I’m not entirely sure what the target demographic for Big Hero 6 is.
On the surface, it seems like a slam dunk kids’ movie. Baymax (Scott Adsit) is an adorably huggable marshmallow-esque robot sidekick to our protagonist Hiro (Ryan Potter) that just reeks of merchandising gold. His “I take things too literally” and “I wasn’t programmed for this” misunderstandings offer many great comedic moments in the film.
But there’s a moment about three-quarters of the way through the film where Baymax’s eyes turn red and he becomes an unstoppable killing machine that I imagine will be unsettling to younger viewers. I found it pretty disturbing to watch myself.
Which is the perplexing thing about the film. Tonally, it’s actually quite dark and depressing. It focuses a lot on the effects the loss of a loved one has on people. Characters in the film die. But it’s not like Bambi or The Lion King where the film is pretty quick to move past the sad moments into the comic relief. This film wallows in the grief. It’s heavy stuff for little kids to take in.
But the film isn’t really complex enough or “adult” enough to appeal to a mature audience. With the spoil of entertaining Marvel comic book movies coming out these days, Big Hero 6 doesn’t really have the goods to stand out as an adult action film. Grown ups will find parts of it to enjoy, but I imagine they will find it ultimately pretty forgettable. And if parents can’t really take their kids to it (or they do take their kids and the kids end up upset by it), that further limits the appeal.
There is perhaps a sweet spot of teens and preteens that will really enjoy it, but that’s a fairly narrow window to shoot for. (And I’m still not entirely certain that was their intent, especially based on marketing.) I found myself wishing it was either lighter and more fun or that it really embraced the darkness and just went for an animated adult film feel, which is something you hardly (if ever) see.
The other problem I had is that, outside of Baymax and Hiro, most of the characters in the film are pretty forgettable. The other members of the team are just vague notions of characters, defined more by their weapons of choice than any actual personality traits. There’s the guy with sonic blades, the girl who uses Tron discs and the girl who makes weird chemical balls. The most memorable member outside of the main two is Fred (T.J. Miller), a spacey, enthusiastic comic book nerd who wears a fire-breathing lizard costume.
Luckily, Hiro and Baymax are both great characters, which is the thing that saves the film. Baymax has a Johnny 5 quality to him that I really dug and I laughed at just about everything he did. And Hiro makes for a solid, if brooding, lead. I also really liked Hiro’s brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney), who serves as his mentor.
The film does some great world building as well. It takes place in the fictional hybrid city of San Fransokyo, which was quite beautiful. And it is a world full of a plethora of fun futuristic tech like nanobots and teleporters. The villain floats around on top of an army of nanobots, wearing a kabuki mask while waving his hands around to form the bots into weapons he creates with his mind, which is, quite simply, awesome.
Speaking of awesome, the animated short before the film, entitled “The Feast,” is a winner. It has a similar CGI watercolor feel to “Paperman” and it centers around a food-obsessed dog named Winston. Like the best shorts, it perfectly captures an emotion through beautiful, wordless animation and anyone who has had a pet that has been with them for a long time will relate to it.
There is also a fun post-credit Easter Egg tacked onto the film featuring a rather surprising voice cameo. If they end up making a Big Hero 6 II (which will be a confusing title unless they go the colon and subtitle route), I really hope it centers around the character in the cameo.
And if that sequel does happen, I hope they can develop the supporting cast more and give it a more consistent tone. There are things to love about Big Hero 6, but unfortunately the whole is less than the sum of its parts.
Written by Joel Murphy. If you enjoy his reviews, he also writes a weekly pop culture column called Murphy’s Law, which you can find here. You can contact Joel at murphyslaw@hobotrashcan.com.