On a rainy Friday night, there is nothing I’d rather do than hug a tub of buttered popcorn, sip on a Diet Coke, and sink into a movie theatre seat, ready to immerse myself in a feature film. However, if the film happens to be animated, I will almost always pass. The bottom line is that they freak me out.
But, I had to include “almost” because “Big Hero 6” is the one and only exception.
The characters were real enough that their animation did not bother me. In fact, it added an element of reality to the movie because it is set in Sanfran Sokyo, a futuristic metropolis, and centered around scientific and technological advances.
It sounded lame to me at first when my little brother described the as, “a genius boy with a robot and a team and they fight bad guys and stuff!” But upon seeing it, it proved to be much more than a kids’ animated film.
It is a story of loss, compassion, companionship, teamwork, technology, and justice, all packed into the life of child-prodigy Hiro Hamada, such an inspiring, persevering character that you can’t help but “aw” at his cuteness and root for him when he is faced with turmoil.
Above all, however, Baymax, the inflatable nurse robot Hiro’s brother programmed, takes the cake as the best part of the movie. Baymax transcends the notion that robots don’t have hearts.
Needless to say, a stuffed Baymax is currently on its way to being delivered to my house.
So, if you’re like me, and either think you are too superior or too old for an animated movie, or are freaked out by the animation, give “Big Hero 6” a chance. If you do, it’s very likely that a stuffed Baymax is in your future.