OTF's Blue Publication January 2015
So while my kids were on Christmas vacation, I decided to do something special with them and carted them off to see Big Hero 6. I'd seen the trailer and wasn't that impressed, but as it was something my kids would enjoy I decided to bite the bullet. After seeing the film I was rather impressed.
The story revolves around Hiro Hamada, a 14-year-old robotics prodigy who lives in San Fransokyo. His older brother Tadashi is worried that Hiro is wasting his potential and after some prodding from his brother, Hiro decides to apply to S.I.T and he presents his project called microbots, at an admission expo. Alistair Krei, tries to buy the technology from him, but Hiro declines the offer. A fire at the school kills his brother and destroys is project. Hiro then closes himself off from his friends.
Hiro accidentally activates Baymax, a healthcare robot designed and built by his brother and follows one of his microbots to an abandoned warehouse, where they are attacked by a masked man who is controlling hordes of Hiro's microbots which he though destroyed. Realizing the fire that killed his brother was a diversion to steal the Microbots, Hiro decides to catch him, upgrades Baymax with armor karate moves.
Hiro and his friends are then attacked by the masked man and they hide out. Hiro develops superhero suits for everyone and they form a superhero team. During their first battle with the masked man they splinter and fail. It's then that they discover that the attacker is Professor Callaghan and not Alistair Krei as the team believed.
Callaghan is seeking revenge on Krei whom he blames for his daughter's death in a teleportation experiement. The team destroys the microbots, and thus Callaghan's plans for vengence. Baymax reads Abigail's lifesigns, and he and Hiro rush in to save her. Baymax's armor is damaged and he sacrifices himslef to save Hiro and Abigail. Hiro and Abigail make it back, and Callaghan is arrested.
My kids really liked the film and I was rather impressed with it as well. In this age of mindless kid movies, it was refreshing to see one with an actual plot. The animation was good, the characters are "believeable" in the animated sense, and the pace was great. It was just long enough to keep kids entertained. While I wasn't thrilled going in, I was happy coming out. I think my kids will get this on DVD when it hits stores. I am going to give it 4.5 Outpost out of 5.