Saturday, November 8, 2014

Big Hero 6 movie review

I have a feeling that starting this weekend, movies are going to be getting good again. The year hit a dry spot at the end of August, and there hasn’t been much worth checking out. Even this blog has been affected by it. But now, it looks like it’s getting about time for theaters to be filled again… starting with Big Hero 6.






Big Hero 6 is made by the same people who made Wreck-it Ralph and Frozen, which is a lot to live up to, and if you’re looking at it from that perspective, it’s great, but doesn’t fill in the shoes to the fullest potential. But if you’re like me and just want a good, fun movie to finally break the boredom season of the year, then you need to go see it as soon as you can.

The film takes place in a city called San Fransokyo, which is a combination of San Francisco and Tokyo (and it is as awesome as it sounds) where new advancements in science are made every day. After a tragic event, a scientifically skilled 14 year old kid named Hiro takes responsibility of an experimental ‘nurse robot’ called Baymax. A villain weaponizes an army of microbots and starts wreaking havoc. So, Hiro uses his skills to form a team of heroes to take him down.

Fun fact: this movie is actually based off of a Marvel series of the same name, but taken in a far different direction. Never heard of the Big Hero 6 comicbook? Neither have I, until a moment before I started writing this. But seriously, this is a Marvel superhero movie in the form of a Disney animated family movie…. how can you get more amazing than that?

The first thing I have to mention is that the design of San Fransokyo is so awesome! I love how the city looks and I want to live there!



Can you imagine how fun it would be to live in that city? It kinda makes me sad that this place doesn’t exist in real life. Though I imagine that if Japan somehow took over the world and incorporated their culture into everyone else’s, San Fransokyo would be potentially a real thing. Not only would the city be real, but maybe all the science and technology would be, too.

Speaking of which, the scientific element of this movie is really interesting. Everyone has their own inventions and they’re all full of imagination. That’s what I think is one of the best parts of the movie; putting imagination and heart into everything is one of the best messages to send the kids, and the older viewers can respect that.

The strongest part of Big Hero 6 that everyone can enjoy is the characters. I love the interaction between Hiro and Baymax. Baymax is what makes this movie. He is the most fun, most lovable, most hilarious animated character I’ve seen in any animated movie. And that’s saying something. I just want a Baymax for myself that I can hug all day.

Hiro is a pretty good character, too. At first, I thought his voice didn’t go with the character design that well, but as the movie went on, I got used to it. The 4 other science nerds that form the team of heroes are all enjoyable. Their inventions that later turn into weapons are interesting, and the design of their hero suits are obviously inspired by Japanese anime. Look at these and tell me you can’t see them in an anime.



Another thing this movie does is show that in life, bad things happen sometimes. The emotional scenes were done well, but they sort of lost their effect sometimes due to one thing: saying ‘he’s gone’ instead of ‘he’s dead’. I won’t spoil anything, but tragedy happens, as is Disney’s way of freaking out the little kids, but if they wanted the audience to keep feeling that emotion and have it make an impact, they should have made the characters say ‘dead’ rather than ‘gone’. Saying death, or dead, or whatever isn’t going to scar the kids for life.

Finally, the animation….. Holy crap. Big Hero 6 has some of the best animation, the best detail, the best designs, the best everything! I’d say it rivals How to Train Your Dragon 2… maybe even surpasses it! The animators did a fantastic job and definitely deserve a full score from me in that department. They somehow made the world a perfect balance of stylized characters, yet realistic environments. I couldn’t get enough of it.

While I wouldn’t say it’s as good as The Lego Movie or How to Train Your Dragon 2, this was a great family movie that everyone can enjoy and deserves to be seen in theaters… in 3D. I didn’t watch it in 3D, but I can tell that it would be even more impressive in that format.

FINAL RATING: 44 / 50
STORY: 4 / 5
VOICE ACTING: 5 / 5
CHARACTERS: 5 / 5
ANIMATION: 5 / 5
COMEDY/ACTION: 5 / 5
SOUNDTRACK: 3 / 5
TONE: 4 / 5
ENJOYABILITY: 5 / 5
REWATCH VALUE: 4 / 5
OWNING VALUE: 4 / 5

Big Hero 6 is definitely one of my favorite animated films, and maybe even one of my favorite films of the year. Check it out.

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