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Monday, April 13, 2015

Big Hero 6 Review

From Disney Animation, the studio that brought us Frozen and Wreck-It Ralph, comes Big Hero 6, the Oscar Winning film that is an adaptation of a Marvel comic book.

Big Hero 6 follows 14-year-old robotics genius Hiro Hamada, who, after certain events, which are inexplicably spoiled in the trailer, forms a team and uses their intellect to build super powered suits to battle the antagonist. 

Note: If you have no interest in the comic book differences and Japanese influences, skip to the next part of the review. 

Despite having not read a Big Hero 6 comic, I read a lot about the comic and how the film changes many aspects. Obviously, the comic is not a kid's comic; therefore, the film changed virtually everything to make it family friendly film. Knowing that the film would be entirely different, the alternation of the source material is not an issue for me, aside from the general flaws with the film. 

One difference is that the comic is set in Japan with mostly Japanese characters. The film is set in a hybrid of San Francisco and Tokyo, San Fransokyo that blends a few stylistic elements of Japan into the visuals, specifically the architecture. Unfortunately, the similarities to Japanese culture end there with only an occasional reference to Japan. If you somehow do not already know, I am a Japanese anime enthusiast, and I have a layman's knowledge of the culture from various sources, so I would say that about 10% of the film's visual aesthetic is influenced by Japan with the rest being the typical Disney flick. The character designs are do have a slight anime style, although, so did Frozen, which makes sense since Disney's early animation is the reason for anime's visual style.

Directed by: Don Hall, Chris Williams
Genre: Animation, Comedy, Adventure, Comic Book, Sci-Fi,
Release Date: November 7, 2014
Running Time: 102 minutes
MMPA rating: PG

The Good: Expectedly high quality animation, Brother relationship, Baymax is genuinely likable and hilarious,

The Bad: Cop-out ending, Predictable, Clichéd 3rd Act,

Plot: 4.4/10- The overall plot follows a familiar family film narrative structure with certain events that set the main character on their journey and a resolution that completely cops-out on the point of the film (more on that later). You could say that I am being too hard on it since it is, after all, a film intended for children and families. My rebuttable is that I am tired of giving a film a pass for being a family flick; however, if you are only interested in entertaining your kids, then yes, this is a great pick. With that out of the way, let's actually critique the film.

The first hour or so is where the film is at its best with it focusing more on the events that lead Hiro to form his team. The plot of those sections might not be anything special, but it is well paced and entertaining. During this first hour, I was enjoying it, and hoped that it would continue this above average story to the end...

Unfortunately, as with most family flicks, the plot goes for the predictable route in the final act. We have seen this final act in nearly every family film: the characters come together and confront the antagonist. *Possible Spoiler* The ending itself starts as something unexpected, but of course, it takes the happy ending route after trying to fake you out. It is far from a bad ending, but rather an issue with family films in general. *End Spoiler*

Old comic books are generally "family friendly" by today's standards, at least Marvel’s, so why couldn't the writers draw from those comics, not necessarily Big Hero 6, to create a story that is different? I only watch the best and most popular new family films, and it is the exact same thing that I have seen so many times.

Characterization: 7.3/10- Hiro Hamada is a typical, albeit likable, boy genius archetype. The only standout aspect of the characters is his relationship with his brother Tadashi. The bond, which is only featured briefly in the 1st Act, is the best aspect of the film. Unfortunately, there is not nearly enough of it.
Baymax is the star of the film; no question. He is a ton of fun to watch, and the character's antics are genuinely funny.
The rest of the team are all generic and forgettable. None of the characters stand out for being anything other than goofy. The antagonist is typical and his motives are nothing original.

Acting: 7.0/10- The entire cast is as good as to be expected with no standout performances.

Animation: 8.5/10- Disney Animation continues to deliver high quality work with their 3D animation. The visuals for the powers are the most impressive in the film, and the slight eastern aesthetic is always welcome, albeit underused.

Soundtrack: 7.5/10- Henry Jackman's score is fittingly heroic with many fun tracks.

Humor: 7.8/10- For an animated family flick, the humor is above-average. However, aside from Baymax's scenes, the jokes do not really work.

Entertainment Value: 7.7/10- Big Hero 6 is an overall enjoyable experience, although not one that I am interested to see again for a long time.

Overall: 6.7/10- With its exciting visuals and just enough heart to be worthwhile, Big Hero 6 is a fun film for the whole family, despite falling into the same clichés that we have seen so many times in the past.

Closing comments: Good job to the guys who chose Big Hero 6 over the Lego Movie for the Academy Awards; you really screwed it up!

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9 comments:

  1. Great review! :) I agree, the movie was decent but it wasn't as good as it was made out to me to be. Baymax was definitely the highlight for me, since he was so funny and cute and cool (I also really liked the song by Fall Out Boy that was used).
    It's a good movie for kids but wasn't as good as I was hoping it would be (which is a shame, since it had some things that could have made it great).

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    1. Thank you. :) I know; the movie had potential, but did not live up to it.

      -James

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  2. I totally agree James. Just because it's a family movie doesn't give it a free ride to be so lazy and cliched and senseless! It did look good, and had some good humor with Baymax, and I liked the Hiro/Tadashi brotherly relationship too, but the plot really let it all down majorly. The Lego Movie know how to do it right! Great review!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you, I am glad someone else agrees! We are in complete agreement on this one. Thanks!

      -James

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  3. Dang, I really thought you would like this one quite a bit. I found it pretty fantastic all the way through, but I do totally agree with you that Lego Movie deserved top honors last year.

    Either way, good review James!

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    Replies
    1. I wanted to like the movie so much, but it really just let me down. Thanks Jordan!

      -James

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  4. You know this may be your opinion James. I don't care if the movie is too clichéd but if you come to some senses that Big Hero 6 is a more watchable equivalent to Frozen. You might know it is better than the other movie.

    Anyway, Rad Dingo out!

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    Replies
    1. I am not entirely sure what you are trying to say, but if you are saying that Big Hero 6 is better than Frozen then I completely agree.

      -James

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  5. I agree with your review! Family films shouldn't have lazy story telling excused. Kids are intelligent; although my younger brother really enjoyed Big Hero 6, at age eight he can already distinguish between "ok" animated movies and "good" animated movies. He's marked Studio Ghibli as the superior studio even though he still enjoys Disney and Dreamworks a lot.

    I was definitely disappointed in Big Hero 6 because didn't really feel like a superhero movie. As you already pointed out, the plot was nothing new, the villain was bland, and most of the secondary characters were pretty poor as well. While the animation was gorgeous, Disney wasted some good source material on a pretty familiar story. That's a shame.

    But hey, if they can make a fortune out of shoddy story-telling and characters anyway, then why should they harder? XD

    ~Jamie

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