Wednesday 21 January 2015

Review: Big Hero 6

2014 Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Jamie Chung

Big hero 6 started life as comic book produced by marvel in the late 90s, Disney (who now own Marvel) have adapted and tweaked the comic for a wider audience and the silver screen. They did a pretty good job of it too!

The film centres around a young boy genius Hiro and his older brother Tadashi. Hiro use his talents to build fighting robots whereas his brother studies advanced robotics at a prestigious university.
After paying a visit to the university Hiro decides he needs to be there, despite his young age! The two brothers collaborate on a science project to wow the university and gain Hiro's entrance. The brother's manage to invent 'microbots' which are able to work together to build themselves into almost any shape. Hiro takes first place in the competition and is swiftly accepted by the university. His happiness however, is short lived when a mysterious and sudden fire erupts inside the university and older brother Tadashi is tragically killed after trying to rescue the University's professor.
It is here we are properly introduced to the star of the film - Baymax! Baymax is a Michelin man looking medical robot designed by Tadashi. After some really laugh out loud scenes of the 2 figuring each other out, they discover hiro's microbots are still active and set out to find them. What they find however is a sinister laboratory guarded by a masked villain using the stolen Microbots as a weapon! Hiro comes to the conclusion that the masked thief must also be responsible for the University and ultimately the death of his brother. The Big Hero 6 are swiftyl assembled Composed of Hiro, Baymax and a rag tag bunch of Tadashi's Uni friends!

I simply cannot write this review without mentioning the beautiful city of San Fransokyo, Disney did an amazing job of blending traditional Japanese architecture with the quirky and chilled out vibe of San Francisco's streets. Everywhere the heroes went you were treated to huge sweeping shots of bridges, bustling streets and neon skyscrapers. The attention to detail was second to none! The background entertainment had some real hidden gems for the observant and you will need to see the film more than once to be able to take it all in. (Look out for a cat in Iron Man armour!)
The story itself was fairly run of the mill, good vs evil with the odd curve ball thrown in for effect. The emotion was really present in Big hero 6 despite it's simplicity, this is a tale about brotherhood, friendship, injustice and mainly loss. These may sound like pretty heavy topics for a child friendly film but they were handled with care and finesse. Putting a positive spin on things and injecting humour carefully where it was needed. Disney delivered one of it's most powerful emotional scenes to date in this film and I was determined not to cry!

The characters in Big hero 6 were fairly cliche, but they were all likeable. We weren't treated to much back story on them other than 'this is the tough chick' or this is the funny one' but they worked well bouncing witty and funny dialogue off each other till the credits rolled. Talking of laughing I did alot of it during Big hero 6, almost the the first 40 minutes were spent in giggle fits! When the team were suited up the special powers contained within ranged from clever to downright ridiculous, Ill let you decide which is the latter! I think besides Hiro, Gogo Tomago was my favourite character with her punk rock attitude and futuristic rollerblades!

The pacing of the story felt spot on, never a dull moment and the beginning middle and final battle ending were all where you expected them to be. I suppose running time could have been extended to account for more character development but I didn't feel it was essential. Big Hero 6 had me smiling, laughing almost weeping but above all it proved innocent and fun storytelling is alive and well.
A fantastic film to start the year with!

The Verdict

Disney did it again and have crafted another brilliantly detailed, hilarious, and heart felt tale!
Big Hero 6 hits all the right notes with it's thrilling action, a beautiful setting and easy-to-relate to characters. It could have benefited from slightly more character development where side characters are concerned, but you will be too busy staring open mouthed at the gorgeous visuals and intense action to really give it much thought. A grand time to be had by all!

4/5



3 comments:

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  3. 1. Favorite band?
    Tonight Alive

    2. Where do you live?
    Cheslyn Hay, THE dullest village ever haha!

    3. Why do you blog?
    Its a great way to release all the feelings I have about film and cinema and also to share them with like minded individuals.

    4. Top 3 favourite TV series?
    Kim Possible
    CSI Miami
    The IT Crowd

    5. Celeb crush?
    Sandra Bullock

    6. What is your favorite color?
    Teal
    7. Dream holiday destination?
    Tokyo a gogo baby yeeeah!

    8. Last film you watched?
    Chappie, it was brilliant!

    9. Tea or coffee?
    Tea, i am allergic to coffee.

    10. Favourite chocolate bar?
    Bounty

    11. Favourite book
    Difficult one, The Hobbit or Koko Takes a Holiday.

    ReplyDelete