REVIEW -- Disney's Big Hero 6

Big Hero 6 is a 2014 American 3D computer-animated superhero comedy film produced by Walt Disney Animation Studios and released by Walt Disney Pictures. Inspired by the Marvel Comics superhero team of the same name, the film tells the story of a young robotics prodigy named Hiro Hamada, who forms a superhero team to combat a masked villain.

Big Hero 6 is the first Disney animated feature film to feature Marvel Comics characters, whose parent company was acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2009.

Voice Cast:

Ryan Potter as Hiro Hamada
Scott Adsit as Baymax
Daniel Henney as Tadashi Hamada
T. J. Miller as Fred
Jamie Chung as GoGo Tomago
Damon Wayans, Jr. as Wasabi
Génesis Rodríguez as Honey Lemon
James Cromwell as Professor Robert Callaghan
Alan Tudyk as Alistair Krei
Maya Rudolph as Aunt Cass
Stan Lee as Fred's father.

Plot: (FULL Spoilers)

In a futuristic metropolis called San Fransokyo (a portmanteau of San Francisco and Tokyo), 14 year-old genius robotics expert, Hiro Hamada, is hustling at bot fighting; one of his opponents is angry at his loss and has his friends prepare to beat Hiro up, but his older brother, Tadashi, rescues him in time. However, the cops show up, getting both brothers into legal trouble and having their aunt Cass pick them up from the station. After this incident, Tadashi is worried that Hiro is wasting his potential and takes Hiro to the robotics lab at his university. There, Hiro meets Tadashi's friends: GoGo Tomago, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred. Tadashi presents Baymax to Hiro, a personal healthcare robot that Tadashi created. Amazed, Hiro decides to apply to the school. With help from Tadashi and his friends, he designs his own project for the annual exhibition to gain admission: microbots, controlled by a neural-cranial transmitter that can link together in any arrangement imaginable. This impresses Professor Callaghan, the program head, and Alistair Krei, a scientist only motivated by wealth, who offers to buy Hiro's microbots but Hiro refuses. Hiro is admitted to the school and the group leaves to celebrate. Shortly after, a fire breaks out at at the university, and Tadashi rushes in to rescue Callaghan, but the building explodes and both are killed. As a result of losing his brother, Hiro enters a depression, giving up on the university and avoiding his friends.

One day, Hiro accidentally activates Baymax, who discovers a single microbot left in his jacket that is knocking against its class case hapharzardly. Baymax thinks the microbot is trying to go somewhere, but Hiro insists it's broken. Baymax, with Hiro behind him, follows the direction of the microbot to an abandoned warehouse, where he and Hiro discover that someone has stolen Hiro's microbots that everyone believed perished in the fire. They are attacked by a masked man controlling the bots as Hiro did. After Hiro and Baymax escape, Hiro decides to catch the masked man and upgrades Baymax with armor and a battle chip containing various karate moves. When they return to the warehouse, everything is gone. Baymax, Hiro, Honey, Gogo, Wasabi, and Fred go to the pier to find the masked man. The masked man attacks the group but they manage to get away. The 6 friends hide out in Fred's family mansion where Hiro decides to make more upgrades for Baymax to find the masked man, and provides his friends with super-hero suits so they can join him in the fight.

I KNOW I can't be the only one who thought about Amon from
The Legend of Korra when I first saw Yokai...

Baymax locates the masked man on a quarantined island, where they discover a former Krei Tech lab that was experimenting with teleportation technology. The experiment went awry when Krei sent a human test subject inside one of the unstable portals and the exit portal explodes. Upon meeting the masked man again, the team fights him and he is revealed to be Callaghan, who explains that he survived the fire by using Hiro's microbots to shield himself. Realizing Tadashi died for nothing, Hiro removes Baymax's healthcare chip, leaving him with only the battle chip. In blind fury and heartbreak, Hiro orders Baymax to kill Callaghan. Baymax attempts to do so, fighting off the team while they try to stop him. Baymax attacks Callaghan until Honey Lemon manages to plug the healthcare chip back into him, allowing Callaghan to escape. Angry at his friends, Hiro goes home to try and remove Baymax's healthcare chip again but Baymax prevents him from doing so. Hiro breaks down when Baymax asks him if killing Callaghan will make him feel better. To soften Hiro's loss, Baymax shows several clips of Tadashi running tests on Baymax. Hiro realizes that killing Callaghan is not what Tadashi would have wanted and makes amends with his friends.

The group then discovers that the human test pilot that was killed in Krei's experiment was Callaghan's daughter, Abigail, and that Callaghan is seeking revenge on Krei, whom he blames for her death. The group finds Krei already caught in the grasp of Callaghan and the microbots, and in danger of being sucked into the rebuilt portal which killed Abigail. The team manages to destroy the microbots, but the portal remains active, becoming increasingly unstable. Baymax detects Callaghan's daughter still alive within the portal, and he and Hiro rush in to save her. However, on their way out, Baymax's armor is destroyed by a lone chunk of debris, and he realizes the only way to save Hiro and Abigail is if he stays behind to propel them forward with his rocket fist. Hiro repeatedly refuses to leave him but Baymax insists until Hiro tearfully gives in. Hiro and Abigail make it back, Callaghan is arrested, and Abigail goes to a hospital.

Some time later, Hiro discovers Baymax's healthcare chip (which contains his entire personality) in his rocket fist. Hiro rebuilds Baymax and they happily reunite. The six friends continue their hero exploits through the city, remaining unknown, and helping those in need.

In a post-credits scene, Fred, back at the family mansion is speaking to a picture of his parents and admitting he wishes he and his father would spend more time together. He accidentally opens a secret door and finds weapons and superhero gear. His father arrives and embraces Fred, admitting they both have plenty to talk about.

The Verdict: 

Hiro Hamada - kid genius and inventor that could definitely
give Tony Stark a run for his money in a few more years.

Right off the bat, the first that I have to praise Disney for is their complete creative freedom with re-imagining Big Hero 6 to separate it from it's comic book equivalent from Marvel Comics. Moviegoers should be relieved that they will not require ANY previous knowledge of the source material to get their head around what's going around this film. 

GoGo Tomago doesn't get  much screen time, but I dig her
attitude and personality.

The film is called Big Hero 6, but for the bulk of the narrative from start to finish, it feels like Big Hero TWO as the story centers around Hiro and Tadashi's (then later Baymax) relationship. That's not necessarily a bad thing in the least, but I wish that the rest of the "team" was given some room to benefit from some character development. I can settle for the whole mutual bond through friendship and the common loss of the dearly departed though. That leaves room for their individual characters to develop more in a possible sequel now that Hiro and Baymax's bond has been established in this film. You cannot help but love the bond between these two as goes beyond words. Hell, I'm not ashamed to admit that I even wanted to give Baymax a hug by the time the credits rolled around.

Tadashi's parting gift is Baymax, who ends up being MUCH
more that mere medical assistant to Hiro Hamada.

Speaking of Baymax, he is the star of this film without a shadow of a doubt. Scott Adsit did a brilliant job lending his voice to the character to bring him to life. Baymax will make you laugh, he may make you cry, but by the time the credits roll you will love him nonetheless and understand why he's the perfect companion and guardian to Hiro Hamada.

Wasabi is black in this version of Big Hero 6 and acts as the token
black guy (and big brother) to the team.

While we are on the subject of emotions in this film, let's talk about the amount of feels here. From Hiro and Baymax's friendship to the drama that drove Hiro towards a blood-thirsty path of revenge towards Callaghan for Tadashi's demise, I couldn't help admire these themes in a kids' cartoon of all things. Speaking of Tadashi, I saw grown adults with tears streaming down their faces in the movie theater. If you move grown adults with the power of your narrative with a kids cartoon, then you definitely get a thumbs up in my book. You have to give Man of Action (team behind Ben 10 series, Generator Rex, Ultimate Spider-Man) props for bringing a narrative to the table that both kids and adults who are young at heart could both enjoy here.

Honey Lemon - She tends to be a bit overly-excited about EVERYTHING at times
but she's one of the few people in the film who pronounces Hiro's name correctly...

I was also impressed that the action sequences in this film were on par with the rest of the action sequences found in the rest of the Marvel Cinematic Universe, despite being an animated feature. The chase throughout the city in Fred's car stood out to me the most, followed by the final encounter against Callaghan.

Fred serves as the only guy who gets how much of a big deal it is that the group are
a team of superheroes now.

At the end of the day, Big Hero 6 is a welcome addition to both Disney's growing library of 3D and Marvel's Cinematic Universe. There's no clue if these heroes could show up again in future live-action films, but it would be cool to see this get an animated series later down the road, much like How To Train Your Dragon, Monsters vs. Aliens, or Kung-Fu Panda. If you got some time to kill, go see this movie, you won't be disappointed.

Big Hero 6 gets a 8.5 out of 10.

Also, I suggest staying throughout the credits as Stan Lee's best cameo to date occurs in a post-credits scene...