3.5 stars. Rated PG, and needlessly, for animated action
By Derrick Bang
This film has a serious identity
crisis.
Although it begins as a gentle
character saga about a boy and his plus-size Personal Healthcare Companion —
read: big, poofy robot — co-directors Don Hall and Chris Williams rather
abruptly changes things up in the second act, and suddenly we’re watching a
frenetic action comedy that feels like an alternate-universe take on the Mighty
Morphin Power Rangers.
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| Is there such a thing as too much comfort? After expressing some fairly trivial frustration, Hiro discovers that his new Personal Healthcare Companion — dubbed Baymax — has the "perfect" solution: an all-enveloping hug. |
Frankly, it felt like whiplash.
Far more troublesome is this
film’s frequent echoes of The Incredibles
and How to Train Your Dragon:
derivative chunks at times so glaring, that they’re impossible to overlook. The
result feels less like an organic concept built from a carefully plotted
narrative, and more like a movie designed by committee, and determined to hit
crowd-pleasing notes ... a suspicion sharpened by the presence of eight (!)
credited scripters.
Indeed, the out-of-left-field
shift in tone is as clumsy as the mid-film transition that also spoiled the
second half of Pixar’s Brave. And
since John Lasseter has the executive producer’s credit on this newest Disney
release, the buck obviously stops at his desk.
On the positive side, Big Hero 6 certainly is entertaining,
and it’s laden with both laughs and moments of well-timed pathos. But the
storyline remains something of a mess, and ultimately feels like a very clumsy
attempt to build a new franchise.
The setting is a vibrant,
tech-laden future in the massive Northern California city of San Fransokyo:
very much a cheerful, gaily colored response to the polyglot Amero-Asian backdrop
of Blade Runner. Fourteen-year-old
Hiro Hamada (voiced by Ryan Potter, of the TV series Supah Ninjas) is a genius inventor but also something of a
tear-away, spending his evenings hustling opponents at illegal underground
robot duels.
These hijinks are a source of
constant frustration to older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) and their Aunt
Cass (Maya Rudolph), the latter charged with the two boys’ care after the
never-explained death of their parents. Hoping to channel Hiro’s energy in a
more positive direction, Tadashi introduces younger bro to his colleagues at
the prestigious San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, and particularly to its
head instructor: world-renowned roboticist Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell).
Callaghan, seeing great potential
in the boy, encourages Hiro to apply for admission. Our young hero, immediately
star-struck by these nifty-gee-whiz surroundings, needs no encouragement.
