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★★☆☆☆
2 January 2015
This article is a review of BIG HERO 6. |
“On a scale of one to ten, how would you rate your pain?” Baymax
An E-number movie equivalent grows tiresome. Everything is written in neon; which is fine if you're a little kid, not so much if you're an adult looking for nuance and dynamism. THE INCREDIBLES, also a superhero actioner set in an alternate reality, is proving to be an aberration among mainstream animation; having a rare combo of smarts, emotion and breathtaking combat choreography. BIG HERO 6 tries so hard, everything dialled to eleven, making its shortcomings all the more glaring.
Warning bells went off immediately during a back-alley bot fight (think a technological leap forward from television show ‘Robot Wars’); where young lead Hiro (do you see the level of name wordplay?) takes on an adult. Betting on such mechanical fisticuffs is illegal (perhaps after legislators saw the dire REAL STEEL?). Decimating his opponent, after hustling him, Hiro is rescued by older brother Tadashi – a parental figure, along with aunt Cass, in the wake of their parents passing.
An E-number movie equivalent grows tiresome. Everything is written in neon; which is fine if you're a little kid, not so much if you're an adult looking for nuance and dynamism. THE INCREDIBLES, also a superhero actioner set in an alternate reality, is proving to be an aberration among mainstream animation; having a rare combo of smarts, emotion and breathtaking combat choreography. BIG HERO 6 tries so hard, everything dialled to eleven, making its shortcomings all the more glaring.
Warning bells went off immediately during a back-alley bot fight (think a technological leap forward from television show ‘Robot Wars’); where young lead Hiro (do you see the level of name wordplay?) takes on an adult. Betting on such mechanical fisticuffs is illegal (perhaps after legislators saw the dire REAL STEEL?). Decimating his opponent, after hustling him, Hiro is rescued by older brother Tadashi – a parental figure, along with aunt Cass, in the wake of their parents passing.
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San Fransokyo is a stunning, parallel futuristic San Francisco, where the plot unfolds. Tadashi aims to shake his little brother Hiro, who happens to be a robotics genius, out of his current path, on to one that leads to the betterment of humankind. Baymax, an intentionally unintimidating inflatable healthcare android is Tadashi’s masterwork; inspiring Hiro to complete his own project, to get an early place on the programme at San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.
Tadashi’s mates at the “nerd lab” include various one-dimensional odd bods who will go on to team up with Hiro. Tadashi is killed in a fire and Hiro’s project stolen. (The unnamed culprit could literally be one of two people.) Descending into depression, Hiro eventually emerges with purpose to continue his brother’s work, adding his personality to Baymax, already drily funny, “Would that stabilize your pubescent mood swings?”
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Discovering the kabuki-wearing masked thief of his project, Hiro begins to arm Baymax and enlists Tadashi’s robot lab pals to discover and punish. “Our origin story begins,” Fred, stating the obvious for those that have never seen a superhero movie before.
What slightly elevates BIG HERO 6 is the humanism front and centre - teaching that killing is not healthy retribution; it’s just a shame that such a lofty theme is not more deftly woven into a more sophisticated narrative. For all the hyperactivity on display, from a car chase and island fight to a warehouse melee and city block-crushing climax, it actually is boring to watch. The pulse is not quickened, and only on a couple of occasions is a chuckle teased out (e.g. Baymax learning to fist-bump, “Balalalala.”)
One was so excited to see a Japanese inflected Disney cartoon, but these filmmakers did not deliver. Imagine what a Brad Bird or an Andrew Stanton might have achieved!
A possible positive concomitant to BIG HERO 6 is getting young people into science.
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