Review of Big Hero 6 (2014) by Najd G — 25 Feb 2016

This movie frustrated me. Time and again, the writers of this script used implausibly convenient plot points to move the story along.

"We need a place to hide!" "Oh, did I mention that I'm rich and I own a mansion?".

"We need to take this villain down!" "Sure, did I mention that I have a lab that has the capability of turning us into superheroes, and never before this moment did I mention it because I didn't think it would be of any use to mankind?".

The writing was consistently lazy, too. At one point, the writers are trying to develop the hero's backstory when the protagonist's brother brings up the subject of their parents. The protagonist's response was literally: "They're gone. They died when I was three, remember?" I'm not making that quote up. Hiro talks to his brother as if he's a complete stranger, and it's a lazy attempt by the writers to clue in the audience. It's lazy, lazy, lazy writing wrapped up in an undercooked emotional sausage of a backstory.

Other frustrating elements of the script were that, about 3/4s through the story, a gnarly twist is revealed as a central plot point... except, the twist just doesn't work as it makes other parts of the movie suddenly not jive.

Also, the writers would have you believe that the villain was capable of developing AND executing his master plan in a matter of minutes, and that he happened to have enough explosives with him to blow up a building, and could do so without any police suspecting foul play.

And by the way, writers... was that a Mockingjay you used as your superhero symbol in the movie?

I will admit: Big Hero 6 was probably the most visually spectacular cartoon I have ever seen in my life. There is value in that. But, I can't ignore the fact that the cheap emotional tugs and the laziness of the script had me completely lose interest in the story. I rarely lose complete interest in a movie. But, that's what happened here. How this movie was so critically acclaimed and won the Oscar for Best Animated Feature is baffling to me.