Big Hero 6 (review)

When Walt Disney Studios acquired Marvel Entertainment in 2009, Disney animators suddenly had access to several thousand Marvel comic-book characters they could draw on for new projects. Looking through this rich catalogue for inspiration for his next feature directorial project, Don Hall settled on Big Hero 6, an obscure team of Japanese superheroes based in Tokyo, led by a 14-year-old boy genius and his shape-shifting robot and tasked by their government with defending Japan against supervillain threats. The original Marvel comic-book version of Big Hero 6 appeared in a three-issue miniseries in 1998 and a five-issue miniseries in 2008, as well as making a handful of guest appearances in other, higher-profile series.

Disney’s three-dimensional computer-animated feature Big Hero 6 diverges from its comic-book origins more than most Marvel-based films. The Disney writers and animators drew their characters from the 2008 miniseries version (Marvel superhero team rosters change with time), eliminated any mutant or supernatural abilities, in general reduced individuals’ powers and made the older members uniformly college age, that is, closer to leader Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) in age. The context of the series was also relocated to an ambiguous near-future setting combining elements of the US and Japan. All these changes work to make the characters more accessible to general viewers.

Baymax (Scott Adsit), originally a bodyguard/servant designed by Hiro with a limited ability to change form (standard robot, large human, bipedal dragon), is here a medical care provider created by Hiro’s older brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney) with an inflatable body designed to be soft and comforting. Tadashi himself was created for the film to provide emotional depth and character motivation for Hiro. Hiro equips Baymax with carbon fibre armour and adds martial arts to his programming, but Baymax retains his single huggable shape. Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr) wields plasma blades that radiate from special gloves, as opposed to his comic book original, a chef who can hurl his chi energy in knife form. Go Go Tomago (Jamie Chung), in the comics a mutant able to generate energy blasts from her body, speeds along in the film on electrostatic wheels she can also use as hurling weapons. Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) can produce any sort of chemical bomb she chooses from the mini-lab in her purse (in the comics, the purse can inexplicably produce any item she may need). Fred (T.J. Miller), a comic-book fan and slacker who provides much of the comic relief in the film, is given a costume designed to look like a reptilian monster, which allows him to leap great distances and breathe fire (while in the comic books, he is a mutant who actually can change into a Godzilla-like monster).

In the near-future megalopolis of San Fransokyo, orphaned and aimless Hiro uses his robotics skills to hustle opponents in mini-robot contests. Older brother Tadashi tries to interest him in the technological institute where he works under Professor Robert Callaghan (James Cromwell), inventor of the magnetic servos utilised in Hiro’s robot. Fascinated by what he sees there, Hiro enters a science contest hoping to gain an invitation to attend and wins with a system that allows him to mentally control swarms of microbots, miniaturised versions of the components in his mini-robot. Shortly thereafter, though, a fire breaks out in the competition hall, and Tadashi dies trying to save Callaghan.

Subsequently, a series of minor mishaps activates Baymax, who makes it his mission to improve Hiro’s emotional well-being, and leads them to a warehouse containing a huge store of microbots and the masked villain (called Yokai in the credits) who controls them. Hiro quickly deduces that Yokai caused the fire that killed Tadashi in order to steal his invention, and makes plans to avenge his brother’s death. When his first attempt with a modified...