Over the last few years, the Disney animation studio has been on something of a roll. Starting with 2010’s surprisingly entertaining Tangled, the recent output has included the inventive and entertaining Wreck-It Ralph and, of course, 2013’s Frozen.
So, how do you follow up the most successful animated film in the history of cinema? Well, that unenviable task goes to Big Hero 6, a tale of a teenage boy and his giant inflatable robot.
Our hero here is, well, Hiro, a fourtnee-year-old boy struggling to find his path in life despite his obvious genius in the field of robotics. When tragedy strikes, Hiro and his brother’s mechanical creation Baymax are forced to team up with a class of robotics students in order to stop an evil tyrant with designs on the city of San Fransokyo.
While Frozen was a film about two sisters, Big Hero 6 is a film that concentrates on the tricky relationship between two brothers. Both characters are wonderfully realised here, with elder brother Tadashi both protective and exasperated by his younger, irresponsible sibling. The range of supporting characters is also interesting, not least robot Baymax (‘like spooning a giant marshmallow’) who is brought to life by a lovely vocal performance by Scott Adsit.
As you would expect, the animation here is terrific and I particularly liked the Japanese influence. There are some superb action sequences, not least a dizzying aerial ride through the skyscrapers of the city and an apocalyptic finale which recalls the scale of the New York scenes in Avengers Assemble.
What really makes Big Hero 6 work, however, is the depth of emotion that the team of writers bring to the screenplay. Opting for a challenging narrative route in an animation isn’t new – Bambi was released in 1942 – but since the brutal opening ten minutes of Up it seems as if writers are not afraid to make bold decisions regarding their characters. 2014’s How To Train Your Dragon 2 worked partly because of an unexpected and shocking narrative turn and Big Hero 6 does much the same.
Overall Big Hero 6 is moving, laugh-out-loud funny and never less than completely engrossing. While its more niche subject matter means it won’t emulate Frozen’s astonishing box office success, and a new Fall Out Boy song isn’t going to have the cultural impact of Let It Go, it is yet another superb effort from a studio that appears to have finally rediscovered its mojo.
Big Hero 6 opens on Friday 30 January 2015 and is at Broadway’s special family matinee on Saturday 14 February 2015.
Big Hero 6 Website
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