Review: “Big Hero 6” Provides Laughs, Tears & Action

Big Hero 6 opens today, with an accompanying short, Feast. Big Hero 6 is hilarious at times, sad sometimes, and includes quite a bit of action. But it was a little dog named Winston in Feast that completely stole our hearts.

Here is our review of both, with not many spoilers.

Feast is told from the view of Winston. His owner showers love on him with food – all kinds of food, and Winston radiates joy at every bite. But soon, a woman enters their life, and the food isn’t as satisfying as it once was. I won’t give away too much, but in the end, Winston discovers it isn’t the food that is the source of love, and he helps bring a happy ending.  This is one of my favorite Disney shorts of all time, and I expect many dogs to be named Winston this winter.

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Big Hero 6 is a Disney film from an obscure Marvel comic. The film is set in “San Fransoyko”, a mash-up of San Francisco and Tokyo – complete with cherry blossoms and cable cars. Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) is talented at building robots, but spends his evenings “bot fighting”, hustling other robot fighters for their money. He’s young but easily outwits others in the contests, which puts his safety on the line. Hiro’s parents died when he was young, and his Aunt Cass (who clearly isn’t paying too much attention to his whereabouts) has brought him up.

Older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) saves Hamada in more ways than one. Opening Hiro’s eyes to the “nerd college” robotics university, Tadashi tells 14 year old Hiro that he could attend if he came up with a solid project. Hiro designs micro-bots, which are a big hit at the presentation, and is invited to the robotics college. But tragedy befalls Hiro, who loses his brother – and his project – in one night. Hiro’s grief is almost unbearable, with robotics being the last thing on his mind.

Tadashi had been building his own robot, one that serves health needs. This large, doughy robot soon becomes Hiro’s protector, as Tadashi’s friends (Honey Lemon, Fred, Go Go and Wasabi) provide Hiro with much-needed support, expecially has Hiro begins realizing the truth about what happened. But in this case, the obvious isn’t quite as obvious as it seemed to begin with.

Hiro and his friends set off to find out what happened to Tadashi. It turns out to be much more dangerous than any of them realized at the outset, and their lives are on the line more than once.

Baymax provides the heart of the film, offering a lot of comic relief along with wisdom that clearly came from Tadashi. He is more than a robot, but a friend to Hiro. And Baymax lets Hiro know that Tadashi is always with him.

There is quite a bit of action in Big Hero 6 that I found very unnecessary. The film runs 102 minutes, but a few minutes could have been trimmed to tighten it up. I found myself drifting away from the film during these extended sequences. I’d also have liked to have seen the characters of Honey Lemon, Fred, Go Go and Wasabi fleshed out just a little more.

Big Hero 6 has a few dark scenes, but is overall a film for the entire family to enjoy.  Big Hero 6 is rated PG.

Stay past the credits for a fun animated cameo!

Mousesteps Review for Feast: A+

Mousesteps Review for Big Hero 6: B+

Here is our interview with director Don Hall last year at the D23 Expo: