Big Hero 6

If this were Star Wars it would be Big Hero
5, because droids don't have souls or rights.

*fist bump* "balalala"

Hello all, welcome back to The Tagline! Where sometimes we don't have taglines at all because poster makers can't even be bothered to half-ass their job. Instead they like... quarter ass their job. If you guys are wondering "From the makers of Wreck-It Ralph" is not a tagline! Do you even need a tagline anymore... I don't know did we ever? It's just sad, because it gives me one fewer thing to taunt for being terrible. Regardless, today is a brand new day and we'll be talking about a brand new movie! While I visited the NYC, and before I succumbed to the inevitable sickness that overtakes me as soon as I return, I went to the movies with my friends to go see Big Hero 6, because it looked fun and I like movies about robots fighting bad guys. Even robots that look like fat marshmallows! Who am I kidding, ESPECIALLY robots that look like fat marshmallows. So Big Hero 6 was a no-brainer for me, and I have to say I was not disappointed. So here's a little background. In this confusing post-comic future we live in, where Disney owns Marvel, the lines blur and even as people complain about the movies being full of nothing but sequels and remakes, the possibilities to me seem to be expanding. This is the case with Big Hero 6, a movie made by Disney, based on a Marvel comic of the same name (albeit pretty loosely). The movie focuses on Hiro, a 14-year old super genius who uses his talents mostly to hustle people out of their money in robot fights. Tadashi, his older brother, is concerned that Hiro is wasting his talents, and so helps to convince him to apply to the robotics program at his university. Hiro comes around to the idea pretty quickly, and submits an innovative microbot system as his application project to the university. This is great but certain events (that I don't want to spoil too much) derail his attempts to enroll and Hiro's bots end up being lost/destroyed. Hiro ends up befriending the medical robot his brother created, Baymax, and then accidentally discovers that his microbots still exist, and are being mass produced towards some nefarious end by a mysterious man in a kabuki mask.

He is an inflatable robot.

So what does Hiro do? Well obviously he builds a suit of armor and flight system for Baymax, and together with Tadashi's lab friends who all have ridiculous names like Wasabi and Fred (can you imagine calling a person FRED, no I'm just kidding, sorry Fred.) he tries to determine the identity of the masked man, and stop him from using the microbots for whatever whacked out scheme he has in mind (it seems to not be explicitly ABOUT killing people but he doesn't seem to mind doing it especially). Naturally all the other lab geeks need their own super-abilities Hiro rides around on Baymax's back) so they all create their own sweet suits with awesome tech built into them, to make up for the fact that they're a bunch of lame nerds (well maybe not GoGo she has this whole extreme sports thing going on I guess). What results is a team of pretty cool "super" heroes, fighting a bad guy with a bunch of tiny robots (that he controls with a mind/machine interface built into his mask).

Also he can fly though, which is pretty cool.

I was immediately drawn in by the animation style of Big Hero 6, and I thought the location designs (the movie takes place in the fictional San Fransokyo, which I guess people find racist somehow?) were also really neat. Everything is bright and futuristic looking without being too cartoony, and also all the girl character designs don't look like fucking Rapunzel in Tangled! (I mean Tadashi and Hiro's aunt Cass kinda does, but only her, so that's an improvement!) I thought they managed to make everyone look unique without overdoing it and making them all look super wacky or anything. So visuals were top notch, but no surprise there I suppose, how do I feel about the story? Well speaking in general terms, while it isn't exactly an earth-shattering concept (and certainly there are parts that an adult moviegoer will see coming) I was really surprised at some of the themes and ideas this movie touched on, considering it was only rated PG. While there's no like blood or anything, the movie touches on some pretty heavy things, like loss and coping with grief, and also goes to a pretty dark place when dealing with ideas like seeking revenge and the psychological and practical price you pay. All in all I thought it was a very mature movie without being like edgy or racy, and this surprising depth gave it a lot of emotional impact for me. This coupled with the awesome action made it a very enjoyable and satisfying movie experience.

LET IT GO, LET IT GOOOOOOOO.

It's pretty upsetting though to know that in real life, the goofball comic book nerd Fred is actually none other than HUD! I immediately regretted looking it up, because now when I see that character I'll just be thinking of captain asshole, sexually harassing girls while a giant monster tries to kill everyone in New York. Also if you've seen 30 Rock, Baymax is voiced by Scott Adsit, who is Pete Hornberger on that show. I find this to also be very amusing. The Disney/Marvel merging amoeba of dollars allowed Stan Lee to be Fred's dad as well, so there is that to be amused by too on your way out. Overall I think that Big Hero 6 does what a lot of movies try and fail to, which is to create a movie that can simultaneously appeal to little kids and adults without having to pander to either group. It deals with emotions and ideas that any functioning person has to confront at some point or another, but also it has flying robots with rocket fists. Really the best of both worlds.

That's it for today folks! Join me again later this week for more rocket stuff from Disney, and my borderline weirdo obsession with Jennifer Connelly.