If you're anyone who's not living under a rock, you've probably heard of the latest Disney classic, Big Hero 6. It came out in theaters in November at the end of 2014, and has finally been released on DVD and Blu-Ray as of February 24. I was one of the many who went out and rented (and the next day, purchased) it, and let me tell you that I was not disappointed.
There was so much I liked about this movie, so I don't even know where to begin. I guess I can start with what my thoughts were while I watched. The following texts are posts from when I live blogged on my Tumblr.
"After a week of searching for the DVD, I am finally about to watch Big Hero 6 for the first time. Should I prepare a box of tissues?" (Note: I should have, but no one warned me)
"My gosh. The animation is BEEAAAAUUUTTTIIIIFFFUULLL"
"I imagined Tadashi’s voice to be higher-pitched, but he’s still friggin’ hot…"
"Hiro’s demonstration was so cool, I almost like physics or chemistry or whatever it is…"
"Tadashi NOOOOOOOOO"
"Baymax is so cute I could just squeeze all the air out of him so much he’d spend ten minute tryna re-inflate"
"Hairy baaaaabbbbyyyyy"
"Can GoGo have her own TV show where she just drives cars and rides bikes around the city and runs people over and stuff?"
"I wish Honey Lemon and Fred could be my best friends."
"Well dang"
"Did they have to show those Tadashi videos tho" (This is when those tissues would have come in handy...)
"Honey Lemon reminds me of Rapunzel or Starfire or I dunno but I still wish she could be real"
"Well dang this is emotional and all but HURRY UP HIRO"
"Well, that was a cute movie. And the Fall Out Boy end credits ain’t too shabby, either."
And about those Fall Out Boy end credits...
Yeah. I did have some complaints, but I was able to skate over them, because the movie was just plain awesome.
So, where should I begin?
Let's begin with the animation. The very first scenes are a view of the fictional (but should totally be real) city of San Fransokyo at night, and man, is it beautiful. The bot fights looked pretty sick, too (don't worry, it's just an expression). And this is all before the beautiful Tadashi Hamada graces us with his presence.
The voice acting makes it even better. Tadashi's voice is heavenly, Hiro's voice is heavenly, and Maya-freaking-Rudolph is the voice of Aunt Cass. The rest of the cast, including Jamie Chung and Genesis Rodriguez, is amazing as well, and all of their voices fit their characters very well. I love how it wasn't a celebrity-led cast-- yeah, Maya Rudolph is pretty famous, but I liked hearing some underrated talents.
The characters were so diverse. On the main team, there is an Asian, a biracial Asian/white character, a black guy, and two white people. I was impressed because not only is this one of the few times Disney has had an Asian protagonist, but that protagonist is mixed! Biracials are highly misrepresented in media, so I'm glad Hiro and Tadashi are biracial.
Not only are the characters diverse in design, but they are also diverse in personality. Wasabi's the neat freak, GoGo is not one for small talk, Hiro is the prodigy, Honey Lemon is a total girly girl, and Fred provides the comic relief (and occasionally says something smart). And of course, Baymax is the huggable one. This made the crew very well-rounded and entertaining the whole way through.
Science can be so cool! I don't really like math or science, but I really enjoyed what I saw in this movie. I really hope that a little kid watches it and thinks, "wow. That's what I want to do someday. I want to go to college. I want to be an engineer. I want to change the world somehow."
F-E-M-I-N-I-S-M. I absolutely adore Honey Lemon. All of the characters are ones I'd befriend in a heartbeat, but if I had to pick a homegirl, it'd be Honey Lemon. Not necessarily because I have a low B in Chemistry right now and really need a tutor, but because she's so friendly and sweet. I especially love that she's super feminine (and even GoGo, while a "tough girl," is fairly feminine) and loves to wear makeup, high heels, cute clothes, put her hair up in cute buns, and wear cute gadgets (with at least something pink in it). It's even lightly (just lightly) implied that she could have had at least a slight crush on Tadashi, in my opinion. Their only exchanges were "TADASHI!" and him commenting on her experiment, but I still ship it. Point is, yeah she's stereotypically feminine, but don't mistake that for weakness! Women, even if they aren't like GoGo, can still kick some major booty. And she and GoGo are women in STEM-- a huge minority.
Also, I gotta give GoGo's "woman up" quote some credit. Just because.
The comedy was actually... funny. I hate to hate on Frozen, but I'mma have to. Unpopular opinion here: I can't stand Olaf. He annoys the living crap out of me. Everything about his character seemed so forced, and I didn't find him funny at all. I literally cringed every time he spoke. Not because of his voice actor, but because the writing for his character just wasn't funny to me. But, the comedy in Big Hero 6 was golden! I didn't think I was going to like this movie when I saw the preview at Maleficent, partially because I thought Baymax was going to be treated like Olaf-- dry comic relief with one or two touching moments every now and then. But it was the complete opposite-- Baymax was a touching character, with some giggles every now and then.
The comic relief that did it for me was Fred. He kinda seemed like a stoner to me... or just someone really dumb with bad hygiene ("one pair of underwear will last me four days. I go front, I go back, I go inside out, then front and back"). But, everything about him screams "crazy college kid who needs to be accompanied by his parents," even if he isn't really a student at SFIT. Just... the things he says are totally hilarious, because they're things any 20-something guy would say! The way he interacts with the team members is hilarious, too-- the way he gets on Gogo's nerves, how he annoys Wasabi when he makes his own theme music, his and Honey Lemon's commentary during the car chase-- it was just brilliant and utterly entertaining. And, obviously Baymax brings comic relief to the table as well, but he's more huggable than anything.
The villain had a good motive. I'll leave room for you to find out who he or she is on your own, but I'll have you know that they had an interesting motive. And, even after that, he/she refuses to take responsibility for a certain character's death, saying it wasn't their fault. I think that is their way of defending their self against their emotions, because they know they are responsible and they could never live with accepting that, so they just don't. All I promise is that when you find out why the villain is being the villain, you won't completely hate them.
Three words for you: Fall. Out. Boy. I really like Fall Out Boy, and "Immortals" is kind of my favorite song at the moment, so I think it was a good pick for the movie.
Three more words: Buy. This. Movie. Believe me, you won't regret it. Just go and buy it. And then you can watch it over... and over... and over again. For best results, watch with a pizza, some garlic butter, and a box of tissues. Because you WILL cry... but you'll enjoy it.
The villain had a good motive. I'll leave room for you to find out who he or she is on your own, but I'll have you know that they had an interesting motive. And, even after that, he/she refuses to take responsibility for a certain character's death, saying it wasn't their fault. I think that is their way of defending their self against their emotions, because they know they are responsible and they could never live with accepting that, so they just don't. All I promise is that when you find out why the villain is being the villain, you won't completely hate them.
Three words for you: Fall. Out. Boy. I really like Fall Out Boy, and "Immortals" is kind of my favorite song at the moment, so I think it was a good pick for the movie.
Three more words: Buy. This. Movie. Believe me, you won't regret it. Just go and buy it. And then you can watch it over... and over... and over again. For best results, watch with a pizza, some garlic butter, and a box of tissues. Because you WILL cry... but you'll enjoy it.
