Big Hero 6 (2015) [Review]

The special bond that develops between plus-sized inflatable robot Baymax, and prodigy Hiro Hamada, who team up with a group of friends to form a band of high-tech heroes.

I try and save watching animated films until hangover days or weekends, for obvious reasons watching an inflatable robot make an ass of himself or a bunch of penguins go on a mission is easier to stomach than some obscure Korean thriller. Putting off watching Big Hero 6 was no easy task though, from the creators of Wreck It Ralph, this film has absolutely smashed it. To quote wikipedia, it has grossed over $604 million in worldwide box office; it won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature and received nominations for the Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and the BAFTA Award for Best Animated Film. Now while I was a little annoyed at the Lego Academy Award snub, my annoyance has been displaced by a huge grin after watching Big Hero 6.

Born out of a small unheard of comic book owned by Marvel, there is enough of Disney and Pixar in here to like, but there is an element that thinks they are simply cashing in on the superhero hype. Regardless, there is a certain likability about an inflatable robot nurse who delivers inadvertent comical one-liners with unknowing bluntness, and has the slapstick comedy elements dialled up to the max. It is this loveable hero of the film, Baymax, that provides the perfect balance of lighthearted fun alongside futuristic action-adventure which really allows the film to shine. Without Baymax, we are left with a really good looking film, but one that brings nothing new to the table.

Thankfully, his big emotionless face is there, and he is funny.

Graphically, it is up there with the likes of Up, Bolt, Monsters Inc and The Incredibles. Sharp, crisp, creative, colourful and vibrant, it is everything you expect it to be and more. The impeccably detailed world has plenty to catch the eye, and maintain the attention span of most age groups. It provides a perfect canvas to tell the story, one that is rife with all the expected Disney features as its main characters deal with the very human, emotional challenges in what appears to us as a very non-human, unfamiliar world.

In the final third it falls victim to the superhero mess, and results in a sea of explosions and fighting.  It is here it loses all of the emotion, all of the humour, all of its momentum and becomes solely focussed on providing us with an explosive finale the type of which I couldn’t care less about. However, perhaps it was that I was still drunk, or that I was still giggling away from some of Baymax’s one-liners, but I can’t hold that against a film with this much heart. It is a really solid outing from Disney, with a great story to tell – refreshingly simple yet with so much more to it. Much like Baymax’s face.