Disney animates Marvel with great, beautiful action

Rating: 7/10 (28 January 2016)

Disney steadily adds to its canon of superhero characters with the addition of Big Hero 6. Based on a Marvel comic, the film follows young prodigy Hiro Hamada and his friends as they inadvertently become a team of heroes set on saving their town of San Fransokyo. But instead of the usual fare of princesses and fairy tales, this time Disney lends it's magic by way of modern tech and high energy action sequences, all while keeping its heart in the right place.
The film is story driven, and there is really a lot of story. Just as you think you've settled into all the things you need to know, more characters and backgrounds are introduced to further push it along. The general story is a simple and predictable one, once you've been introduced to all of the characters. They each serve a purpose and it's not hard to figure out who is there for what reason. But the film manages to feel fresh and new, all while being authentic to the superhero tropes.
No superheroes would be complete without a worthy super villain to oppose them and Yokai will join the long list of dramatically menacing Disney villains. Of all of the outrageous characters in the film, he is the most visually striking, sleek and dark and formidable. He works as a nice counterpart to Baymax, who will undoubtedly be the movie's runaway star. Baymax's stark white and wholesome demeanor is a complete contrast to the villain's all black corruption. While Baymax is cute, Yokai is sinister, but he is smashingly smooth in motion. In fact, the whole movie is.
The look of the film is quite a stray away from what you're used to from the company. Not since Oliver & Company has Disney's animation been in such a modern and urban setting. Flashy neon lights and billboards cover the big city and the lighting is always atmospheric. Colors shift between dark and moody and vibrant and romantic. Towards the end of the movie, you'll even see the most beautiful and unexpected cotton candy clouds. And the camera moves seamlessly through all of this, following the berserk flow of the film's many engrossing action scenes.
When the film does take its breaks from literal high-flying adventure, it settles into moments of true sympathy and pathos. It tugs hard on the heartstrings, sometimes maybe even a little too hard, but all for good reason and to help up the anti. Not all of it works, as the artificial intelligence aspect goes for a WALL-E but doesn't quite hit it. And it would have been nice to see some of the other characters a little more, as not much time is spent on them even though they are thrust into the spotlight. Watching these newfound superheroes find themselves and their purpose is what it's really all about.
This is Disney proper's first real foray into animated superheroes, arguably with the small exception of Bolt, but that's going down a different route. Here, the film borrows heavily from all of its Disney brethren. Marvel is the source material, so it's mark is inherent. But the film also feels a lot like Pixar's The Incredibles, and has nods to other stable sci-fi and action flicks like Lilo & Stitch and TRON. But this isn't a bad thing; it's not at all a rehash. Big Hero 6 uses these inspirations to show a new Disney like you've never really seen it, and it's enjoyable all around.