Big Hero 6


Movies


Has anyone else seen this one? I saw it last weekend and it was great.


I saw it last weekend too.

Very good movie...though definitely the most predictable film I've seen in a very long time.

I mean I know it's a kid's movie, so I wasn't expecting big twists and turns to begin with, but usually Disney movies throw me SOME sort of curveball I didn't see coming.

Didn't affect my enjoyment, because it was still really well done, but worth mentioning I think.


I do hope that the side characters will get more character development if they do a sequel.

The Exchange

Rynjin wrote:


I mean I know it's a kid's movie, so I wasn't expecting big twists and turns to begin with, but usually Disney movies throw me SOME sort of curveball I didn't see coming.

Like putting a pair of hippies in a Hamlet movie?


I enjoyed it. The microbots were actually a pretty original take on a supervillain power, at least on film. Would probably see a sequel.


I wanted to like it. I was at the TOMORROWLAND/BIG HERO 6 panel at NYCC when they showed multiple clips of BIG HERO 6 and they did almost nothing to get me excited for the movie.

On the other hand I walked into that panel knowing NOTHING about TOMORROWLAND (other than it was being directed by Brad Bird)3 and after seeing an extended clip from THAT movie I cant wait until May.

Saw Big Hero 6 last week with the spouse and spawn and I remained unimpressed with it. It was easily the weakest and most predictable of the crop of new Disney movies thus far and that's including Frozen in that bunch. Loved WRECK-IT-RALPH though.


ShinHakkaider wrote:
. . . It was easily the weakest and most predictable of the crop of new Disney movies thus far and that's including Frozen in that bunch. Loved WRECK-IT-RALPH though.

Just out of curiosity, how would you make a children's movie unpredictable? How do you buck the "Good triumphs" and everybody who isn't evil gets to have a "Happy Ever After" without traumatizing a child?

I recently watched a three year old watch "How to Train Your Dragon" (...kind of age inappropriate, I know...) and the degree to which the child worried about Toothless and Hiccup surprised, endeared, and worried me all at once, especially during the near death scene at the end.


I like the movie though it is no Frozen or Wreck It Ralph. But to be honest I wasn't expecting it to be. I do hope it does well at the Box office.


Te'Shen wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
. . . It was easily the weakest and most predictable of the crop of new Disney movies thus far and that's including Frozen in that bunch. Loved WRECK-IT-RALPH though.

Just out of curiosity, how would you make a children's movie unpredictable? How do you buck the "Good triumphs" and everybody who isn't evil gets to have a "Happy Ever After" without traumatizing a child?

I recently watched a three year old watch "How to Train Your Dragon" (...kind of age inappropriate, I know...) and the degree to which the child worried about Toothless and Hiccup surprised, endeared, and worried me all at once, especially during the near death scene at the end.

Children, despite what popular culture would have most people think, are not made of paper. Nor are their psyches so fragile that they wouldn't be able to take a modicum of sadness or brutality in their entertainment.

The first 5 - 10 Min of FINDING NEMO?
The first 5 - 10 Min of UP?
The reveal of the fates of the other supers in THE INCREDIBLES.
The end of IRON GIANT?
The first 5 -10 of Bambi?
The end of HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON 2?

When we sat down to watch FINDING NEMO for the first time that opening took my wife and I completely off guard, but the rest of the movie was a prime example of getting you invested in the main characters and REALLY wanting things to work out well for them BECAUSE of what happens in that opening sequence.

There was, for me at least, no investment in any of the characters (in BIG HERO 6) beyond knowing that the main character was going to go through the classic heroic journey.

One of the things that I really liked about the first HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON was that after the mid movie reveal, the stakes FELT high. And in the end the hero doesn't come out of it completely unscathed. His victory COSTS him something.

In WRECK IT RALPH, while a bit predicable (I figured out that someone wasn't exactly who they said they were but not WHO)also had characters who's motivations I understood and wanted to see them fulfilled. What surprised me a little were how high the stakes got and how far the main character was willing to go to save everyone. That's kinda what I mean by predictability.


Te'Shen wrote:
ShinHakkaider wrote:
. . . It was easily the weakest and most predictable of the crop of new Disney movies thus far and that's including Frozen in that bunch. Loved WRECK-IT-RALPH though.

Just out of curiosity, how would you make a children's movie unpredictable? How do you buck the "Good triumphs" and everybody who isn't evil gets to have a "Happy Ever After" without traumatizing a child?

I recently watched a three year old watch "How to Train Your Dragon" (...kind of age inappropriate, I know...) and the degree to which the child worried about Toothless and Hiccup surprised, endeared, and worried me all at once, especially during the near death scene at the end.

Even keeping "The good guy wins, woo!" and "Everyone's happy!" (which is, honestly, rare in Disney movies anyway) you can throw in some unexpected curves.

Spoiler:

No, what I'm talking about is that the main plot beats are telegraphed from a mile away.

You know immediately after they show up and start moving that the microbots are going to be stolen and used for evil. "Kid invents groundbreaking machine, bad guy steals it for his own purposes" is a well worn trope.

You know immediately after the fire happens that Professors whatsit was going to have survived. Given the only way he could have done that is with the conveniently introduced super machine, you also know he's going to be the bad guy.

As soon as Hiro adds that red chip with the skull on it, you know at some point Baymax is going to go all Iron Giant for a minute somewhere in the movie.

Once they get to the lab and show that woman, you immediately know she was important to Professor whatsisface, and now he wants revenge. Because I wasn't sure of the timeline I called wife instead of daughter, but same plot beat regardless.

By that same token, you also knows she's still alive. I mean, it was a PORTAL, and she never came out the other end.

As soon as the portal opens over the lab/corporation/whatever you can immediately figure out they're going to need to go into the portal for some reason, find the girl, and Baymax isn't making it out...but of course all he needs is the chip, so that's easy enough to assume it will get out so the kids can have their happy ending.

I called each of these things (out loud, though quietly enough I hopefully didn't mar anyone else' experience) as they came up.

That doesn't change the fact that it was a WELL DONE avalanche of cliches and comic book tropes, or that the characters were likable and relatable, the animation was really nice, the action was good, the humor was well written and placed, and they did a good job making you care about Baymax...but it was certainly very predicatble, even for a kid's movie. I'd seen all of these things before by the time I was 10, in books and movies and tv.


While there were predictable bits, there WERE a few zigs and zags from the usual conventions.

Spoiler:

The "rich corporatist" NOT being the bad guy was one of the more surprising. Not surprising in that it was hidden by the movie (because, honestly, why would he jet around on microbots when he owns entire city blocks, his own airplane, etc, etc), but that the story DIDN'T make him the main bad guy like what seems to be the fad in so many other films nowadays.

His team not immediately turning on him after the 'rampage' and him having to carefully earn their trust back was a welcome relief, too. They realized, rightly, that he just got carried away and were there for him when he repented. A nice touch.

I will agree with "Abigail". Until they told us otherwise, I just assumed she was his wife and was slightly surprised, but it didn't really affect the plot either way.

Knowing that Baymax would 'survive' was no surprise either. Didn't expect the 'how' that occurred, simply expected Hiro to create a portal of his own and just pull him out with a robotic arm or something and recharge him. "Can't kill a robot" and all that.

---

However, despite all that, the film was still FUN, both for the story and for the visuals. It had its heartfelt moments. And, while Hiro didn't lose a limb like another protagonist, it WAS a good growing up story where he learned, changed, and found the acceptance he never even knew he wanted.

That, of course, isn't to say the movie isn't without its plot-holes, of which there were plenty.

Spoiler:

They found his brother's body, but NOT the teachers? Shouldn't that have been a clue?

For a supposed 'genius', Hiro was pretty foolish for his solution. "Oh, a guy has my microbots and the control transmitter? Obviously, I have to make my friends into superheroes to stop it!"
No... you just build a radio transmitter, set it to the same frequency the mask uses but at twice (or more) the power, then follow your little bot when he activates them again. With a flip of the transmitter's switch, the signal is jammed and all the bad guy's microbots lock in place (or possibly do whatever they were previously doing, in which case, sidestep out of the way and carry on). Get Baymax to bodyslam onto him (no need for armor, so it won't break anything, and you didn't do the 'superhero team' route anyway), take the mask back, put it on, flip the radio off.
BAM! Control restored. Command the microbots to put the baddy into a giant hamster ball and roll him down to the police station. Maybe call your buddy Krei along the way and tell him you caught the saboteur. I'm sure he'd be happy to be a character witness.
Smarter, simpler, but would have led to a MUCH shorter movie!

---

But even with them, it was well worth the price of admission. I hope they do more.


Spoiler:

Ehm, Krei WAS the bad guy. He wasn't the supervillain, but he was definitely A bad guy. He ignored fluctuations in the technobabble that indicated bad shit was going down because he wanted his nice military cotract, and (to his eyes) killed a woman.

His greed was basically the catalyst for the whole plot.


Spoiler:

Please note my post:
Quote:
The "rich corporatist" NOT being the bad guy
Quote:
but that the story DIDN'T make him the main bad guy like what seems to be the fad in so many other films nowadays.

He was not the bad guy. He was not even the MAIN bad guy. He was 'a' bad guy, but it's not even really down to 'evil' or even 'supervillain' levels. He's the more casually greedy and/or selfish, with a bunch of minions who apparently have no problem with carrying through on his orders or not standing up. 'Bout 70 years ago there were some trials that had harsh things to say about that. I can't remember if "Abby" was told about the portal problem, but if so she should have said "Yeah, no, I'm refusing to do that." Or Portal Technicians #1-25. Even the General thought it was a bad idea, but his disapproval just egged Krei on. He was above these people (Well, "Abby" was the only innocent since she wasn't putting anyone else's life in danger), but he held no power to force them or kill them if they refused, and there were plenty of other bad guys to go around, on pretty much every rung of the morality ladder.

He wasn't in it to dominate others, for the lulz, or to seek revenge and murderize peeps. Callaghan, on the other hand, was determined to murder Krei and didn't care about any other bystanders who were in the way. He was even determined to personally kill at least 4/5 other living people in order to accomplish his goal. He didn't care if Hiro had proof it wasn't his fault. He was just in "I will kill you and everyone who stands in my way" mode.


something also to consider is that...kids are not necessarily as genre savvy as adults.

The kids behind me were very "vocal" about what they thought was going to happen, and completely guessed wrong on the bad guy.

I dunno...I am having trouble thinking of a single theatrical release big budget animated movie that actually surprised me about a plot development.


Usually you have to at least think about it a minute though. It just clicked immediately for everything this time, with no attempt at obfuscation.


I wish the villain was his brother, that would have been interesting. Though having the scientist's daughter(or some other family member) as the villain disguised as a guy would have been cool as well.


I just saw this earlier this afternoon and I thought it was very good. I can see from watching it what all the articles meant about the cutting-edge animation process and the amount of computer power used to render it.


I just saw merchandise in the local department store. I liked the art-style and wondered if it was some new movie or series...

My 3 1/2 y.o . son liked the masks...


ShinHakkaider wrote:


The end of IRON GIANT?

That is a great ending. "...Superman..."


Finally saw it. I loved the fact that they used mostly current tech refined for a few more years.

Swarm robots - reality
Mentally controlling computers - reality
3d printing - reality
Balloon wind turbines - being prototyped

Its a science fiction superhero story inspired by actual modern technology. Sure, the superhero costumes were fantastical in what they could do, but so what. It was a fantastical story built off of solid ground.

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