‘Big Hero 6’ is Sorely Lacking the Charm Component

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Rating: 2.5/5.0

CHICAGO – “Big Hero 6” is a dark revenge thriller masquerading as a kids movie. Walt Disney Studios takes a few pages from its corporate cousin Marvel, while creating this new animated adventure. It has its moments, but not quite enough of them to make this anything more than a minor entry in the Disney legacy.  

The story centers on a 13-year-old robotics whiz named Hiro (voiced by Ryan Potter) who has been devoting his time to the shadowy world of underground robot battles – ‘bot fighting – instead of going to college.  At times it suggests a slightly better animated version of the justly forgotten Hugh Jackman robot fighting movie “Real Steel,” with a less annoying protagonist.

Big Hero 6
Stay Puffy: The Title Character in ‘Big Hero 6’
Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios

But ‘bot fighting soon gives way to the halls of higher learning after his older brother shows off a robot he’s been working on at his Stanford type school.  He introduces Hiro to the well respected head of the Robotics department and Hiro devotes his attentions to winning a competition to get accepted.   

This is fairly common kid-friendly stuff, until Hiro’s brother dies in a fire at the robotics lab, and Hiro sets out to find the man responsible for his death – with the help of his brother’s robot – a puffy, talking Michelin Man clone named Baymax. Hiro’s interactions with the robot are undoubtedly the film’s high points. Hiro is a healthcare robot, but Hiro reprograms him to be a fighting machine. He also enlists his brother’s fellow robotics students in the mission. They’re a fairly conventional motley crew of oddballs with various inventions of various degrees of ingenuity.

While the trailers play up the relationship between Hiro and Baymax, a large portion of the film is fairly heavy stuff, and full of intense sequences that might be too scary for younger viewers. Hiro enlists his ragtag team to track down and try to kill the man he believes set the fire that killed his brother to cover the theft of a revolutionary new invention. Along the way, Hiro himself begins to lose his way and becomes consumed with revenge.  

Big Hero 6
The Animated Crew of ‘Big Hero 6’
Photo credit: Walt Disney Studios

It goes without saying in these days of computer animation, that “Big Hero 6” looks flawless, but it can be a little lacking in the charm department. The most successful Disney epics of old didn’t just dazzle us with their pictures, they had catchy songs and humor too.  

I suppose I should be glad that Disney didn’t go the route of the later “Shrek” sequels and throw in lame pop culture references, but aside from Baymax himself and the ragtag nerds from the computer lab, there’s precious little charm in this superhero story.  They’re mostly on the periphery, with Hiro’s quest for vengeance taking up the lion’s share of the screen time. Aside from being a whiz with computers, Hiro doesn’t quite have the stuff that makes great heroes.

“Big Hero 6” opens everywhere on November 7th. Featuring the voices of Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, T J Miller, Damon Wayans Jr., Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell, Genesis Rodriguez, Maya Rudolph. Screenplay adapted by Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson and Jordan Roberts. Directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams. Rated “PG

HollywoodChicago.com contributor Spike Walters

By SPIKE WALTERS
Contributor
HollywoodChicago.com
spike@hollywoodchicago.com

© 2014 Spike Walters, HollywoodChicago.com

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