We've got a sci-fi double feature this weekend on ZVTS, and first up is Disney's Big Hero 6.
Loosely based on the 2008 Marvel comic series of the same name (and I mean loosely, the comic had Marvel's two iconic Japanese mutants, Silver Samurai and Sunfire, teaming up with these distinctly less-than-serious heroes) this film adaptation takes place in the metropolis of San FranSokyo, a very pretty mashup of San Francisco and Tokyo, which ends up being the 7th member of the team the way Gotham City is in any of Christopher Nolan's Batman films.
Right off the bat we meet Hiro Hamada, brilliant teenage robotic genius, doing what any robotics prodigy who graduated high school at a young age would do, which is hustling thugs in an underground robot fighting arena for scads of cash. When the hustle goes bad, Hiro's bacon is pulled from the fire by his college-age brother Tadashi, who is a robotics genius himself at nearby San FranSokyo Institute of Technology.
Tadashi promises their Aunt Cass, who has cared for them for the last ten years, to try to set young Hiro on the straight and narrow by showing off his latest invention at SFIT, a goofily lovable heathcare robot named Baymax. Meeting Baymax and Tadashi's college friends, extreme speed junkie and magnetics master Go Go, bubbly Latina and chemistry whiz Honey Lemon, neat freak and laser whiz Wasabi, and science fanboy and school mascot Fred, all mentored by robotics professor Dr. Robert Callaghan, is exactly what Hiro needs to put his mind towards a truly amazing invention that will change the world.
But we wouldn't have a super hero origin story without some grim tidings and heartbreaking loss, and that's exactly what happens to Hiro as he loses both his marvelous invention and his brother in a tragic accident. It's up to Hiro, Baymax and their new friends to solve the mystery behind Tadashi's death and save San FranSokyo.
Personally, any hero team that's two-thirds people of color, with a terrifically endearing robot, and just one white guy is refreshing enough of a concept to warrant going to see this film. Both the kids and the adults in the theater had a blast, and hopefully we'll be seeing more of these guys in the future. It's a visually striking film and quite a lot of fun and I recommend at least a matinee ticket for the family.
Be on the lookout for a Stan Lee cameo, as always, and stick around for the post-credits scene.
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