Big Hero 6

I think I liked this villain twist more than the one used in Frozen because it actually had some Frozen. People try to use evidence like one line from Love Is An Open Door and his quick proposal, but it wasn't really concrete.

Meanwhile, this movie had Callaghan's resentment toward Krei and his speech about how Krei alwayss tries to cut corners. And then it's actually followed up on to show that it really was foreshadowing. Plus, Callaghan's reveal didn't come at the very end, so the audience had more time to absorb and understand the twist.

Removing Hans from Frozen would change basically nothing about the movie.

The same can't be said for Yokai.

Just for the fact that he actually has a reason to exist, setting aside all the other things, he's better than Hans in basically every possible way.

edited 19th Nov '14 12:56:43 AM by Eagal

Line nothing; his entire part in that song is a love ballad to Arendelle the country. He even makes a sweeping gesture at the countryside when he says, "With you, I've found my place." He spends the whole song saying, "I'm only marrying you because I want your nation!"

Callahan's a fine villain, but there's nothing wrong with Hans either. This is not a competition.

I have reasoning for why Hans needs to be there, leaving aside actual implementation, but not here.

With this movie, there are only three real options for who the bad guy is, so the who is less relevant than the why, in my opinion. Alistair Krei, even if you haven't been spoiled, got pushed so hard as the obvious culprit (Even Fred says it it's him outright) that he pretty much becomes a red herring, so the tension is which of the other two it is, and of course, why.

Not a knock, just an observation. The actual motive genuinely surprised me. I had heard the name Abigail on tumblr, but I just thought they were making up a fanfiction because that was the context I saw it in.

edited 19th Nov '14 7:30:24 AM by edvedd

Wait, so there's Krei and Callaghan, but who was the third?

...

.... okay I am feeling REALLY stupid that only this SECOND is the first time I realized that Gideon is voiced by Flapjack!! Wow a TON of super-star cartoon creators in this GF cast!

Going by Youtube comment sleuths and the odd Tumblr post, the third man was Tadashi.

Seriously, every other comment on the trailers said it was SO OBVIOUS.

edited 19th Nov '14 7:51:22 AM by edvedd

I completely expected Yokai to be Tadashi and not at all because of the trailers; you don't put your villain in a mask unless you want his identity to be a huge shock to the audience. Callahan never crossed my mind, and I figured it wouldn't be Krei because the characters were already speculating it, so Tadashi just seemed right.

I was pleasantly surprised that it was Callahan.

edited 19th Nov '14 7:53:50 AM by TobiasDrake

As far as I could see, there wasn't ever a reason for him to be the villain mentioned or implied anywhere, and I can't think of an explanation that would be even slightly satisfying. With the actual culprit, there is some signposting if you know what you're looking for.

Also, Yokai was never actually called Yokai anywhere in the movie, was he?

edited 19th Nov '14 8:04:45 AM by edvedd

The only explanation I can think of is that he was brainwashed and turned into someone else's pawn and sicked on Hiro, ala Kane or Shadow Moon

I point that out here on the first post I made right after I saw the movie.

Agreed, but it wouldn't be the first movie to Ass Pull its twist.

I'm not saying Tadashi should have been Yokai, I'm just saying that's what I was expecting.

Again, Tadashi being Yokai is basically equivalent to all those people who screamed "Fix It Felix Jr. is the obvious bad guy!" in Wreck It. He's so obviously not the villain, that it's almost impossible for him not to be one.

Hans is the complete opposite of this for that reason- a very obvious good guy who becomes an extremely obvious bad guy. The moment they introduced Kristoff in Frozen, I knew Hans was either going to die a heroic sacrifice or become the villain. The only real surprise I had with the character was that Disney squeezed his entire reveal and motivation within the span of one minute with zero set up

edited 19th Nov '14 9:35:20 AM by Mattonymy

Except his reveal WAS built up. They were just very subtle about it.

Agree to disagree, but I'm trying to push past that conversation.

Regardless, I tend to dissuade myself from very obvious black and white villains (Turbo and Facilier being the obvious exceptions). Ones like Yokai or any from PIXAR or Studio Ghibli's films are more interesting specifically because I find them more complex and humanly relatable.

edited 19th Nov '14 11:56:02 AM by Mattonymy

What about some of the other famous Disney villains? Like Scar, Jafar, Maleficient (until they decided to rewrite her as a misunderstood good guy UGH), and Chernabog?

So Yama is the name of the big gangster?

Just came back from seeing the film. what did I think?

Loved. Every. Moment.

I may analyze it more later, but right now I'm just basking on that Disney magic. That's why I go to the movies- to submerge myself in the story and FX (and share the experience with my loved ones.) I point this out because I have a tendency to criticize to the point it sometimes affects my enjoyment, but thankfully not this time.

Yes. It means mountain. Because he's fat.

Thinking back, Hiro mentioning Callahan's expertise with whatever the technology his microbots were based on probably was foreshadowing.

Look, you can't deny that concept art makes the two look extremely similar.

I was being facetious. If GoGo can be an expy of Ryuko, then I have no issue with people claiming Yokai looks similar to Deathstrike.

That's the thing. Even as a kid, I never really knew I wasn't supposed to root for them. They just seemed much more funny and entertaining than the heroes so they didn't seem threatening or imposing, just badass and awesome. I still think Hades is a much better lead character than the boring bland eponymous guy they gave the movie to. Kronk and Yzma are significantly more entertaining than John Goodman and David Spade as a llama.

edited 20th Nov '14 9:22:35 AM by Mattonymy

OK, enough basking, time for serious movie analysis!

The Story: Thanks to Mattonimy, I knew all the spoilers ahead but it didn't affect my enjoyment at all. I think it's the best Disney (not including Pixar) movie in years. The immersion in a world that was familiar yet exotic was total, the tropes were obvious but thoroughly enjoyable. I felt satisfied by the end yet also can see plenty of potential for sequels or even a series (Hey Disney! BH6 the Animated Series, make it happen! It could explore so much about the rest of the cast!)

Visual FX: EVERYTHING looked great, from San Fransokyo (still don't like that name) to the character designs and even Hiro's toys. I was surprised however, that some of the more famous moments from the trailers (such as Hiro creating Baymax's red armor) were not included.

Music and Voices: This movie rocked, though I was surprised that "On Top Of The World" was not included. Between this and the missing scenes above, I wonder if people had the nagging sensation they were missing something? No big deal of course.

Note: I saw the Latino Spanish dubbed version. There was also an English (with subtitles) version available here, and that's what I usually watch first, but we arrived too late for it so we went for the other one instead. I don't regret it; the Spanish cast did a great job (and as noted, Genesis Rodriguez also voiced Honey Lemon in Spanish.) Still I'm definitely watching this again in English someday.

Favorite Moment: "Tadashi. Is. Here." *sniff*

Not-So-Favorite-Moment: No big deal, but they did really had to waste Stan Lee's cameo on a dirty underwear joke?? Oh well at least it could be used as a link to The Incredibles.

Well, when you're a superhero, you gotta make the most out of your underwear, you're gonna be running around in it all day, and you can't exactly send in your super suit to the dry cleaners, can you now?

This has been bugging me since I saw it but are Big Hero 6's identities supposed to be secret to San Fransokyo?Because Wasabi,Gogo and Honey Lemon don't sound like regular civilian names and more like super hero names.Plus I'd think people would be able to recognize Baymax because he was out in the general public a few times in the film.