Movie Review: Big Hero 6

Movie+Review%3A+Big+Hero+6

Big Hero 6 is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated superhero comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. It is the 54th film in the Walt Disney Animated Classics series, and is inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name. Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams, the film tells the story of a young robotics prodigy named, Hiro Hamada who forms a superhero team to combat a masked villain. The film features the voices of Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Daniel Henney, T. J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans, Jr., and Génesis Rodríguez.

Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated film to feature Marvel Comics characters; whose parent company was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2009. Walt Disney Animation Studios created new software technology to produce the film’s animated visuals.

Big Hero 6 premiered at the Tokyo International Film Festival on October 23, 2014 and at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival in 3D on October 31, 2014. It was theatrically released in the United States on November 7, 2014, and received critical acclaim.

Hiro Hamada is a 14-year-old robotics genius who lives in the futuristic city of San Fransokyo and spends his time participating in back-alley robot fights. His older brother Tadashi, worried that Hiro is wasting his potential, takes him to the robotics lab at his university, where Hiro meets Tadashi’s friends, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred as well as Baymax, a personal healthcare robot Tadashi created. Amazed, Hiro decides to apply to the school. He presents his project microbots, swarms of tiny robots that can link together in any arrangement imaginable at an annual exhibition to gain admission. Professor Callaghan, head of the program, is impressed, and Hiro gets in. When a fire breaks out at the university, Tadashi rushes in to rescue Callaghan, but the building explodes and both are killed. As a result of losing his brother, Hiro secludes himself from others.

One day, Hiro accidentally activates Baymax, who follows one of his microbots to an abandoned warehouse. There, the two discover that someone has been mass-producing Hiro’s bots; they are attacked by a masked man called Yokai, who is controlling the bots. Realizing this man has stolen his project, Hiro decides to catch him, and upgrades Baymax with armor and a battle chip. After Yokai attacks Hiro, Baymax, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon and Fred, the six form a superhero team.

The group discovers a former lab of Krei Tech, a prestigious robotics company ,that was experimenting with teleportation technology. The test went awry when the human test pilot vanished inside an unstable portal. Yokai is revealed to be Professor Callaghan, who stole Hiro’s bots and used them to escape the fire. Realizing that Tadashi died in vain, Hiro angrily removes Baymax’s healthcare chip, leaving him with only the battle chip, and orders him to kill Callaghan. Baymax almost does so until Honey manages to insert the healthcare chip back in, restoring the robot. Angry at his friends, Hiro goes home, and breaks down when Baymax asks him if killing Callaghan will make him feel better. To soften Hiro’s loss, Baymax plays humorous clips of Tadashi running tests on him during Baymax’s development. Hiro realizes that killing people is not what Tadashi would’ve wanted and makes amends with his friends.

The group discovers that the test pilot was Callaghan’s daughter Abigail; Callaghan is seeking revenge on Alistair Krei, the president of Krei Tech, whom he blames for his daughter’s death. The team destroys the microbots, but the portal remains active. Baymax detects a still-alive Abigail, and he and Hiro rush in to save her. On their way out, Baymax’s armor is damaged and he realizes the only way to save Hiro and Abigail is to propel them through with his rocket fist. Hiro refuses to leave him, but Baymax insists until Hiro tearfully gives in. Hiro and Abigail make it back, while Callaghan is arrested.

Sometime later, as Hiro is finally moving on, he discovers Baymax’s healthcare chip (that contains his entire personality) clenched in his rocket fist. Delighted, he rebuilds Baymax and they happily reunite. The six friends continue their exploits through the city, fulfilling Tadashi’s dream of helping those in need.