I’ve been waiting for Big Hero 6 since the early
sneak previews of the art. Admittedly, there was little more to my eagerness
than thinking the world looked great and that Hiro was an incredibly
cute-looking character. This was also the first time a Marvel property went through
the Disney filter, so I was curious to see how that turned out.
I was only familiar in passing with Big Hero 6...largely
because someone online had asked why Hiro Hamada wasn’t included in Reed
Richard’s Future Foundation – which I followed out of love for Alex Power. Not
that he came out of his membership of that little team very well. Anyway, I
read the comics, including the utterly terrible original run centred on the Silver
Samurai and Sunspot, and while there were a few cringe-inducing elements to the
depiction of Japanese people, I was glad the property at least existed. The
subsequent mini-serials were rather better, but the main problem was that Hiro was
simply not at all likeable.
Thus I was quite glad that Disney were clearly going
in a completely different direction, essentially retaining only the names of
major characters, plus Hiro being a child genius with a robotic manservant of
sorts named Baymax. But Disney’s Baymax is a very, very different Baymax – and that
is a blessing, and what makes this film.
The Disneyfied version is set in a hybrid world of Japano-American
fantasy, with the city of ‘San Fransokyo’. It’s a little bit of a shame that
they didn’t feel they could simply set the film in Tokyo , presumably because that
would make it less commercially viable in their home territory. But there’s
also a charm to the mixed aesthetic. In this technologically advanced city,
young Hiro is a bit of a rebel. He has great skill with technology, but uses it
to take part in illegal backstreet Robot Wars technological cock-fights.
As these are shady affairs, he gets in trouble, and it’s up to his gentle,
kind-hearted big brother Tadashi to save him. He gets some very abrupt
character development when he sees his brother’s research lab – including the cute
inflatable healthcare robot Baymax – and is inspired. He creates what are
essentially the cliche of what nanobots can do in sci-fi, only on a macro
scale, and impresses the scientific community.
However, at the event at which he is presenting
these, there is a catastrophic explosion. His brother goes into the burning
building to try to rescue his mentor, and doesn’t make it out. After a period
of mourning, Hiro’s one remaining mini robot tries to reunite with all the
others – leading him to realize that the explosion was no accident. It’s up to
Hiro, along with Baymax and Tadashi’s old workmates, to investigate.
There’s a lot in common with How to Train YourDragon here – including the young boy bonding with a large, powerful,
rather goofy non-human companion. And the film admirably manages to hit similar
emotional notes. Hiro experiences loss, determination, the dark desire for
revenge, and also the exhilaration of flight. The plot moves with just the
right amount of exposition, character development, action and resolution.
I do have some plot-related problems. The fact is
that the last thing Hiro should have learned from his brother is that someone
has to help the needy. In fact, Tadashi should have trusted his mentor could
look after himself rather than recklessly putting himself in danger. Then there’s
the fact that even though his actions likely make his daughter hate him, the
big winner is actually the bad guy – who without his dastardly plan would have
never been able to get his loved one back. So while he ended up looking sad in
the back of a police car, in fact crime paid for this villain – far beyond his
wildest hopes, as all he had sought was petty revenge.
I also have to confess I felt a bit manipulated by
the film’s emotional moments. Hiro is already a tragic orphan, but ends up
losing his brother too, and then a sacrifice must be made at the end, too –
even if perhaps not a lasting one. While Hiro is utterly adorable and I did
enjoy seeing him go through a wide range of emotions, at times the losses didn’t
ring true and it felt like artificial plucking of heart-strings. His transition
from rebel who looks down on ‘nerds’ to science buff also seemed a bit hollow.
Did he have no friends at all from his robot-fighting days? No links that
lasted into his later life at all? Really?
The tech was a bit much – Hiro’s invention in
particular should have revolutionised all science at once. It also rankled just
a little that Hiro doesn’t even think to mass-produce Baymaxes as, y’know, the
healthcare robot Tadashi intended him to be.
Ultimately, though, I loved the film – just not unreservedly.
It was utterly beautiful, especially the animation for water and sky and
various types of energy. Hiro was an endlessly loveable little guy, and Baymax’s
non-threatening personality was hilarious put into the various perilous
situations we saw. The twists were obvious but compelling, and the jokes were
genuinely funny. Disney is still in a very good place, and this is one of their
better films since embracing CG, very much worthy of Wreck-It Ralph (and
the little background references to old Disney films, like the Stitch cushions,
were a nice touch). Definitely one I’ll enjoy watching again.
I thought Big Hero 6 was a good movie, but to be honest, I didn't love it like, say, Frozen, or even Wreck-It Ralph. I had some of the same issues with it as you did, but also I wanted to see the side characters like Honey Lemon, Wasabi, and Gogo, get more screentime and development, and Hiro and Baymax, a little less (I know they're the main characters, but still). I still think it's a very consistently good movie, I just didn't feel like it excelled in anything or did things I haven't seen before in other similar movies. But I do think Baymax is a lovable character, and the mixed cultural setting and all the science gadgets were fun to watch =)
ReplyDeleteYeah, the other team members could definitely have done with more development. We knew very little about them by the end - except Fred, of course!
DeleteIt had big flaws but I found myself really enjoying it. Probably because I found Hiro so easy to like.