Review: BIG HERO 6

Back in 2014, Walt Disney Animation Studios was hot off their 2013 mega-hit Frozen, a film so huge that it is still fresh inside our heads today. So there was a lot of curiosity surrounding the next film from the famed animated studio entitled Big Hero 6. The film is loosely based around a little-known Marvel comic that debuted in 1998, but not even massive Marvel comics fan were that familiar with the characters.

Sometimes taking a lot of liberties with your source material can go south extremely fast, but often times it can benefit big time. That’s the case with Big Hero 6. The film follows 14-year-old child prodigy Hiro Hamada (voiced by Titans star Ryan Potter) who after suffering a personal tragedy befriends his older brother’s nursing robot called Baymax (voiced by 30 Rock’s Scott Adsit) and attempts to turn the cute marshmallow-like robot into a crime-fighting hero. The two, along with Hiro’s friends, team up and decide to become a team of superheroes.

Big Hero 6 is easily up there with Zootopia as my favorite film of the ‘Disney Revival Era.’ Everything from it’s groundbreaking and gorgeous animation; it’s creativity, the vocal performances, and the way it tackles mature themes such as loss, works incredibly well. I find that there’s much more rewatch value here than there is in say Frozen or Wreck-It Ralph. I would go as far as to say that among the animated superhero films Big Hero 6 comes very close to the greatness of the first Incredibles and is superior to the sequel as well.

Another thing that I admire about the film is that it’s more than just an animated superhero film, it’s dealings with tragedy feel very mature, and it is not afraid of holding back on providing emotional and heartfelt moments. There is undoubtedly a lot of humor to be found in the film too, especially from Baymax who steals the entire movie. Plus the film features one of the greatest cameos from the late great Stan Lee.

As much as I love Big Hero 6, I will admit that it is certainly not perfect, it does follow a lot of the typical conventions that most superhero movies and animated films especially in the third act with its villain reveal and of course a portal descending from the sky.

Overall, Big Hero 6 is a terrific film and one of the best-animated superhero films out there. It may not follow it’s source material, but that doesn’t really matter with what the film is trying to be.