I don’t think I’ve kept it as much of a secret that I’ve
been gravely disappointed in Disney Feature Animation for the past year.
However, I did see Big Hero 6 last
month when it came out and I will admit that it satiated some of my displeasure (although at this point they’d have to go to
some drastic lengths in order to clear up all of my displeasure).
Here are some of the things that impressed me about BH6:
A simple,
straightforward plot. I don’t know if you've noticed this, but Disney doesn't seem to do so well when they try to complicate their story lines. A few
good examples of this are Frozen, Brother Bear, Home on the Range and Chicken
Little. Basically if they try to have too many things going on at once it
becomes fogged up. Let me highlight what I’m talking about with the following
example:
In Brother Bear
there is the main character who is embarrassed by the sacred religious totem he
receives, gets in a fight with his brothers, turns into a bear, befriends (ish)
a baby bear, goes on a mystical quest to regain his human form, discovers that
he killed baby bear’s mom, doesn't even make the minimum requirement of
apologizing for murder to baby bear, doesn't patch things up with his still
living brother, and decides to remain a bear. In the meantime Bear-boy’s
brother goes on a revenge quest in order to kill the bear he presumes killed
his brother not knowing that the bear he’s set out to kill actually is his
brother in bear form and when he discovers that said bear actually is his
brother he decides not to kill him but he also doesn't take the time to patch
things up with him and instead chooses to sweep the whole nasty drama under the
rug. On top of this baby bear decides to blindly follow a stranger around in
the hopes that this stranger will be able to reunite him with the mom that he doesn't know is dead yet and whom this stranger actually killed and when he
does discover that this stranger he’s put all his trust into actually is a
murderer he shrugs it off for some reason and decides to continue to chum
around with the guy that killed his mom (stranger danger much?). Also, there
are moose with crazy Canadian accents wandering around for unknown reasons reinforcing
all stereotypes about Canada that are in the book. Not to mention the
mysterious clan wise woman who shows up for maybe five minutes and is never
heard from again, the totem animals with their vague symbolism that is a far
stretch in order to make any of them fit into the story, and the changing
screen sizes and you have a nice mess of complicating a plot far more than is
humanly necessary. I mean, what moral are you supposed to get from this story?
Instead of solving your problems sweep them under a rug? Take lightly the sacred
things in your life whether they be your religion or your familial
relationships? Don’t own up to the mistakes you’ve made in the past? Who’s side
are we, as the audience supposed to be on? The murder’s? The vengeful sibling’s?
The naïve bear’s?
This is what happens when you try to shove too much into a
story: a confusing, forgettable mess.
Now then, BH6 deals with some complex themes and concerns
but presents them in a simple and straightforward manner. Doing this makes the
characters and their emotional turmoil a lot more relatable to a general
audience. The plot focuses on the issues of one main character (not three) and
how he deals with them. Hiro is an overly intelligent kid who is full of
himself (like any overly intelligent kid I’ve ever met) he’s also acquainted
with loss and as a result he relies on his brother for a lot of his nurture and
support. Which is why the loss of his brother is such a huge blow (also, you
know, losing someone important to you is always a huge blow…). So the whole
point of this movie is to watch as Hiro learns to cope with loss. It’s actually
pretty inspiring to watch as he accepts his brother’s death and tries to honor
his legacy by always helping those in need.
Believable(ish )
technology. I’m sure all of you sat through the credits in this movie…not
only to get to the extra little tidbit at the end but as a way of saying thank
you to the numerous people that worked hard to make this movie worth watching.
And I’m sure as all of you were sitting through the credits you were actually
reading them and taking the time to consider how grueling it must be to put an
animated feature together. And I’m sure as you were reading the credits you
noticed the incredibly long list of universities, libraries, and research
facilities that were listed as places where the animators went to make sure all
of their science was plausible and accurate. At least…plausible and accurate enough.
This is why the villain uses microbots instead of an earlier concept of some
sort of super suit or why Honey-Lemon’s Power-Purse isn’t full of micro-sized
interdimensional wormholes but is a miniature factory for producing her
chemical balls (because that’s marginally more plausible).
Ok, so not all the science in this movie is entirely
coherent. The teleportation device is a little far-fetched and the idea that if
someone were caught in a malfunctioning teleporter they would be safely tucked
away in a comatose state in hyperspace is a bit too much to plausibly wrap my
head around. But at least it was theoretically researched instead of completely
made up.
Cultural mash-ups.
I like the idea that one day in the distant future we’ll live in a society so
intermixed that they’ll change the name of San Francisco into something more
Asian-friendly (instead of the Spanish-friendly name that it currently rocks).
I feel like they mostly did this because the animation industry has a big crush
on Japan right now. And can you blame them? Like many people I suffer from
acute Asia envy.
All joking aside, I think this cultural mash-up is really
well handled. The Asian references are so casual that it makes them read as
natural. Nothing in the background of the movie is over explained or hyped up.
It doesn’t draw attention to itself; it’s just present, the way it would
actually be in real life. This gives the movie a sense of reality lacking in
other movies that attempt to do the same thing.
Baymax. I almost
think this one goes without saying. Talk about a well-designed character just
ready to be converted into a fluffy plush. And he’s actually incorporated into
the story instead of tacked on in a blatant attempt to make mass-market plush
dolls as a way to milk the general public for one more dollar (I’m looking at
YOU Olaf!). And let’s not forget his adorable, child-like personality and that
very fine way of performing a fist-bump… It brings to mind fond memories of
myself and my darling sister Penny during our high school days.
Now then, here are the things with which I was unimpressed
by in BH6:
Boring character designs.
This is only a partial grievance. It’s been a long standing tradition at Disney
that the main character looks like an everyday person: no real defining
characteristics, kind of bland. They do this intentionally as a way to make the
main character more relatable. That way you can easily swap out the main
character for yourself. That’s cool and all but sometimes I wish that main
character’s face had more personality to it, give him a scar or a broken nose
or something.
And speaking of character design, let’s talk about
Honey-Lemon. Don’t get me wrong, I really like her design. She’s like
Pop-Culture-Nerd Barbie and I like that a lot. You get her personality perfectly
just by looking at her. However, if this quote from the character designer for
Honey-Lemon is anything to go by there’s just one thing missing from her look:
“In terms of design
she was the toughest to crack.. How to design a girl who is of latino descent,
loves japanese fashion, while also is a geek about chemical engineering?"
Ok, I can get that this lady is into Japanese fashion and
culture, I can totally get behind the love of chemical engineering; the part
that I have a hard time wrapping my head around is that Latino descent bit.
Really?? I mean….REALLY?? This girl’s got a white complexion, blonde hair, and
green eyes. I get that there are some people down in Argentina that probably
look like this but for the most part when I think of Latino descent green eyes
and blonde hair aren’t defining traits I consider. She looks more like a So-Cal
beach girl than she does anything else.
And speaking of cultural confusion, Hiro’s aunt is very
obviously a white lady. I’ve already mentioned that I really like the culture
mash going on in this movie and I get that it’s obviously a racially mixed
family and that’s cool…kudos to them and all that. I also understand that it’s
not necessarily viable to the plot that it be explained which of Hiro’s parents
is Asian and which is not and in fact taking the time to do so would detract
from the plot and remove the audience from the artificial reality created by
the movie. So really this is something I want cleared up for my own curiosity.
Which parent was of Japanese descent?
Here are a few miscellaneous things for your consideration:
Did anyone else think that it was outrageously cool that
Hiro casually has a 3D printer in his garage?
I was very smitten with the fact that the whole hero
entourage’s outfits didn’t look as polished as say Peter Parker’s does (and
that’s something I’ve always wondered about: how does a teenage kid with the
resources that Peter has come up with a perfectly polished spandex unitard?).
It further heightens the sense of reality that everyone has these great
superhero costumes with a handmade/cosplay sort of look to them. I mean, Hiro
wears regular jeans with his outfit.
And speaking of Hiro’s costume, does it bother anyone else
that he doesn’t provide himself with any other protection than a very
detachable robot? I mean, for the most part Baymax does a really great job of
defending Hiro but there was at least one part during the climactic fight scene
where I was just waiting for Hiro to pull a back-up defense plan out of his
pocket and he didn’t. Lame!
Well, it feels like this post is a bit more long winded than
usual. I guess I had a lot more to say about Big Hero 6 than I thought I would. In any case, it feels like an
excellent way to wrap up my blog for 2014.
Until next time, Happy Holidays!
