marvel and the majority of their titles, this was one of the smaller books they felt had HUGE crossover appeal. Boy were they right!
Big Hero 6 Movie Review
After first viewing the trailer for BIG HERO 6, I didn’t know what to make of the film. I knew it was about a boy, Hiro, and his robot, Baymax, and that it would be awesome (it was coming from Disney after all), but I didn’t quite grasp how it was going to come together with the rest of characters, especially Tadashi, Hiro’s other brother, and their friends, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred.
How did BIG HERO 6 come together? Why was the team formed? Those were just some of the questions I asked myself, and thankfully Disney delivered, once I watched the film at the BIG HERO 6 red carpet premiere earlier this week.
BIG HERO 6 is an emotional story with a great message. Without getting too spoilery, it should be known that Hiro suffers a great loss when his brother, Tadashi, dies unexpectedly. His parents had already passed away, so he was only left with his Aunt Cass, Tadashi’s close friends from the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, and Baymax, a healthcare robot that Tadashi was working on before he passed away.
Feeling lost and alone, Hiro turns to Baymax, who is so much more than a robot. Baymax was designed to be a “Personal Healthcare Companion”, so by design, he cares about Hiro and wants to improve the emotional distress he is going though. I think it would be virtually impossible to not fall in love with Baymax. He’s a similar character to Olaf in FROZEN, but I think most moviegoers will have a greater connection to Baymax— besides being adorable, Baxmax is absolutely hysterical, especially in the scenes where his battery is running low.
The villain in BIG HERO 6 is a masked character that goes by the name Yokai, which is a term used for supernatural monsters in Japanese folklore. (Mom note: Yokai is really not as scary as he looks! There’s not really any violence or scary scenes making BIG HERO 6 a fantastic family film for all ages!).
Yokai’s identity remains a mystery for most of the movie, and after it’s discovered by Hiro that the masked character may have a connection to the death of his brother, he creates a superhero team with Baymax, Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred, and together they make up “Big Hero 6”.
I’m sure it doesn’t need mentioning but Hiro is really, really smart. That goes for Go Go, Wasabi and Honey Lemon, too. As the mom of a daughter, I loved how there are two female characters that exemplify how cool it is to be brainy. It also should be noted that BIG HERO 6 isn’t a movie just for boys … girls will love it equally as the film translates to audiences of all ages and demographics. I laughed myself silly for more than half of the movie!
Even with some sad elements at the beginning of the film, BIG HERO 6 isn’t sad … quite the opposite actually! Certain events take place, but they’re not dwelled upon. I think this goes back to the ultimate message of BIG HERO 6— When you lose someone, they live on through you.
Oh, and make sure to stay to the end of the credits for a surprise guest appearance!
BIG HERO 6 is now open in theaters nationwide!
Special thanks to Walt Disney Pictures for hosting me in L.A. for the BIG HERO 6 premiere. All opinions are my own.
