November 07, 2014
Cast: Voices of Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, TJ Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans Jr, James Cromwell, Maya Rudolph
Directors: Don Hall & Chris Williams
It’s virtually impossible to resist the charm of Big Hero 6, the new film from Walt Disney Animation Studios, at whose center is the touching relationship between a young boy and an oversized inflatable robot.
13-year-old tech genius Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter) comes in possession of his inventor brother’s balloon-shaped robot when the older sibling is killed in an accident. Determined to deliver justice to the culprit behind his brother’s death, Hiro decides to upgrade Baymax, this mild-mannered droid, into a crime-fighting ninja.
Based on a short-lived Marvel Comics series, the film, set in the highly stylized make-believe city San Fransokyo, is a nice cocktail of big-ticket action sequences, funny lines, and a feel-good story about friendship, sacrifice and doing the right thing. Directors Don Hall and Chris Williams skillfully mix varying genres and visual styles to give us a movie that appeals to both the heart and the eye.
Hiro finds supportive allies in four of his brother’s friends, each of whom he gives a nifty superhero makeover, creating an Avengers-like ensemble to snare the bad guy. They’re a crazy, eccentric bunch of characters that infuse some snazzy action into the crowded plot. But it’s Baymax, the chip-and-coding robot ironically, that is the film’s big beating heart. Like Wall-E he’s lovable despite being practically expressionless, and the symbol of humanity and sensitivity in a futuristic world of cool gadgets and shiny skyscrapers.
I’m going with three-and-a-half out of five for Big Hero 6. You’ll be chuckling throughout, and 95 minutes will fly by.
(This interview first aired on CNN-IBN)