Just a quickie today, I'm afraid, as I don't have any notes for this one. I'd been meaning to watch it sooner or later, but then yesterday came around and I needed enjoyable background noise while I focused on a marathon session making polymer clay charms.
As it turns out, however, Big Hero 6 is absolutely lousy background noise. Instead, I found myself glued to the screen, savouring every second of what has to be my favourite animated feature in years. I have no idea what they're putting in the coffee at Disney right now, but it's making me seriously rethink a bunch of my prejudices. Here, they present us with a sweet, humane story and some of the most irresistible superhero characters since Robert Downey Junior sent himself to the canning plant.
Our protagonist is Hiro, which might be a clever name if Neal Stephenson hadn't been there and done that decades ago. He's a 14-year-old genius with a talent for robotics, and we first encounter him sharking for money at the illegal bot-fighting pits of San Fransokyo. Things turn nasty, of course, as they were bound to, and he only escapes thanks to elder brother Tadashi. Not keen to repeat the experience, Tadashi attempts to distract Hiro by showing him the lab at his exclusive college, where he meets fellow science brains Go Go, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and mascot Fred. He also meets Baymax, Tadashi's current work in progress, a squashy vinyl robot nurse.
Fired up with enthusiasm, Hiro sets about creating a project to gain him entry onto Tadashi's course. He's successful, too, blowing the admissions tutor away and having to fend off the attentions of notorious tech capitalist Alistair Krei. Just when all seems to be going well, however, tragedy strikes, leaving Tadashi dead and Hiro in a deep depression. Only Baymax, with his pre-programmed empathy and childlike literalism, is able to help Hiro reconnect with his friends and deal with an enemy that comes from the unlikeliest of sources.
Let's be frank here: this one looks, sounds, and plays like a dream, everything coming together in one beautiful moment to create the sort of film that reminds me of why superheroes have always been my first and deepest cinematic love. It's just the little things, like the hero team having more than one female member and the black dude being the prissy uptight one of the bunch. None of the characters are saddled with the burden of having to be a walking cliche, which is frankly no small feat in such an ensemble piece. I was besotted by the hopelessly girly chemist Honey Lemon, and I'd bet everything I own that you'll find a favourite to fall in love with, too.
As for the narrative arc? Arguably it's nothing terribly new, with the usual mystery adversary and a handful of fairly predictable twists and turns, but it's all handled with real humanity and, importantly, without ladling on too much sentiment. There's a lot of positive messages about letting go of the past and trusting your friends, but they never take precedence over the prevailing comic book aesthetic.
Even if you think you're allergic to Disney, you really want to give this one a shot. Trust me, you won't regret it.
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