140 Character Movie Review – #140RVW
Could watch cuddly robot Baymax wander around onscreen pretty much all day. Cuteness may have led me to overvalue fairly typical story more.
Spoiler-free Movie Review of Big Hero 6:
Been a busy few months here at the Now Very Bad offices, so I’m way behind on some films, including this fun one from Walt Disney Animation. This is especially odd since 1) we had eagerly awaited the film’s release based on the excellent trailers; 2) we saw it opening weekend, which was months ago – the film is now available on home video.
The unfortunate part about waiting so long to review it, however, is that I missed the opportunity to tell you all to go see it. My whole family loved Big Hero 6, and I’m sure yours will too.
Based on a Marvel comic (albeit with a ton of changes), Big Hero 6 is a rather simplistic hero story that gets away with the lack of originality because it’s so fun. I had a blast watching it, so I may have overlooked how derivative it is. A friend of mine disliked the film, which fairly stunned me until she explained what bothered her so much; the cheap plot device of having the protagonist lose a family member early in the tale. She’s absolutely right – it’s lazy writing and a gimmick that should have a 3-day waiting period.
Despite the familiarity of the story, which is a fairly straightforward hero coming of age progression, Big Hero 6 is ridiculously funny and enjoyable due to the character of Baymax, the healthcare robot designed by the dead-plot-element-walking family member of our hero, Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter). Hiro’s hero journey may be a well-beaten path, but no hero has ever had a sidekick like Baymax.
Baymax is voiced by 30 Rock alum Scott Adsit with a comforting monotone and his movements were meant to resemble a “toddler with a full diaper”. It’s great comedic stuff and truly never gets old. You wish he were in every scene, and for the most part aren’t disappointed.
The rest of the characters seem to have been picked out of a box containing all of the elements to make a diverse, well-rounded team. When it comes to filling out the story of the team learning to trust each other and come together to blah, blah, blah, the story flags a little. This probably is perfectly fine comic book material, but as a film it’s a little pedestrian, particularly when there’s so much more fun to be had with the robot.
Visually the film is stunning. The art design of San Fransokyo alone is worth the price of admission.
I really loved Big Hero 6 and can’t wait for my copy of the Blu-ray to arrive in the next few days. I’m sure we’ll get plenty of opportunities to keep enjoying the world’s most cuddly robot. As a side note, we just got back from Disney World and the longest line we waited in all week was to meet Baymax & Hiro, so obviously the film’s a hit. (By the way, the long wait was totally worth it – hugging Baymax in the real world is exactly as awesome as you’d expect…)
Poster:
Trailer:
Bechdel Test:
Pass
The Representation Test Score: C (4 pts)
(http://therepresentationproject.org/grading-hollywood-the-representation-test/)
| Main Cast | Ryan Potter Hiro (voice), Scott Adsit Baymax (voice), Jamie Chung Go Go (voice), T.J. Miller Fred (voice) |
| Rating | PG |
| Release Date | Fri 07 Nov 2014 UTC |
| Director | Don Hall, Chris Williams |
| Genres | Animation, Action, Adventure, Comedy, Family, Sci-Fi |
| Plot | The special bond that develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes. |
| Poster |  |
| Runtime | 102 |
| Tagline | |
| Writers | Jordan Roberts (screenplay) and, Daniel Gerson (screenplay) … |
| Year | 2014 |
