Wednesday 28 January 2015

Big Hero 6 Review



San Fransokyo teen Hiro uses his technical wizardry to hustle his way to winning in illegal robot fighting matches. His brother Tadashi recognises Hiro’s genius for robot building and encourages him to take up a place at the ‘geek school’ for tech whizzes where Tadashi has built huggable big nurse ‘bot Baymax. When a tragedy befalls Hiro’s family, he must band together with Baymax and other allies from the school to take on a mysterious masked figure who is using Hiro’s microbot invention for his own nefarious purposes.

This Marvel-Disney mash-up looked insufferable from the brightly coloured and barely coherent trailer so it is a pleasure to report that Big Hero 6 is a surprisingly heartfelt and exciting family movie. Baymax might look designed to simply sell a shed load of merchandise, but he is actually the film’s true wild card. While the rest of the characters pass by in a blur of colourful enthusiasm, but will linger as long in the memory as the flavour of bubblegum lasts, Baymax really is a keeper. It is amazing how much the big ‘bot manages to swipe your heart away, even if many of the best moments are half swiped and rejigged  from the poignant moments between the young John Connor and his robot pal, the T-800 in Terminator 2.


Nevertheless, it may not be hugely original but Big Hero 6 is the most exciting animated action film since The Incredibles. When Hiro and his team face off against the villain, the stakes are high, but more importantly the idea of revenge makes Hiro himself into the most riveting character on screen. There are huge set-pieces, some decent laughs, but the best thing about Big Hero 6 is the ultimate question of whether Hiro will really be a hero or if his thirst for revenge will get the better of him.

Most impressive is the fact that Big Hero 6 balances its origin story perfectly with the introduction of its super-villain. There might be some awkward exposition to begin with, but its snappy enough that the story pieces together like a well constructed robot with a heart as big as Baymax’s. 

Watch the trailer:



More recent reviews:
Wild
Whiplash
Testament of Youth
The Theory of Everything
Into the Woods
American Sniper

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