OVP: Big Hero 6 (2014)

Film: Big Hero 6 (2014)
Stars: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Daniel Henney, T.J. Miller, Jamie Chung, Damon Wayans, Jr., Genesis Rodriguez, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk, James Cromwell
Director: Don Hall and Chris Williams
Oscar History: 1 nomination/1 win (Best Animated Feature Film*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 2/5 stars

Disney seems to be on an oddly gender-balanced trend lately, though this is assuming all stereotypes are in play in regard to gender-geared programming.  First we get Tangled, then we get Wreck-It Ralph.  Frozen was last year, and now we get the action hero adventure of Big Hero 6 (and yes, this seems to be continuing as the latest princess tale Moana looks to be next on the lineup).  Though the films never seem to quite catch the movie magic that the 90’s Disney films were able to master (perhaps because they seem too focus on Shrek-style trendiness, as is evidenced by their names), they have generally had a pretty consistent level of excellence in the years since the low-point in the mid-Aughts, when Disney was the Baby Jane Hudson to Pixar’s Blanche.

(Spoilers Ahead) Unfortunately, I feel like Big Hero 6 is more in the mid-Aughts style “forgettable” film than a number of its more recent counterparts.  The film takes place in a hybrid city combining San Francisco and Tokyo (at first I thought I was mishearing the city's name, but it's actually a combination of the two cities, which is cute and explains the lovely geography of the city, a locale which is easily the best character in the film), and follows a young boy named Hiro, who has a tragedy that is very early-Disney (both his parents, as well as eventually his brother, die, leaving him an orphan).  Hiro is a whiz with electronics, but doesn’t use his power for good, and instead tries to make money at illegal robot fights.  Guided by his soon to be dead brother Tadashi, Hiro comes to learn that applying his knowledge to more pragmatic matters, like a robot that cures diseases, would be a more practical application of his talents.

The problem that Big Hero 6 encounters is that it doesn’t quite know how to do a mash-up with the heavier world of Marvel Comics (the source for the movie) and the cute-and-cuddly world of Disney.  This film probably would have functioned better in the pre-Little Mermaid era of the Mouse House.  They weren’t as afraid to shovel the bitter down with the sweet, and as a result they ended up with a more realistic, but more disturbing view of childhood.

This is evidenced with the haunting darkness of, say, Hiro trying to avenge his brother with the marshmallow main robot Tadashi created called Baymax.  There are scenes in the film that are truly wonderful where the mash-up works (specifically I’m thinking of the scene where Hiro flies over the beautiful architecture of San Fransokyo, which is a visual delight), but for the most part it feels like an either-or situation, which doesn’t jive properly.  Take, for example, the scene where Hiro changes Baymax cartridge to make him evil rather than cute.  This should have more power behind it, but because every other character is expositionally telling us “this is wrong,” it loses its weight.  This is a story where less spelling-it-out would do a huge service to the actual picture.  The actual story underlines every plot point, as if the film has no trust in its young audience to follow that, say, Robert Callaghan is in fact a bad guy masquerading as a good guy, or that Hiro is depressed and dealing with emotional issues.  As a result of this opaqueness, we end up with a pretty bland and paint-by-numbers movie when we could have had an interesting start to franchise.

I also want to specifically spell out Honey Lemon’s accent.  I don’t know why but Genesis Rodriguez gave what may be one of the oddest vocal performances I’ve ever heard.  Her accent for the character seems to change in every single scene, which was extremely off-putting and confusing for her character.  This really bugged me, and I’m sure no other critic is going to make a comment about it, so I thought I would throw that into the world.

Those are all of my thoughts on this occasionally cute but frequently rudderless movie-what were yours?  This is yet another animated film this year that I was underwhelmed by-anyone want to point out what I’m doing wrong by giving me a defense of the picture?  Where do you think it will land in the Oscar race (I think it is nominated, but just barely)?  And what do you think about the “gender-balancing” that Disney has been doing in recent years?  Share in the comments!