Review of Big Hero 6 (2014) by Salsand3R — 23 Nov 2014

I love Disney movies just as much as the next guy, but I had mix feelings about the plot-line and some of the characters.

First of all, they had to drop the dead parents bomb. I understand there are some situations where Disney appropriately uses this to build character like in finding Nemo depicting some of the struggles of a single parent. There's nothing important about Hiro's lack of parents. His aunt may just as well been his mother. Why not present a more relevent reason for his lack of parents? Take Caroline for example. Although the parents are "there", it's only superficial because they pay no attention to her. That's a common problem many teens experience. There are also way too many secondary character sacrifices. It lost it's poignancy after a while and you knew which characters would not make it.

Other character inconsistencies include Baymax. He's funny and charming, but he seems to be more of a cute ploy to attract viewers. I wouldn't have been suprised if he didn't exist in the original script, because he doesn't bring effect the plot as much. The villain also was a bad choice and his motivations seemed rushed. Not every villain has to be a "suprise".

Lastly, the here seems to be no redeeming theme of the whole film. Sure there was your usual team-work montage and the typical "revenge is bad" lesson, though I didn't feel as though Hiro learned anything from his trip. The work/pay-off section as well didn't really seem to teach me much either. While a theme against cutting corners was hinted, it never was tied together. There are some themes in Big Hero 6, but they are pretty typical in most kids films and aren't particularly followed through.

It's not a bad movie. The animation is superb as one would expect from a Disney animated film and there were a lot of laughs and fun quirks you will enjoy. Unfortunately without deep characters, motivations, or themes, the movie wasn't as memorable as I anticipated.