a solid Disney-Marvel-Anime hybrid, if less than masterful

Rating: 7/10 (4 April 2015)

Big Hero 6 provides what you'd want in a movie as a kid, and maybe as an adult depending on how in touch you are with your inner-kid. Especially if you have a sibling (brother more specifically) the film's core relationship between Hiro and his older brother - it's not something that we see throughout, due to the first major turning point in the film, but the memory certainly remains strong - it will resonate. But the movie is only intermittently interested in pulling at your heartstrings; it's ultimately about suiting up, getting on the gadgets, and putting together a team. So the film is a lot of things in one - not to mention having an instantly adorable (i.e. lucrative) mascot at the center with Baymax.
By saying that it has "what you'd want" in a movie, I don't just mean super-heroes in the Marvel tradition (though it doesn't have the Marvel banner, this is based on a Marvel title, albeit an obscure-ish one), but anime as well. Many of the story turns, including the ones that are rather startling and the tonal shifts from lightness to tragedy and then swiftly back to lightness and action and thrills, it's like what I might expect to see from Japan directly. Which, of course, is part of the source itself, and the fact that the city is called 'San-FrancTokyo' (ho-ho) and the film has primarily Asian characters - whether they're all played by Asians is another story, but I digress.
I can't be too hard on a film that is just out to sheerlessly entertain the audience like this. It does have some points on the nature of grief and what happens when people are faced with losing someone who can't come back (... or can they?) I think it could've been even better, possibly great, if it had a bit of a better balance on the dark and the light sides of the film. Ultimately, I felt, the tragic parts came when they had to, and outside of that Big Hero 6 is essentially a Fun Ride Of A Movie (in caps), primarily led by a Doctor-cum-Fighting robot in Baymax, and some other supporting characters who are fine, no more no less. Just fine.
But maybe Baymax is enough, and certainly, more often than not, this is a very funny movie. He has the entertainment value of the Genie in Aladdin - like in that film, he's the friendly BIG companion who can help save the day for the protagonist - except instead of the thousands of impressions of Williams, it's the exact opposite that makes him appealing: one personality, pretty straightforward, and the dead-pan nature is closer to, oh I don't know, Jeff Bridges in Starman. He's the perfect innocuous character, but is hilarious for the reasons of reaction and straight silliness.
It should also be noted the last act, the climax, has its predictable points - like most (or almost all) superhero movies, i.e. from Marvel, it has to all build up to a gigantic Must-Save-the-City from impending gargantuan destruction, involving space as well. And a turn from a character kind of comes out of nowhere, which is fine except that the development is kind of off to suddenly be the "villain". However, again, akin to anime, so I can let it slide and still be sucked into the peril of the thing (I mean, hey, they can't all be The Incredibles).
For what it's worth though, there's so much to enjoy with this film that I'm sure if I was younger I'd eat it up with a spoon and want seconds-thirds-fourths-etc. It's an insatiably pleasant film to experience, faults and all. 7.5/10