Theatrical Reviews: Big Hero 6

They just keep coming. . .

Super heroes are every where.  They’re at Wal-mart, they’re in your homes and they’re especially prevalent in your local cinema.  Every time I say to myself, “Maybe it’ll be a while before another hero flick comes out,” another one magically appears in theaters as if it was custom designed to annoy me specifically.  I am going trough some hardcore Marvel and super hero fatigue, and have been sense 2009, so if you’re looking for a review of Big Hero Six from someone whose opinion is objective; go elsewhere.

And to clarify:  Big Hero Six is not a Disney movie, it’s a Marvel movie.  Yes it technically flies under the Disney banner, and its visual style is similar to recent Disney animation productions like Frozen, but that’s pretty much where the similarities stop.  Big Hero Six is essentially a revenge thriller about a teenage boy who wants to kill the man who inadvertently killed a relative of his.  You may recognize this plot as the plot of every other super-hero origin movie that you’ve seen; it’s safe to say that Big Hero Six has a lot more in common with Spider-Man then Wreck-it-Ralph.

It’s paint by the numbers super-hero origin, but not a terrible one.  One of the things that’s most frustrating about the modern super-hero genre is that most of the movies in it are of surprisingly equal quality, and Big Hero Six is no exception.  Disney animations take on these Marvel heros is pretty much just as good as Iron Man or Spider-Man, and for many of the exact same reasons.

Here in lies the problem.  Big Hero Six may be a good movie; it might even be a great one.  But it’s a quality movie that is, for the most part, a remake of a movie that is being remade three to seven times every year.  The super-hero origin story has been done to death, and I’m simply sick of seeing this plot pan out in the same way time and time again.  I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again:  I will probably like these Super-hero movies a lot more a couple of decades from now when they have been replaced by something else.  They seem like they’d work much better as nostalgic guilty pleasures than as modern pop-culture phenomenon.

That said, if your not like me, if you san enjoy each and every super-hero movie as if it was a totally original piece of art, then you’ll probably enjoy this move fine.  I admit that the super-hero origin story is a genre that’s not going anywhere anytime soon, and that Big Hero Six is just about as harmless as an entry into the genre can get.  Super-hero hating aside; Big Hero Six is a pretty fun movie to watch, and is probably worth seeing.  It definitely doesn’t deserve all the praise it’s getting, but it’s still a fun movie to watch.

The robot character may be the saving grace of this movie as a whole.  The cuddly robo-fighter Baymax definitely surpasses Olaf from Frozen on the cute-ometer, and may even sell just as many plushies.  His character can be described a somewhere between Whinnie-the-Pooh and E.T. and he’s just a lovable as that implies.  He has most of the legitimately funny and heartwarming moments in the film, and Big Hero Six would probably be totally worthless and forgettable without him.

With a big funny lovable character who speaks little (like Groot from Guardians of the Galaxy,) Teenagers looking for revenge (like Spider-man) and a team of unique heroes who have to work together (like The Avengers,) Big Hero Six is hardly an original film.  Yet I think I would recommend it to most people.  Do you like Super-heroes?  Do you like animation?  Do you like Disney?  Do you have kids?  If you said yes to any of those questions, you should definitely give Big Hero 6 a watch.

Thanks for reading!  If you need a sixth member for your elite super-hero team then I would be happy to oblige.  If you have any questions or submissions feel free to email me at atcheyosaurus@gmail.com.  Come back in a few days for more fantastic movie reviews!