“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?”
Swift shot: From the creators of Wreck-it-Ralph and Frozen, the bar was set pretty high for Big Hero 6 . . . and it took off from the start and never really disappointed. With new, imaginative characters to add to the already extensive Disney legacy, Baymax will be your kid’s favorite new toy! Sorry, though, he isn’t real . . . yet!
Teenager Hiro (Ryan Potter) is a bit of a punk, a robotic genius who spends his spare time fighting bots in the underground, illegal, circuit of future San Fransokyo. His parents are dead, thanks Disney, but he lives with his Aunt Cass (Maya Rudolph) who is a bit of a ditz, but has a tremendous heart. Hiro’s equally genius brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney) attends University, but is also cared for by their charming Aunt Cass. She provides a lot of the comedy relief, she and her loveable hairy cat, Mochi. Mochi was a personal favorite, because he was the spitting image of Madison’s cat, should we sue Disney like that weird Peruvian chick?
Tadashi is desperate to get his younger brother to quit bot fighting and start attending University with him. He knows Hiro is wasting his talents; he should be helping others . . . not himself. One night, Tadashi introduces Hiro to a bot he’s been working on for a long time, Baymax. Baymax is the character you’ll all fall in love with, almost instantly. For me, it was the first time he walked. Baymax was designed by Tadashi for good, to literally help heal people’s wounds. But, some wounds can only be healed by friends.
Reluctantly, Hiro agrees to meet with Tadashi’s friends at the University. They are a motley crew of nerds that each bring something unique and inspiring to the script. Hiro initially isn’t that impressed, but once he bumps into Professor Callaghan (James Cromwell) who uses a bit of obvious reverse psychology on the kid . . . he’s hooked. Catch is, he has to compete for a spot in the University, there’s a design expo that Callaghan runs for prospective students. If he can blow him away there, he’ll be accepted into the University.
Of course, he relishes the challenge and creates something revolutionary that does indeed blow the audience away! He’s created micro-bots that interact with a headband that can create complete structures out of the tons of micro-bots . . . all controlled by the headband bearer’s imagination. People want those bots, including one pretentious businessman, Alistair Krei (Alyn Tudyk) who tries to snatch Hiro up before Professor Callaghan intervenes and explains Hiro wants no part of Krei.
And, then, something horrible happens, thanks Disney!
Hiro finds himself confronted with crippling grief, and he accidentally activates his brother’s bot, Baymax. Not wanting to play with Baymax, Hiro ignores his weird activity, but Hiro accidentally sends Baymax on a mission! Baymax is now trying to figure out why one of Hiro’s micro-bots wants to venture out. So, Baymax ventures out and discovers a masked villain has somehow stolen and mass-produced millions of micro-bots. Once Hiro and Baymax discover him, he tries to kill them. So, yea, he isn’t very nice!
As things progress, Hiro enlists the help of his brother’s friends from the University. They reminded me of a futuristic Mystery Inc. gang, sans the Great Dane. You’ll see what I mean, I think, once you see the Fred character. Still, they were more an homage, I think, than a direct attempt at being Mystery Inc. Plus, as they soon learn, they need to use all their skills and “powers” to defeat the masked maniac hell bent on destroying San Fransokyo.
Together they learn about teamwork, friendship, loyalty and sacrifice as they battle their way to the film’s conclusion.
The animation was perfect, as you would expect from flawless Disney, and we had to fight Downtown Disney traffic to see this one, and with me cussing in the parking lot for almost an hour looking for a space swearing “This film better be freakin’ worth this hassle!” I can tell you, it certainly was. It’s an imaginative look at our future, with a hopeful glance to what might come to be if we remember what is most important in life is helping others and being there for your friends. Sometimes our friends are the only family we’ve got.
Do yourself a favor this Fall, go see Big Hero 6 in theaters – and stay after the credits for a nice little treat.
