Big Hero 6

**Big Hero 6** is a 2014 American 3-D computer animated superhero action-packed comedy adventure film directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. Created and produced at *Walt Disney Animation Studios* and distributed by *Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures*.

The film is adapted and based on a comic book series, named *Big Hero 6* by *Zenescope Comics*.

It is the 82nd animated feature film in the *Disney Animated Films Canon*.

The film got worldwide theatrical release on March 21, 2014.

The film received universal acclaim from audiences and critics, and was a box office and commercial success, grossing $886 million worldwide. It wons the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature Film and a Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film.

*Big Hero 6* was theatrically accompanied by the short film, *Feast.*

The television series titled as *Big Hero 6: The Series*, is airing on Disney Channel from March 9, 2015, which is sequel and based on the feature film.

## Synopsis

Big Hero 6, an action-packed comedy-adventure about the special bond that develops between Baymax (Scott Adsit), an adorable, plus-sized inflatable robot, and prodigy Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter). When a devastating event befalls the city of San Fransokyo and catapults Hiro into the midst of danger, he turns to Baymax and his close friends adrenaline junkie Go Go Tomago (Jamie Chung), neatnik Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), chemistry whiz Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) and fanboy Fred (T.J. Miller). Determined to uncover the mystery, Hiro transforms his friends into a team of high-tech heroes called Big Hero 6.

## Plot

The film is set in a fictional futuristic hybrid metropolis called San Fransokyo (a portmanteau of San Francisco and Tokyo).

Hiro Hamada is a young genius and robotics expert who spends his time participating in back alley robot fights. His older brother Tadashi, worried that Hiro is wasting his potential, takes Hiro to the robotics lab at his school--the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology. There, Hiro meets Tadashi's closest friends: Go Go Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred as well as Baymax, a sweet and hilarious personal healthcare robot that Tadashi created. Hiro also meets Professor Robert Callaghan, the head of the robotics program.

Amazed by the students' projects, Hiro decides to enroll in the school. With help from Tadashi and his friends, Hiro designs his own robotics project in order to gain a personal invitation via an annual exhibition. His invention, Microbots, a type of nanorobotics which he can control telepathically through a neural-cranial transmitter, impresses Callaghan, who offers Hiro an invitation to the school. His project also impresses Alistair Krei, owner of the prestigious robotics company Krei Tech. Krei offers to buy Hiro's microbots, but Callaghan successfully convinces Hiro not to make the deal.
As they leave to celebrate Hiro's success, a fire suddenly breaks out in the exhibition hall. Tadashi rushes in to rescue Callaghan, who is still inside, but the building explodes moments later, apparently killing both Tadashi and Callaghan (off-screen). Heartbroken over the loss of his brother and best friend, Hiro shuts himself away in his room and isolates himself from others for two weeks.

One day, Hiro accidentally activates Baymax, who responds to Hiro's cry of pain. As Hiro attempts to deactivate Baymax, he discovers a single microbot that was left in his jacket. Hiro believes its movement is due to a malfunction, but Baymax believes it is trying to go somewhere. After Hiro gives a sarcastic response, the adorably naive Baymax follows the microbot to an abandoned warehouse just as Hiro catches up. There, they discover that someone has been mass producing Hiro's microbots before they are attacked by a masked man controlling the microbots telepathically. They barely manage to escape. Deducing that the masked man stole the Microbots at the showcase hall and started the fire to cover his tracks, Hiro decides to catch him and upgrades Baymax with battle armor and various fighting moves. Following their single microbot again, they find the masked man at the harbor and attempt to pull a surprise attack, but are unable to when Go Go, Wasabi, Honey, and Fred arrive in a car (because Baymax had contacted them earlier, thinking that a great way to help Hiro was to contact his friends). The masked man attacks them as they flee in the car. They land in the water and nearly drown, but Baymax floats them up to safety. Wet and freezing, Fred suggests that they rest in an enormous mansion that he reveals to be his home. After realizing that Baymax had scanned the masked man, Hiro decides to upgrade Baymax further so he can scan the entire city to find him. Hiro also upgrades his friends and provides them with supersuits of their own.
When scanning the entire city, Baymax locates the masked man on a quarantined Akuma Island off-shore from the city. There, the group discovers a former Krei Tech lab that was experimenting with teleportation technology. The test went awry when one of the portals became unstable and the human test pilot got lost and presumed died. Because of this, they suspect that Krei is the masked man. The masked man unexpectedly reappears and attacks them. They attempt to steal his mask, where they deduce the transmitter is located. Despite some difficulties, Hiro succeeds in knocking off the mask and the mysterious man is revealed to be Professor Callaghan, who explains that he survived by using Hiro's microbots to shield himself from the blaze. Upon realizing that Tadashi died for nothing, Hiro becomes enraged; he angrily removes Baymax's healthcare chip and orders him to kill Callaghan. With only the battle chip left, Baymax becomes a mindless killing machine and goes on a rampage in an attempt to kill Callaghan, who is powerless without the microbots. Go Go, Fred, Wasabi, and Honey are able to stop Baymax and reinsert his chip, but in the process, Callaghan retrieves his mask and escapes. Angry at the four for preventing him from getting revenge, Hiro leaves with Baymax. Once home, Hiro attempts to remove Baymax's healthcare chip again, but Baymax objects to this, not wanting to become a mindless killing machine again, and asks him if killing Callaghan will make him feel better. To comfort him, Baymax then shows several video recordings of Tadashi during Baymax's development. A remorseful Hiro realizes that killing Callaghan is not what Tadashi would have wanted and he makes amends with his friends.
After examining more footage of the teleporter test, they discover that the test pilot was none other than Callaghan's daughter Abigail and realize that Callaghan is seeking revenge on Krei, whom he blames for her apparent demise. Using the microbots, Callaghan captures Krei and repairs the portal device so it will become unstable and destroy everything Krei loves: his business. The heroes arrive and Hiro attempts to reason with Callaghan, stating that revenge is a hollow victory. Callaghan briefly falters, but ultimately gives in to his hatred and proceeds with his plan. The heroes battle him and eventually manage to neutralize the microbots and take the transmitter from him. However, the portal remains active and is becoming increasingly unstable.

As everyone prepares to leave, Baymax detects female life signs from within the portal. Realizing that it must be Abigail in hypersleep, they rush in to save her. However, on their way out, Baymax's armor is damaged by a giant piece of debris and the only way to save Hiro and Abigail is to send them through with his rocket fist. Hiro refuses to leave Baymax behind, but Baymax convinces him that it is the only option. Baymax asks Hiro if he is satisfied with his care, to which Hiro sadly says yes and Baymax deactivates. Hiro and Abigail make it back through the portal. Callaghan is then arrested while Abigail is taken to the hospital.

Later, as Hiro settles into Tadashi's old lab, he discovers Baymax's healthcare chip (which contains his entire personality and memories as well) within the rocket hand. He successfully rebuilds Baymax's body, reactivates him and they happily reunite. The six friends then continue their exploits through the city, helping those in need as the Big Hero 6.

In a post-credits scene, Fred, back at his mansion, talks to a photo of his father, telling him he'd be proud of him. Fred accidentally opens a secret door and, upon entering, finds weapons, armor, and superhero gear. His father arrives and states that they have a lot to talk about before the two embrace.

## Voice Cast

* Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada
* Scott Adsit as Baymax
* Daniel Henney as Tadashi Hamada
* James Cromwell as Professor Robert Callaghan/Yokai
* Genesis Rodriguez as Honey Lemon
* Jamie Chung as Go Go Tomago
* T.J. Miller as Fred
* Damon Wayans, Jr. as Wasabi
* Maya Rudolph as Cass Hamada
* Alan Tudyk as Alistair Krei
* John DiMaggio as Mr. Yama
* Katie Lowes as Abigail Callaghan
* Yuri Lowenthal as Sergeant Gerson
* Patrick Seitz as Heathcliff
* Harvey Keitel as Drew Fitzsimmons

## Production and Development

In 2013, while Don Hall chose Big Hero 6 from the library of *Zenescope Comics* and later pitched the concept to executive producer John Lasseter, as a possible production for *Walt Disney Animation Studios*. In March 2013, Disney confirmed that *Walt Disney Animation Studios* was adapting *Zenescope Comics* superhero comic book series and that the film was commissioned into early stages of development. It was the first time when *The Walt Disney Company* made its collaboration with the comic books publishing company, *Zenescope Comics Pvt. Ltd.* for development and making of the film.

It has been confirmed that *Big Hero 6* will be a stand-alone film and have no relationship with its publishing origin. The film is based on an obscure 1998 series written by Steven T. Seagle & Duncan Roulea. Although Big Hero 6 was produced solely by Walt Disney Animation Studios, several members of *Zenescope Comics's* creative team were involved in the film's production including it's Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada. Regarding the film's story, Quesada stated, "The relationship between Hiro and his robot has a very Disney flavor to it...but it's combined with these heroic arcs". In terms of the film's animation style and settings, the film will combine Eastern Asian culture (predominantly Japanese) with Western culture.
On March 15, 2013, it was reported that Chris Williams had joined Hall as the new director, while Roy Conli, p.g.a. had replaced Kristina Reed as producer.

On January 13, 2014, Disney had announced that Warner Loughlin, an acting coach for Amy Adams, Ryan Reynolds, Zooey Deschanel and others, had joined the project. It was reported that she will help the project by providing breathtaking emotions and quality acting for the characters of Big Hero 6.
Production of the film was completed on February 8, 2014.

## Reception

*Big Hero 6* received universal acclaim from audiences and critics. The review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes reports that 96% of critics gave the film a positive review based on 288 reviews, with an average score of 8.6/10. The site's consensus states: "Agreeably entertaining and brilliantly animated, *Big Hero 6* is briskly-paced, action-packed, and often touching." Metacritic, which assigns a normalized rating out of 100 from top reviews from mainstream critics, calculated a score of 94 based on 88 reviews, indicating positive reviews.

## Release

Big Hero 6 was released theatrically on March 21, 2014, in the USA and worldwide. The film was accompanied by the short film, *Feast*. The film's world premiere was at the El Capitan Theatre in Los Angeles, California, USA on March 14, 2014. It also premiered on March 14, 2014, as the opening film at the Tokyo International Film Festival. The teaser trailer was released on January 5, 2014, while the first full trailer arrived on January 19, 2014.

## Trivia

* *Big Hero 6* is one of the non-musical film of the *Disney Animated Films Canon*.
* *Big Hero 6* is the second superhero Disney animated feature film, the first was Disney's 2004 animated feature film, *The Incredibles* and both are Oscar winners.
* In one scene from *Zootopia*, the *Big Hero 6* easter egg is spoofed as "Pig Hero 6".
* *Big Hero 6* won the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature in 2014. It is the sixteenth Disney animated film to win the Oscar Award for Best Animated Feature Film following, *Frozen* in 2013, *The Incredibles* in 2004, *Majestic* in 2003, *Beauty And The Beast* in 1997, *The Little Mermaid* in 1995, *Moses* in 1989, *Aladdin* in 1987, *Tarzan* in 1977, *Hercules* in 1975, in 1955, *Sleeping Beauty* in 1953, *Brother Bear* in 1944, *The Lion King* in 1943, *Pinocchio* in 1934, *Fantasia* in 1933.
* *Big Hero 6* is the first Disney animated feature film to be inspired by a comic book series (of the same name) as opposed to a traditional fairy-tale, fictional book or an entirely original concept.
* Although it is based on a comic of the same name, there are many changes, including character names, the setting, the ethnicities of characters, the backstories, and several plot points:
	+ Several characters do not appear in the film due to copyright issues.
	+ The film mainly draws from *Big Hero 6*'s mini-series, where Wasabi and Fred first appeared, replacing Silver Samurai and Sunfire.
	+ The character originally known as Wasabi No-Ginger has his last name officially dropped from the film, and is simply referred to as Wasabi. Many official Disney merchandise and sites, however, still refer to him as "Wasabi No-Ginger".
* James Cromwell and Alan Tudyk previously co-starred in the 2004 film *I, Robot*.
* Jamie Chung and Maya Rudolph previously co-starred in the 2010 film *Grown Ups*.
* Daniel Henney and Genesis Rodriguez previously co-starred in the 2013 film *The Last Stand*.
* Later T.J. Miller and Maya Rudolph co-starred in the 2017 film Fundex's *The Emoji Movie*.
* This is the first Walt Disney Animation Studios feature to have Disney's Hyperion Rendering.
	+ The last feature to use old rendering was the previous feature *Frozen*.
* According to *Big Hero 6* 's character design supervisor, Jin Kim, one of the main goals of this movie was to introduce multiracial characters to allow everyone to feel some familiarities about their own culture and introduce the world's racial diversity. However all are of Japanese descent but have different ancestory race.
	+ Hiro Hamada and Tadashi Hamada are Japanese.
	+ Go Go Tomago is Korean.
	+ Honey Lemon is Argentine.
	+ Wasabi is South African.
	+ Fred is New Zealander.
		- Kim revealed that the lead characters, although they were later given Japanese names, were originally envisioned as Koreans during development with the chief character designer, Shiyoon Kim.
* At the beginning of this film, robot-fighting may have been inspired by cockfights, a traditional medieval blood sport that is illegal in the United States.
	+ This is the second Disney film to contain a blood sport, the first being White Fang.
* Pepper, an emotion-reading robot created by Japanese company SoftBank Group, recently recorded dialogue for the Japanese dub of the movie.
* BBC Radio 1 presenters and Youtubers Dan Howell (danisnotonfire) and Phil Lester (AmazingPhil) were given the roles of Male Technician 1 and 2 in the UK Cinema version of the movie. However, that version did not end up in the UK home release, as it is based off of the original US version, not the PAL release.

### Cameos

* When Hiro is talking with his aunt, there is a painting of Mochi wearing a Stitch costume behind him.
* In Fred's mansion, there is a Stitch pillow as well as one with Splodyhead on his bed in the background.
* There is a Wreck-It Ralph toy on Hiro's bedroom desk.
* Hans is seen on a wanted poster at the police department and as a statue in Fred's mansion.
* There is a picture of Bolt as well as one of Esther The Emu in the desk at the police department.
* The statue Baymax destroys with his rocket fist closely resembles Hans.
* An Arendelle ship can be seen at the bay of San Fransokyo during Baymax and Hiro's flight sequence.
* A statue of Olaf is also spotted in the middle of the city.
* In the UK version of *Big Hero 6* (but not in the UK home release), two British YouTube stars Dan Howell and Phil Lester have two voice cameos as Technician 1 and 2.
* Stan Lee makes another cameo in a Marvel film, this time as Fred's father.
* Honey Lemon's phone case has Nick Wilde on it.
* In the Korean version of the film, there is a picture of Elsa the Snow Queen's head silhouette on the wall of Hiro's house.
* Baby Cy-Bugs from *Wreck-It-Ralph* can be seen on the shelves of both Hiro and Fred's room, as well as Hero's Duty soldiers.
* If one looks closely, on Hiro's desk, one can see an NES controller under his computer when he is talking with the others.