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MOVIE REVIEW

Big Hero 6

MPA Rating: PG-Rating (MPA) for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements.

Reviewed by: Alexander Malsan
CONTRIBUTOR

Moral Rating: Better than Average
Moviemaking Quality:
Primary Audience: Kids Family
Genre: Animation Sci-fi Action Superhero Comedy 3D
Length: 1 hr. 48 min.
Year of Release: 2014
USA Release: November 7, 2014 (wide—3,700+ theaters)
DVD: February 24, 2015
Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures click photos to ENLARGE Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures
Relevant Issues
Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

superheroes

robots

group of true friends

the power that lies in true friendships

mourning, grief, loss of brother

Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

the importance of family

bravery

self-sacrifice

love

Copyright, Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Why does God allow innocent people to suffer? Answer

ORIGIN OF BAD—How did bad things come about? Answer

Did God make the world the way it is now? What kind of world would you create? Answer


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Featuring Ryan Potter … Hiro Hamada (voice)
Scott Adsit … Baymax (voice)
Jamie Chung … Go Go Tomago (voice)
T.J. Miller … Fred (voice)
Genesis Rodriguez … Honey Lemon (voice)
Damon Wayans Jr.Wasabi (voice)
Maya RudolphAunt Cass (voice)
James CromwellProfessor Robert Callaghan (voice)
Alan TudykAlistair Krei (voice)
Charles Adler … Yokai (voice)
Daniel Henney … Tadashi Hamada (voice)
Marcella Lentz-Pope … Additional Voices (voice)
Katie Lowes … Abigail Callaghan (voice)
Mike Powers … Actor (voice)
David Shaughnessy … Heathcliff (voice)
Director Don Hall
Chris Williams
Producer Walt Disney Animation Studios
Walt Disney Pictures
Distributor

This is the story of two brothers, Hiro and Tadashi. Hiro and Tadashi are not your average brothers. In fact, you might say they’re geniuses. Hiro and Tadashi are from a ficitional city called San Fransokyo (a blend of San Francisco and Tokyo). Hiro uses his intelligence (having graduated high school at the age of 13) to hustle competitors in Robot Wars. Tadashi, however, wants to use his profound knowledge to better society through his invention, Bayamax, a large, inflatable, robot nurse.

Tadashi notices the potential in Hiro and decides to bring him to his work place. After spending time with Tadashi’s coworkers and in the various labs, Hiro desperately asks his brother’s help in getting a job there. So, Tadashi and Hiro work together and participate in an inventor’s fair at the school, introducing the world to Hiro’s microbots (a tool that will revolutionize the way the world builds).

***SLIGHT SPOILER*** As Tadashi and Hiro are leaving though, a fire breaks out during the fair. Tadashi goes into the burning building to save someone but perishes in the fire. ***END SPOILER***

Time passes, and Hiro discovers his microbot (a remain from the fire) pulling somewhere. When he arrives, he notices a warehouse full of his microbots and uncovers a plot involving their use to destroy San Fransokyo. It will take Hiro, Bayamax, and all his friends to stop this mysterious villain before it’s too late.

You know how filmmakers tend to build up a lot of undeserved hype for a movie? “Big Hero 6” is not that kind of movie. “Big Hero 6” is worth the hype that has surrounded it. It has been so refreshing to see Disney return to its roots in creating family-friendly, humorous, children’s films again. For a while, I lost faith in the Disney company. My belief had been that in becoming the mega-billion dollar corporation they have become, they lost sight of what was important, their audience—what Walt himself had devoted his entire existence to achieve. But after seeing “Big Hero 6” (and other recent Disney films, like “Saving Mr. Banks”), my faith has been restored.

“Big Hero 6” is not geared toward children… it’s geared to EVERYONE. There’s a lot to take away from “Big Hero 6”: the importance of family, the power that lies in true friendships, bravery, self-sacrifice and love. Without giving TOO much away, there is one particular scene, shortly after Tadashi’s death, where Tadashi’s friends (who also become Hiro’s friends) send him a video chat, showing genuine concern about how he’s coping with the loss and that they miss him.

Violence: As you can imagine, “Big Hero 6” is an action movie, and so there are multiple sequences of action to contend with (none of them, though, requiring too much parental caution, in my opinon). There is a huge explosion that leads to a couple character’s deaths. Another scene involves Bayamax going into a frenzy.

Language: There are a couple references to underpants. One character exclaims, “holy mother of megazon,” and one mentions hugging Bayamax as “spooning a giant marshmallow.” One character also tells Hiro that his fly is down.

Sex: Bayamax, when trying to understand how Hiro is feeling, starts to make references to Hiro undergoing puberty.

Themes

One of the themes of “Big Hero 6” deals with grief. In times of grief, our natural response is to question our faith and our trust in God. If God is in control, why does he take the ones we love from us? Has he abandoned us?

No! He has not! To allow such thoughts to linger in our minds will poison our hearts and our spirit.

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the LORD your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” –Deuteronomy 31:6 (NIV)

Why does God allow innocent people to suffer? Answer

What about the issue of suffering? Doesn’t this prove that there is no God and that we are on our own? Answer

Does God feel our pain? Answer

This is when trusting God is at it’s hardest: when we suffer, when we don’t understand, when we want answers but receive none.

However, we have to trust Him, nonetheless. God requires our complete trust in Him for everything, in the good and in the bad. God is not a liar. If he has promised to never leave us, He never will. And if he never leaves us, that means he will always love us.

Even as I sit here writing, two hours after leaving the theater, I am still surprised how well made “Big Hero 6” is. All I can say is go… see…Big…Hero…6. This movie is as soft and as warm hearted as Bayamax himself. Take the kids, drag the teens. Spend the price of admission. I am glad I did.

Violence: Moderate / Profanity: Mild / Sex/Nudity: Mild

See list of Relevant Issues—questions-and-answers.


Viewer CommentsSend your comments
Positive
Positive—Like all Disney/Pixar movies, this is free of sex and profanity, and this is also free of witches, demons or anything supernatural. It has a typical level of super-hero violence, but there is a reverence for life and a strong message against revenge. It has a “New Testament” feel to it. Sit through all the credits, as there is significant content at the end, in typical Stan Lee fashion.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4
Brian Schacht, age 67 (Canada)
Positive—My husband and I took our 5 year son to see this movie last night. I absolutely loved it, and I think most of the audience did, too. The “fat” robot named Baymax was so sweet and kind and very funny (even though he didn’t know he was). He was a robotic nurse, so to speak, and his job was to take care of people, so hurting or killing wasn’t part of his character. There was one part when his owner took the “nice robot” programming out of him, but that was short and didn’t really ruin the movie or anything.

The only thing I didn’t agree with was the length of the skirt worn by one of the main female characters. I’m getting used to revealing clothes in movies, unfortunately, so this issue won’t keep me from watching it again.

Overall, a great movie for all ages, and I can’t wait until it’s on DVD so I can have a copy for my family.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Jenn, age 34 (USA)
Positive—This movie is adorable! I am 40 and my husband is 44, and we don’t even have kids, and we loved this movie. The large marshmallow guy was so cute; he really made this movie. It dealt with revenge, grief and doing the right thing. Definitely a great find, and it’s very clean.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 5
Stephanie, age 40 (USA)
Positive—I love robots and thought it would be fun. My wife thought it would be boring, but, because it was the only kid-friendly show in the theater, she agreed to it. She was glad she went. I am still stunned about the observation about the true hero of the show given by my 2 year old daughter “Baymax loves life”. This is deep. This is a story about revenge and mercy. Mercy that has no cost and no love—has no substance. It is worthless both in heaven and on Earth. This show gives a way to connect words to the both the offenses they receive and their natural anger—and it gives the only answer than can heal any deep hurt: love.

Not feather-fluff love, love that has bled. Love spoke to the revenge in Hiro, and gave Hiro words to speak to the revenge in the nemesis. Unflinching love, and unflinching commitment to the good of others—that was what saved lives. Seeing it modeled in this context is highly accessible to the kiddos and strengthens their capacity to understand forgiveness and give mercy that has substance.

This show was a powerful example to my daughters what love is, what forgiveness is about, and what mercy is. When it comes out in DVD we will buy a copy for at-home viewing.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 5
Mike M., age 40 (USA)
Positive—This was the first animated movie I had looked foward to after seeing the trailers, in quite a while. This movie was very engaging. I would highly recommend it. The only regret I had was that my wife was unable to see the movie with me and my girls.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 5
Tom, age 55 (USA)
Positive—Years ago, my husband and I were partakers of all the superhero movie fare… even that which was Biblically offensive. Although we were both believers, we were blind to the sinfulness of setting those films (and others) before our eyes. Since that time, we have repented and put off such things, and, as a result, we have seen very few superhero movies because much of that film genera would offend our Lord. I give you this backstory so you will know how refreshing and wonderful it was for us to view “Big Hero 6!” It has all the excitement, drama and build-up of a well-crafted superhero story, but lacks the vulgarity and lewd sexual content which most superhero films possess to a high degree.

I will address some potential concerns with this movie, to the best of my memory (we saw it several weeks past). In the opening sequence, which featured gambling on illegal robot fighting, I was almost cringing from fear that the film would continue in the same vein or would glorify this. However, the tide soon turned and such activity was shown in a negative light. Instead, there was guidance toward using one’s skills and talents as a way to help others. This was particularly seen in the character of the older brother, whose goal was not to receive fame and glory with his inventions, but to invent a robot which would help and comfort people.See all »
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 5
Shawna, age 37 (USA)
Positive—A refreshing, funny, heartwarming film the whole family will enjoy.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4
Luke, age 24 (USA)
Positive—In one word, outstanding. Outstanding in everything.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Excellent! / Moviemaking quality: 5
Sergio De La Cruz, age 18 (Guatemala)
Neutral
Neutral—Don’t get me wrong, I liked “Big Hero 6,” I just didn’t love “Big Hero 6.” It has a lot of funny little moments, and some of the characters you can’t help but love (mostly Baymax and Fred), but, overall, as a movie, I found it lacked proper development. It had a good start, but once things got going, they just went really fast. Like when they decided to become super heroes at the drop of a hat, and then bam, they were suddenly super heroes. I felt like a lot of elements were just glazed over, like when Hiro wants Baymax to kill the bad guy, and his team is trying to stop him, they don’t explain why. Just a few brief lines about “not signing up for this,” it’s never even discussed about why killing would be wrong.

I also thought there wasn’t enough development of the characters, especially Hiro. The Aunt didn’t really seem to fit in in this movie, and, honestly, although she was funny, she felt like a leftover from “The Incredibles.” Other elements in the movie are also glazed over or never explained. Such as why is San Francisco now San Fransokyo? And why is everything Japanese? Did we lose some kind of war with them, and they took over San Francisco? I don’t know, maybe it’s explained in the comics.

And the bad guy just felt like a “been there, done that” scenario. Maybe I’m just being picky, but I just wasn’t that impressed with the movie, as a whole. Not that I’m saying it was a bad movie; it was pretty good. Good morals, funny moments, just a little too shallow maybe. But hey if you compare it to “Brave,” or “Maleficent,” it was fantastic. I still think “Big Hero 6” is worth a rent. …
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 4
James, age 29 (USA)
Comments from young people
Positive—In my opinion, this is the best animated movie Disney has ever made. It is very much a super hero movie, with violence, action, humor, and even a Stan Lee Cameo. It also has a great story and is a very clean movie. It makes you laugh, cry, and cheer. A great family movie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 5
Matthew, age 13 (USA)
Positive—“Big Hero 6” is definitely a movie you want on your shelf; this is a film we will never get sick of. Very good story line and characters. We love it so much.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Better than Average / Moviemaking quality: 5
Josey, age 13 (USA)
Positive—This was a great movie! I thoroughly enjoyed it. There’s really nothing offensive in it, though some younger viewers might find the thematic violence in some scenes frightening. Overall, a heartwarming and entertaining movie.
My Ratings: Moral rating: Good / Moviemaking quality: 4½
Thomas, age 14 (USA)

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