Friday, November 7, 2014

Big Hero 6: Review




Hey guys, so guess what I saw last night. It's okay take your time to think about it. Did you guess Big Hero 6? Then you guessed right! I figured I would do a little review of this film for my post today!

Quick summary of the film for those you who don't know what it's about, much like me going in. The film revolves around Hiro, a young boy genius who teams up with Baymax, a robot designed for health care services (kind of like a nurse), and a group of college age teens- to fight an evil villain by using the advanced tech they design themselves. It's also based on a Marvel Comic book, which is a plus for me because you know how much of a superhero/comic book nerd I am.

I didn't really know what to expect going into this film. I had seen a few trailers for it and heard the song Fall Out Boy made for the soundtrack, but that was about the extent of my pre-knowledge going into the theater. This is also Disney's first Marvel film outside their extremely successful live action series the "Marvel Cinematic Universe" since they acquired the rights back in 2009, so I was interested to see how a different one of their studios handled the material.

I was actually extremely surprised and impressed by the film. For what sounds mostly like it's going to by a fun and goofy adventure film for kids, the backbone of Big Hero 6 is surprising the emotional relationships between Hiro and his brother, Tadashi, as well as between Hiro and Baymax. I found some of the best moments of the film to be those scenes in which these characters interacted and bonded.

Another thing I really enjoyed about this film was the setting and world building. The film takes place in the fictional "San Fransokyo", which is obviously a hybrid of San Francisco and Tokyo. The setting adds to the East meets West ideas of the film, and is brilliantly realized. All the shots of the city are interesting and intricate, and one of my favorite things about watching the film was discovering what was done to blend the cities together.

The only critique I can really give this film is minor, but it must still be said. I felt as the the secondary characters, Hiro and Baymax's friends and teammates, did not get as much time to shine as they deserved. That's not to say each of the characters were not unique or interesting, but we don't really get the chance to learn much about them other than their personalities. I know this is because the filmmakers wanted to spend more time with Hiro, Baymax, and Tadashi as they are the center of the film and it's message, but it would have been nice to learn at least a little more about some of the other characters who make up the Big Hero 6 team.

That being said, this was really fun to watch and overall a pretty great film. It's a fun film to go see with a bunch of friends. If you are a fan of Disney or animated films in general I would definitely recommend you go see it. I would give it a solid 4 out of 5 stars.


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