Walt Disney Animation Studios review: Big Hero 6

2014’s 9th feature film, and Walt Disney Animation Studios 54th feature film.

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My opinion right after watching film

My opinion on the film is that it is pretty good. I still like Wreck-it Ralph better, and it is definitely one of the best films in this year. I like the characters, and I like how they handled the topic of death, and I really like the characters. While the film is predictable, it is still an enjoyable film.

Production

Production for this film started in 2011, as Bob Iger told  Winnie the Pooh director Don Hall to look through some Marvel property (since they own them now), and he found Big Hero 6, which he brought to a meeting, and pitched it to Lasseter, who liked the idea, and approved it.

Many people from the Marvel studios worked on this film, though it was only a WDAS film, and there will be no credit given to Marvel (outside of copyrights). Apparently Disney wanted Marvel to create a comic that has the continuity of the film to release with the film, but Marvel refused to do so.

They wanted Baymax to look original compared to the hundreds of robots that are in the media, which is why Baymax is a bit on the chubby side, so he would look huggable. Disney also decided to combine Tokyo (where the real comics take place) with San Francisco because Marvel has never used San Francisco, and it would be interesting to incorporate parts of both cities to make a unique atmosphere.

Story

The film starts off at San Fransokyo, with the 14 year old Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) at a back alley robot fighting tournament, and fights against a champion, which makes everyone look at him weirdly, since he is a boy. He pays to fight, and the robot he has (which is a micro bot) loses, but Hiro pays up more money, and his robot wins, causing him to take all of the money. The people in the club does not like that, and is about to handle Hiro, but his older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) saves him, and puts him on his motorcycle. Soon enough, the police catch up to them, and arrests everyone who was at the competition.

Their aunt Cass (Maya Rudolph) picks them up and bails them up, angry that she had to have even been in that situation. I will question her parenting during the film, because she never notices where they are, and it is something that a guardian should never have to think about, especially when said kid is supposed to be in the house you are currently in.

Tadashi is annoyed that Hiro is wasting his big brain and head on these cheap competitions, instead of going to school, which Hiro does not care about because the schools are telling him stuff that he already knows, since he is a genius. Tadashi takes him to his university as soon as they arrive home (Cass needs to be on her shit), so Hiro can see his science program. The 14 year old meets GoGo Tomago (Jamie Chung), Wasabi (Damon Wayans. Jr), Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez), and Fred (T.J. Miller), who each have their scientific gift/specialty (that I am too tired to explain at the moment). Tadashi then show him his invention, which is a personal healthcare robot named Baymax (Scott Adsit), only for his professor; Professor Callaghan (James Cromwell) to show up, and looks at the micro bot that Hiro has, and offers him to join the school after the science fair, which after seeing the cool stuff, Hiro wants to be a part of the program.

It is the science fair, and Hiro is performing his Micro Bots, which start off in a bit of a nervous and weird spot, but he becomes more conformable as he spoke, and explained that the micro bots all link together to form whatever is in the person’s imagination, impressing the audience. A business man named Mr. Krei (Alan Tudyk, who seems like he is WDAS’s good luck charm) offers Hiro to buy them from him, which the kid would get millions from, but Hiro refuses because Callaghan convinced him to refuse.

So they all leave to celebrate, but Tadashi wants to speak to Hiro by himself, to tell him that he did a good job and such. Suddenly, there is a fire in the building, and they are told that Professor Callaghan is in there, which causes Tadashi to rush over there. Hiro tries to stop him, but Tadashi tells him that someone needs to help. He enters the building, and it soon blows up.

Goodbye Tadashi.

So the funeral happens, and soon after, Hiro isolates himself from the others, closing the webcam chat from the other sidekicks, and when his microbot machine stubs his toes, it activates Baymax, who tells him he is depressed and an emotional roller coaster. He notices that he found a bot, and Hiro tells him to find it, which causes Baymax to use his tracking programmer to leave the house and finds it, causing Hiro to run out and follow him.

They end up at an old warehouse, and finds that the microbot wants to join all of the other microbots that are there, and there is A LOT. Hiro realizes that someone took his idea, and all of the microbots follow them, causing them to engage in this chase to leave the warehouse.

So we have one of those “masked unknown people” situations, which can only mean that this character is one of the characters we were already introduced to in the movie. I am sure that there are a few people in the film that can be this person.

The duo ten make a report to the police about the masked man, and the officer is looking at them like they lost their ever loving minds. Baymax’s battery is low, which causes him to act very loopy and crazy. When they run home, Aunt Cass tries to talk to Hiro about his first day of school, but Hiro fails to mention that he did not register to University yet (since he is still gloomy and all of that). They go in his room, and Baymax is confused as to why Tadashi is not around. Hiro tells him that he is dead, which confuses Baymax, because he had the right eating habits and exercise to live a long life, which Hiro agrees with, but tells Baymax that he died from a fire. Baymax tells him that Tadashi isn’t really gone, as long as he remembers him, and Hiro says that is a bunch of bullshit, which I have to agree with him on. Memories will not replace the physical presence of the person being there, and even memories get foggy, but it is also important to remember what the deceased person meant to you.

With a touch of the computer, Baymax downloads all that he needs to know as to how to deal with personal loss, which includes contact with close ones, and physical reassurance, so he calls all of his friends, and gives Hiro a big old hug. Hiro looks at the microbot, and he cannot help but think about who would have stolen it, only coming up with the culprit being the business man Mr. Krei, causing him to decide that they need to go after him, since he is responsible for Tadashi………..uh, no. Tadashi is the sole blame for Tadashi’s fate, sorry. Hiro tricks Baymax into helping him, saying that this will make his health and spirit better.

The two escape the house again (REALLY CASS? GET AN ALARM FOR CHRIST’S SAKE), and the microbot makes a bunch of noise, trying to connect to the other bots, but a car comes to them, only for it to be the gang, Honey Lemon, Fred, Wasabi, and GoGo. They all want him to stop pushing people away and to let them help him. They see the large amount of microbots, and the masked man go after them, with them all entering Wasabi’s car. Gogo demands answers from Hiro, who is still kind of confused themselves. They end up in the water, and Fred takes them to his HUGE house. They are all shocked that he is extremely rich, but when they enter his room, Hiro sees Fred’s comic superhero outfit stuff, and gets inspired.

So we get a montage song called Immortals by The Fallout Boys, and its purpose is to show the progress of the 6 of them getting used to their scientific powers, ultimately forming Big Hero 6. Sorry for the crappy imagery.

So as Hiro tries to get Baymax to show the others his powers, his flying starts off extremely rough and sloppy, but he soon gets the hang of it, as the two of them go on a little flight across town. Baymax finds Mr. Krei’s laboratory, and they see them try to figure out a way to accomplish teleportation, but it fails, and they enter into some other portal.

The masked man approaches them, and throws a huge boulder at them, which causes Hiro and the others to get him, and to remove the mask. Wasabi, Fred, GoGo, and Honey Lemon fail at getting his mask, but when Baymax and Hero fight him, the mask falls off, and we discover that Mr. Gallaghan is the masked man….GASP. I am so literally shocked………

They are all like so confused, since they thought that he died in the fire. Callaghan reveals that he had Hiro’s microbots to save him from the fire, so he could become the masked hero. Hiro is mad because Tadashi went after him to save him, and died for no reason, but Callaghan says that it was Tadashi’s mistake that he died, and………he is right. Hiro takes out all of Baymax’s medical programming, so he would only be able to destroy, and the little teen tells him to destroy the professor.

Honey Lemon stops the program in Baymax that would help him kill him, which gives Gallaghan enough time to escape. He is totally mad at Honey Lemon for doing that, and he says that he should not have let them help him. GoGo tells him that he told them that they would only catch the guy, not kill him. He walks off, and then he has a meltdown of Baymax always saying that Tadashi is in his heart, but he literally shows him the video of Tadashi and his many attempts to make him.

The other members of the crew show up, and they all make amends, saying that they will help Hiro catch Callaghan this time. Lemon gives Hiro a USB, which shows Callaghan about to attack Krei after the teleportation failed, and they realize that his daughter was the pilot that was in the teleporter. I am still confused as to why Callaghan needed the microbots for.

So they all fly over to Krei, as he is making his speech, and Callaghan is pissed that he considered his daughter a setback. The Big Hero 6 showed up, and Hiro tells him to not do this, since nothing will change, and his daughter would not want this, but Callaghan states that she is gone, so it does not matter. Hiro sees the parallels with him and the professor, and then the climax starts. Callaghan defeats the Big Hero 6 for a while, but they escape all of this. Baymax then crushes the max, and my answer would be revealed, as the max is apparently what helps him control the microbots.

Baymax signals that there is life in the teleporter, which causes all of them to realize that  Gallaghan’s daughter Abigail is in there. Krei tells them that there is no hope in trying to get her, but Hiro says that someone needs to help…….just like his brother did in the film. There are a lot of parallels in this film. So the two go in there, and get the shuttle that Abigail is in, to return her back. Just as they are about to return, a huge rock hits Baymax, and he is about to fall, only to grab Hiro’s hand. Baymax realizes that there is not enough time for the three of them to make it, and he uses one of his powers (where his fist separates to get a better punch), and he tells Hiro he needs to be satisfied, before he shoots them off, which he does.

Abigail is returned and hospitalized, whereas her father is put in the cruiser to get arrested. They are all saddened by Baymax being gone, but they continue on with life, and Hiro lives again. He is carrying Baymax’s fist in his room, and opens it to see the chip that contains Baymax’s entire personality. He rebuilds the robot, they reunite, and Big Hero 6 is reunited to be super heroes, and fight off bad guys, still remaining anonymous. Thy are living out Tadashi’s dream to help people.

I am so glad that I watch films twice for when I review them, because there is a lot that I missed out on the first time. I like that this film actually takes on how people handle death, and the aftermath of it, whereas in most WDAS films, they are saddened right after the death happens, but we never see the mourning process, and it is usually forgotten about. I like that this film did not have to rub in how different it is from the other WDAS films, and it definitely holds its own, and adds a lot of details to the plot, with everything being tied up nicely. While this film is predictable, and does not stand out too much, it is still an entertaining, heartwearming film, and I am glad to conclude the WDAS reviews on this one. The Revival Era is still going strong.

Characters

The characters in this film are likable, and it is understandable as to why they each did what they did. While there are only a few complex characters, and a few characters that we know a lot about, it does not mean that the cast overall sucks. I do wish we got to know a bit more about the side characters though.

Hiro is actually a pretty good character. His personality does not solely have to do with him being a child. He is very intelligent, a impulsive (but understandable), and a bit cocky. I was kind of worried about how he was handling Tadashi’s death, but I like how they made it known that you are not supposed to handle death in the way that he did. The voice acting is very well done.

He is the wise, calm, intelligent older brother, and From what we saw of him, he is a good character too. I know that I sounded a bit insensitive to his death, but I understand why he did what he did. He is the backbone to this film, and the connection between the Big Hero 6.

Baymax’s strongest trait is that he is nurturing, which makes sense, because he was built to be a healthcare advising nurse. His type of humor is a very different type of humor from the other comic reliefs, as I am glad that it did not rely on pop culture, or for the most part, slapstick humor. His relationship with Hiro is nice to see, and he is probably my favorite comic relief character.

He is very interesting as a villain. His motivation is that his daughter got trapped in a teleportation device, so he needed the microbots to help him get her. Though he did a lot of bad things, they made his reasoning extremely realistic, and a different motivation for a villain, which is refreshing. He got a bittersweet ending, and I like how he paralleled Hiro.

He is clearly the best and the most developed from the other Big Hero 6 members. We know that he is rich, but did not mention it to anyone, and his father is apparently a retired superhero. He is very obsessed with comic books, but his humor is very mixed to me.

While Honey Lemon is very bubbly, and is nice to watch, I do not like that outside of that, the only thing we know about her is that she is a chemist. Like I said, most of the side characters would suffer from this.

Wasabi is neurotic, and is easy panicked, and is nice to watch, but outside of that, we only know that he is into applied physics. Wish we knew more.

She is very tomboyish and sarcastic, but outside of that, we only know that she is into mechanical engineering. She is decent I guess.

Animation

The animation is very good. I like how stylized the movie is, but you can still tell that there is the classic Disney style in it. The backgrounds are completely lovely, and it is new for Disney, since places like San Francisco and Tokyo are so rare to see in CGI. The characters definitely had better expressions than they did in Frozen, and it is a sight to see.

Music

Since there is no songs in the movie, there is not much to really say about the music. The score has that typical super hero theme, but it is definitely not the most memorable part of the movie. To be honest, the score is not really memorable at all.

Reception at Release

When the film came out on November 7th, 2014, it…..did not….really…..make a lot of money financially. As of today, it has made $186,878,423 domestically, and $68,200,000 elsewhere for a total of $255,078,423. I know that it has not been released in some countries, but it has been almost 2 months, and it has not even touched $300 million? I would not be shocked if it does not make $400,000,000.

Critically, it has received a lot of positive reviews, kind of like all of the other films released since 2007. What many liked about it was the heart, the touching scenes, the action-packed scenes, and offering a lot of excitement. Though the few negative reviews said that the film was overly predictable, and it is not Disney’s best.

Final Score

Story: 8/10

Characters: 7.5/10

Animation: 9/10

Music: 7/10

= 31.5/40 = 79%

Next time…

Walt Disney Animation Studios Review Conclusion. I will express what I learned about the company, give thanks, where things went wrong and right for the company, what I am gonna do next, etc.