Amusing, often quaint, animation pitched at youngsters & superhero fans.

Rating: 6/10 (12 March 2019)

"Big Hero 6" is somewhat of a departure from form for Disney - the crisp animation; amusing characters and rapid-fire narrative are all there, but it just doesn't 'feel' like the usual fare from the famous animation studio who are perhaps more synonymous with magical lands; ugly, ruthless villains; muscular heroes; beautiful princesses and mythical adventure stories. This is Disney attempting to branch off into superhero territory - an attempt at placing each of their eggs into a basket which is squared solely at the adolescent demographic rather than the family unit of mum and dad, brother and sister.
It's difficult to put here that the film is a failure - I liked its twists and turns where, villain and would-be villain are cleverly transposed; I thought it executed its tonal shifts between action-driven fun; horror and depicting the grieving process really well, but there was something missing from it to have me think it was better than pretty good.
Principally, the film's actually rather cryptic title (don't worry, it isn't a sequel - there aren't 5 other entries to see before this one!) alludes to its protagonist, who is named Hiro. Hiro is a boy-genius on the mathematical/engineering level who lives with his brother and aunt above her donut shop in a future-set city which is a (reasonably) clever amalgamation of San Francisco and Tokyo. At least, it has something resembling a Chinatown district and that huge red bridge we'd all recognise in a flash if it was shown to us.
A master builder and inventor, Hiro is squandering his talents in constructing inconspicuous-looking robots for a kind of miniature robot themed 'fight-club' among the grimy backstreets of his post-modern home city. Said practice is illegal, yet he persists - a kind of automatronic Eddie Felson amongst a sea of other lowlifes and gamblers who keeps winning big off the back of a boyish grin; innocent voice and some po-faced enthusiasm which has his opponents think they can win easily.
One night, he and everyone else are busted after a raid - his brother Tadashi, another scientist and inventor, reiterates that he is on thin ice. Hiro, despite possessing an obvious talent, is sniffy about it - indifferent as to following in his brother's footsteps in studying at the local university. The film provides him with one other defining characteristic: that his parents died in an off-screen accident - usually a sign that an adolescent in a film needs only one more push to completely topple over the edge.
Disaster strikes when, at an open evening at said university, a fire engulfs all within its vicinity and claims the life of Hiro's brother - just as Hiro was beginning to realise what a fantastic thing it might be to study there. In order to infer just how much of an impact Hiro might have, the film has him provide a Steve Jobs-like presentation on a recent invention he concocted: millions of tiny building blocks which will forge themselves to whatever neuro-command you provide them with - something resembling what Carrie White might have been able to do with Lego. All might not be as it seems, though, when the one remaining robotic block Hiro possesses seems to want to join its brothers, despite the rest of them apparently having gone up in flames. This pushes Hiro out of his depression and onto his quest to find out if all is as it seems...
Hiro is chiefly helped in his quest to discover the truth behind the fire; his brother's death and where his place is in life by a large white robot named Baymax, which was his brother's invention designed as a first aid response to medical emergencies when cries of pain are detected. In spite of being made for this purpose, the robot is somewhat cumbersome - moving slowly to shift a chair out of the way when we first see him activated, despite under the impression somebody is in need of urgent help. As a supporting character, his monosyllabic putdowns and statements at the most heightened of times are genuinely amusing; meanwhile off screen, he is no doubt shipping tens of thousands of action figures and plush toys.
Where B-Max is responsible for the most important line of dialogue in the film, that of when he asks Hiro if "...eliminating {the villain} will improve your well-being", Hiro's other supporting acts in the form of a motley crew of young students from the university exist for less substantial reasons - forming a superhero troupe off the back of learning of Hiro's discoveries and leaping into action in a manner that seems to want to be subversive of the genre, but actually ends up being a little tacked-on.
The film seems desperate to tuck into the substance behind the approaching fourth industrial revolution, dealing in the process with the co-existence of man and machine and what this signifies for the next generation as one potentially replaces the other. We witness Baymax, an otherwise passive entity enslaved to whatever programming he possesses, used to both help and harm, but nothing especially leaps out at you on the issue. I like how the film seems to encourage aspiration - going to university is construed as a good thing, not to mention the film seems to promote creative thought and imparts a number of positive messages along these lines to youngsters. The film is, however, largely a chaotic blur of colour; quips and spectacle - one that few will find particularly amusing.