An underrated hero film from Disney. Drawn inspiration from various sources but mainly from Marvel comics. The first Big Hero 6 comic book was released on December 2008. Directed by two talented people with tons of animated films under their belts, Don Hall was responsible for Raya The Last Dragon, Moana and Winnie the Pooh (2011), together with Chris Williams who did The Sea Beast, Moana and Bolt.

This was very different from the usual Disney formula we all grew to love, wherein the main girl/princess faces a predicament and a dashing man saves her from it. It was so far from it that I’ve always thought it was made by Pixar. Nonetheless, they made one hell of a film here, and I’m actually glad they didn’t destroy it’s reputation by making a mediocre sequel. But they did however make a series out of it, it ran for 3 seasons, it aired from November 20, 2017, and February 15, 2021. Which I think was a better move than making a sequel film.

Characters

• The hero gang comprises of Hiro Hamada, Baymax, Wasabi, GoGo Tomago, Honey Lemon, and Fred. All of whom have specific specialist with regards to the field of Science, and those specialists were empowered and weaponized by way of Hiro’s ingenuity. Giving them some Power Ranger-ish suits. The way the film ties everyone together was sad. Everything happened as it did because of Hiro’s invention, The Microbots. And it ultimately lead to the death of Hiro’s brother, Tadashi.
• Baymax, the unlikely hero whom we all have known and loved throughout these years is the pillar of this story. He embodies Tadashi’s care for the world, not just for his family and friends, but even for those people who he doesn’t know. At first, he was supposed to be a robot with no personality, with one mission, to make sure his client to be was satisfied with his care. When Hiro comes into the picture, he’s the one who molded Baymax’s personality. Struggling with grief, anger, resentment, and plans for revenge. Even though Baymax complied with everything Hiro asks of him, in the end, Hiro understood Tadashi’s will.

Their group was a hot mess, a mish mash of geniuses with their own quirks and shortcomings, but as time passes, what they lacked individually was supported by others and it made their team whole. Their conversations and personality was appealing and it makes you feel for them, specially as students. It connects with each and everyone of us and makes emotionally engaged with them. The passing of Tadashi was hard on us, the audience. Because he was shown as the pillar for Hiro’s growth, and he really just wanted to help, hence the creation of Baymax.

This was a quote from Tadashi before his untimely demise. The latter part of the film where Hiro says the same thing was very memorable and it says alot about his growth and how we eventually see Tadashi in him.

Setting

The setting was called “San Fransokyo” the name was based on an alternate history in which San Francisco was largely rebuilt by Japanese immigrants in the aftermath of the 1906 earthquake, but this info isn’t mentioned in the film. The concept was cool, even without them mentioning how the name came to be.

Music and Effects

Music and effects were great, everything was spot on and nothing felt out of place. The cues on the music to trigger an emotion was just perfect and resonated with the audience. Immortals by Fall Out Boy was awesome.
Henry Jackman, composer, did a brilliant job here and really captured the essence of being in San Francisco and Japan at the same time. He also did the score for the popular PlayStation game, Uncharted 4: A Thief’s End.

Conclusion

A fun thrilling family friendly hero film that warrants a rewatch every now and again. I love how Disney steps away from the usual lovey-dovey formula and creates this adrenaline pumping action/comedy hero film, and its perfect for the boy audience of Disney films. Definitely recommending this to everyone.