Big Hero 6
Set in gorgeously-designed futuristic city San Fransokyo, the world of Disney superhero animation Big Hero 6 is one big mishmash of Asian and American cultures – more Joss Whedon’s Firefly than Whedon’s monocultural The Avengers.
Japanese-American lead Hiro (Potter) is a teenage tech genius squandering his skills in illegal underground hustling, until his similarly brilliant older brother Tadashi (Henney) puts him on a more productive collegiate path. Tragedy strikes after Hiro’s entrance exam, however, and the young lad’s world is turned upside down by (spoiler alert) his brother’s death via a mysterious university fire.
Luckily, Tadashi left behind a prototype invention to help Hiro’s pain: an inflatable, adorable healthcare companion robot called Baymax (Adsit). In a blend of The Iron Giant and The Incredibles, Hiro and Baymax bond while also teaming up with Tadashi’s classmate friends (the film is refreshingly free of jabs at science “geeks”) to solve the mystery of the fire and the Kabuki mask-wearing fiend who’s stolen Hiro’s world-changing invention.
Very loosely based on one of the more obscure superhero teams in the Marvel Comics staple, Big Hero 6 shares one of the major grievances of the recent live-action Marvel-Disney collaborations (Guardians of the Galaxy, and the Thor and Captain America sequels): a samey-looking, explosion-heavy climax in which a big floating portal/airship/alien craft (take your pick) crashes into a major metropolitan city, serving to only fuel the homogenisation of these features even when they do display some individual creative expression.
Third act falter aside, Big Hero 6 is an otherwise invigorating, frequently hilarious piece of pop cinema that has a palpable heartbeat even amid its more archetypal beats; even monster-obsessed comic relief Fred (Miller) has unexpected nuances. Maybe just make the sequel a destruction-free hangout movie, though.