Eh. Half of me wants to see this movie because it looks fun and action-packed, while the other of half me feels pretty annoyed by it.
I know it sounds like a petty complaint, but I find the film's main character repulsively saccharine in his design. He's been deliberately designed to look like a cutesy emo boy band hunk, with his shiny black spiky hair, his button nose, his big, bright eyes, his skater clothing. It's just seems so artificial, pure pandering to both the cosplay and shipping crowds. Animated movies like The Incredibles, Ratatouille, Up, Despicable Me and Arthur Christmas proved that you can take goofy characters with exaggerated body features and still make them so likeable and real. Hiro just looks so gratuitously, off-puttingly pristine. I'm sure he makes tween girls swoon, but he does nothing for me whatsoever.
Hell, I can just imagine the Disney writers sitting around a table while coming up with this character:
Writer 1: So, we're making a new family movie called Big Hero 6. What kind of lead character should we use for this movie? Writer 2: Hmmm. What about a kid who looks a bit goofy and unpolished, with slightly scruffy or outdated clothing, and an interesting and identifiable personality? Writer 3: What?! Oh, no! Of course not! That's waaay too realistic! He needs to look like a coolest kid on the block. Today's kids won't be able to relate to kid that looks just like an ACTUAL kid. Oh, no! Let's give him cool spiky hair, an action figure face and pop punk clothing! Writer 1: Good idea! And we'll need to attract teen girls, so let's make him look adorable, like one of the members of One Direction! Writer 2: But... won't he look too much like every bland "totally awesome heroic kid" character that we've seen in animated films of the last ten years? Writer 3: Yeah, he will! This'll encourage shippers to pair him up with every other animated hot character ever! He'll be a hit! Girls all over the globe will fall in love with him, while boys will want to BE him! Money, money, money, money!
You get the idea. I'd take chubby, kooky and imaginative Russel from "Up" over this Hiro twerp ANY day of the week.
TT 454: You can't judge a book by it's cover. Hiro may look saccharine, but he's not really that sweet of a kid. You don't know what he actually does in the movie besides what is shown in the trailers, and one of those actions is anything but saccharine.
... I thought he was designed to look like a typical teenage...... anime character! Which only made the movie appeal to me more.
TT 454: I see your point that there are a lot of attractive animated characters today. I myself am annoyed that they may change the looks from the original works just to get genders of the opposite sex to watch the movie. But please don't let the looks of the main character keep you from watching something you might enjoy.
OK, I might check it out. Also, I just found out that Big Hero 6 is a comic book adaptation. I thought it was an original Disney movie. Thus, I can no longer blame Disney for Hiro's pretty boy appearance, it was clearly taken from the comic book.
Actually, not entirely. Disney took the MARVEL comic........ and just kept the character names. Baymax looks NO-THING like the Baymax from the comics! The characterizations and personalities of everyone is barely from the comic. While this movie is family fun, the comic was racist in hindsight, had a ton for mature elements, and even some struggling romances!
Also, didn't MOST animated films since the 30's star attractive people??
My reasoning for disliking Hiro's design is not because he's "attractive" it's because he looks artificial. By this, I mean that he looks like he came off of an assembly line that makes characters that tick all the most obvious boxes. Spiky emo hairstyle? Check. Cool kid street clothing? Check. Cute baby face? Check. Nerdy personality? Check. It's so unoriginal, with no risks taken. Disney cannot improve unless they take risks. With "Wreck-It-Ralph", they did. Not everything worked, but the risk factor was there.
Hiro looks like he walked right out of a One Direction album cover. Just imagine what "Up" would have been like if Russell had been the town heartthrob. Imagine if Vanellope from "Wreck-It-Ralph" looked like a young Barbie, or if Gru from "Despicable Me" had been a beach hunk. If you can imagine what they would look like, you might see the problem. I don't completely hate Hiro, I just feel like this movie could be better if the lead character wasn't so "Look how cute and cool I am! Check out my awesome hair and adorable Disney face! I'm adorable!" If I were a kid today watching Big Hero 6, I'd probably be more disturbed by him than awed by him.
TT 454: Disney cannot improve unless they take risks.
Well, let me tell you something, they took a pretty big risk with Hiro (again, his action that was anything but saccharine). Just watch the movie before calling Hiro a bad character.
Crazy thought, but I want to throw it out there:
Maybe the (Watsonian) reason Hiro looks like a contemporary teen idol is because he is a contemporary teen and thus dresses and styles his hair in accordance with the sensibilities of his age group, emulating the stars they admire.
Hiro starts the movie by scamming bruisers in illegal street fights for big money. How does that make him a "sweet kid"???
—R.J.
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Can't Wait for the DVD!
Big Hero 6 is by far a masterpiece in Disney cinema. The animation is glorious, the acting is stunning, everything here has minimal flaws.
The settings seen in this film are so expansive and detailed, you actually have to give a hand to the animators for such hard work. San Fransokyo feels almost real. The animation, from movements to elemental effects, are believable. The soundtrack is perfect, nothing too flashy or loud, nothing too depressing.
The main character (who is given a amazing performance by Ryan Potter) is interesting. He's still a kid, and his feelings and emotions are played realistically, not ramped up for drama. He doesn't spend the movie as a moping mess, he's just a bit drawn into himself. His relationship with Baymax is slow but steady, a sort of reliance deal that really has you feeling good.
My favorite thing is that this is a perfect movie for everyone. There's a ton of action, but also some drama, and also some light-felt humor. None of it outweighs the other. You don't watch it missing some element that you had wanted. It's like a mix between a Marvel movie, a who-dunnit mystery, a tragedy and a comedy.
This movie is also very emotional. I kid you not when I say that this could rival Pixar's Up in levels of Tearjerking abilities. The emotions are so real and genuine, that you actually feel for the characters. You know what it's like to be them.
My only issue with this film is perhaps how the side characters are pushed away...? Yes, the story's about Hiro and Baymax, not the others, but they had so much advertising popularity that I was disappointed when they left on one-note personalities. You have the fanboy, the clean freak, the tomboy, the girly girl...and that's it. That's all they are. I'm grateful that the movie didn't follow the chock-full-of-subplots issue, but you get the feeling that the characters are there only as plot devices.
10/10. Buying the DVD the second it hits stores. DO NOT MISS THIS.