How Hiro Became a Hero

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!