Deep Dive Disney: Wes Looks at Big Hero 6

My friends, welcome to yet another edition of Deep Dive Disney, where today, we’ll be covering a film that had the unenviable task of being the follow up to Disney’s biggest Smash hit in years if not decades. True, Frozen fever had taken the world by storm and was still at its heights by the time Big Hero 6 came out and kept going strong for a few years afterwards. While the film has a significant following and was even popular enough to warrant a TV show (which at the time of writing I have not yet seen) but sadly, this movie simply just never quite reached the heights that Frozen was able to. All that having been said, this film actually represents a significant milestone for yours truly. Remember way back when we covered Lilo & Stitch when I said that was the last Disney film I saw in theaters for a long time. Well, this was the first animated Disney film that I saw in theaters since then, putting an end to a twelve-year gap. No specific reason for this other than that the theater a few towns over had half price tickets on Tuesday nights and sometimes me and some friends would catch a film after work. In the years since, my appreciation for the film has only grown and it eventually climbed its way into my personal top ten favorite Disney films. So what’s our story? Loosely based on a Marvel Comic of the same name, Big Hero 6 brings us to the futuristic City of San Fransokyo, which is a name that is both utterly ridiculous and completely awesome, where we meet fourteen-year-old Hiro Hamada. Hiro is a genius, having graduated High School at a very young age, but doesn’t seem to have any ambition beyond underground robot fighting for money. That all changes when Hiro tours the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology at the behest of his brother Tadashi who is a student there himself. Hiro is completely in awe of all the cool and innovative projects he sees being developed, particularly his brother’s own project, an impressive medical robot named Baymax. Determined to get accepted, Hiro puts his genius brain to work like never before, inventing thousands of Tiny Robots with near limitless practical application. Hiro’s presentation is a rousing success but the night is marred by tragedy as a fire breaks out in the campus showcase hall and Hiro’s brother gives his life trying to save his professor who was trapped inside. Overcome with grief, Hiro loses all motivation to return to the school, or to do much of anything. Later, with the help of Baymax, Hiro learns that a mysterious man in a kabuki mask is using the microbots that he invented for evil purposes. Believing this to be the same man who started the fire that killed his brother, Hiro upgrades Baymax into a super fighting Robot and decks out all his friends from the institute in high tech crime fighting gear to become the superhero team, Big Hero 6. It’s a fun superhero film that gets surprisingly emotional in places, let’s take a look at, Big Hero 6.

Main Character:

This is kind of an odd one since while there can be no question that this is Hiro’s story, Baymax falls into a very unusual category of being not quite having enough of his own arc to be the main character per se but too vital to the plot to be a mere side character. Yes, at the end of the day, this is Hiro’s story but Baymax is an extremely important player within it, which I guess is typical of a boy and his robot story like this one. In any case, let’s talk about Hiro. As I said, Hiro is a genius, having breezed through high school and believing that college has nothing to offer him, Hiro has no real ambition beyond hustling underground robot fights for money, which is illegal in this universe. It’s not that Hiro actively dislikes the idea of applying himself in a productive way, but rather that he’s just never been exposed to the possibility. That all changes when he sees Tadashi’s “Nerd School.” What this says to me is that Tadashi, despite the two having their differences, is a major positive influence on Hiro’s life. It’s hinted that Hiro and Tadashi’s parents died when Hiro was too young to have any meaningful memory of them and while they both have their loving Aunt Cas their guardian, it’s clear that Tadashi is the one Hiro looks up to the most. So, once he’s gone, Hiro has no one he can really turn to in his time of need. The closest thing he’s got is Baymax who, as a healthcare robot, sees helping Hiro overcome his grief as part of his programming. At first, Hiro believes that catching the guy who started the fire will ease his grief, hence why he starts his whole superhero thing, but soon it becomes clear that vengeance won’t bring Hiro back, and Baymax knows this. What Hiro must do is confront his pain and grief in order to move on.

Baymax himself doesn’t really have an arc outside of being a tool in Hiro’s, but he’s still a welcome presence in the film. Whoever animated the character is an absolute master of physical comedy as almost every move he makes, even something as simple as maneuvering his large, balloon-like body around a tight corner, is absolute hilarious. While Baymax is funny, it’s clear that the friendship he forges with Hiro is genuine and in Baymax, Hiro almost finds a sort of brotherly bond that he once had with Tadashi. It actually reminds me a lot of the relationship between Hogarth and the Iron Giant from the film of the same name. By the way, get used to that comparison, we’ll be coming back to it a lot as it’s clear that this movie drew a lot of influence from The Iron Giant. That’s by no means a bad thing as The Iron Giant is a great movie. I’m just saying that Big Hero 6 hits a lot of similar beats, and the friendship between the boy and his robot is equally sweet in both films.

Villain:

I’ve come to learn that a lot of people think that Yokai here is one of the weaker Disney villains in the recent years of the “Twist Villain” era, and for the life of me I can’t quite understand why. Sure, the twist regarding his true identity is pretty obvious, and we’ll get to that in a moment, but personally, I think this guy’s cool as all hell. He’s got one of my favorite designs out of any Disney villains what with his long black duster and menacing kabuki mask. On top of that, he seems to have control of Hiro’s microbots, which we already know to be incredibly powerful and dangerous in the wrong hands. So right off the bat Yokai is an imposing presence and a serious threat. Throughout the first half of the movie, Yokai remains completely silent, allowing the threat he presents to speak for itself. It’s made clear that our heroes are barely a match for him even after they get their superhero gear. However, just being cool and powerful will only get a great villain so far and while it’s true that once Yokai’s true identity is revealed he loses a bit of his menace but he also becomes a much more interesting character. It turns out that Yokai is actually Robert Callaghan, the professor who supposedly died along with Tadashi in the fire. And yes, the reveal isn’t really a surprise. When you think about it, there are really only two characters who Yokai could possibly be, and once you realize that Alan Tudyk’s Alistair Cray would have been too obvious, Callaghan’s the only one who remains. Supposedly there was an early draft of the script where Tadashi would have been revealed to be Yokai but I haven’t been able to find anything that confirms this and it wouldn’t have really made sense anyway so it’s probably for the best that they went with Callaghan. In any case, we eventually learn that Callaghan is doing all of this to get revenge on the previously mentioned Cray. See, Callaghan’s daughter, Abigail, volunteered for a potentially dangerous equipment test conducted by Cray’s company and was presumed dead when the experiment went awry. She wasn’t actually dead, but we’ll get to that a little later. The point is, once we figure out what his motivation is, we learn that Callaghan is actually very similar to Hiro as both are driven by the loss of a loved one and both feel that vengeance will help them move on… but it won’t. Eventually, Hiro confronts his grief and is able to let go but Callaghan sadly cannot. Instead of confronting his grief and eventually letting go, Callaghan instead allows it to fester until that grief turns into rage and consumes him. Callaghan is voiced by the great James Cromwell who has this very impressive ability to go from kind and fatherly to dark and menacing at the drop of a hat, which is a pretty good balance for this character. With all the great stuff he has going for him, it’s surprising to me that Yokai is not considered one of the great Disney Villains.

Side Characters:

Well, we’ve already met Hiro and Baymax, we may as well meet the rest of Big Hero Six. We’ll start with GoGo Tamago. GoGo is your typical tough chick who wears leather jackets and likes fast motorcycles. Her superhero gear is equipped with wheels that allow for super speed but can also be used as throwing discs. It’s also worth noting that GoGo is voiced by Jamie Cheung who had previously played Mulan in ABC’s Disney crossover show, Once Upon A Time.

Next up is Wasabi. Voiced by Daman Wayans Jr., Wasabi is the most neurotic but also realistic member of the group and is usually the firest one to point out that what they’re doing is crazy. He apparently got his nickname because one time he spilled Wasabi on his shirt. Wasabi’s weapon of choice is a pair of wrist mounted blades made out of laser wire. While he may not be the bravest member of the team, he is shown to have mad skills with those blades. Nice!

Honey Lemon is next up. While she appears to be the sweetest member of the team, she’s got something of a mad scientist thing going on with all her chemistry experiments. Her weapon of choice is a series of balls that explode upon impact and yield various chemical effects. It’s also worth noting that Honey’s voice actress, Genesis Rodriguez, also reprised her role in the film’s Spanish dub. That’s pretty cool. Finally, there’s my favorite member of the team outside of Hiro and Baymax, Fred, voiced by TJ Miller. Unlike the rest of the team, Fred is not a student and the Institute but rather just a good-natured school mascot who hangs out with the rest of the gang. As it happens, Fred is also the one who gave the rest of the team their nicknames What I appreciate about Fred’s attitude is that we later learn that Fred is actually filthy rich. He just happens to enjoy dressing up like a monster and dancing around. This reminds me a lot of the character of Greg from one of my favorite shows, Steven Universe. Much like Fred, Greg becomes a millionaire half-way through the series but still decides to live a humble life running a car wash and living out of his van because that’s just what he likes. Fred, being a bit of a comic book nerd, is the most gung-ho about Hiro’s superhero idea and even makes up some theme music for himself. Naturally, Fred’s weapon of choice is a high-tech monster suit that allows him to breath fire and gives him enhanced strength. Overall, Fred is an awesome character, even if his habit of wearing the same pair of underwear for days on end is pretty gross.

Before we move on to the next section, I’d be insane not to call attention to a particular cameo in the post credits scene. Afterall, this is a Marvel movie (albeit in the loosest sense) and what’s a Marvel movie without an appearance from one who is sadly no longer with us, Stan Lee! In this cameo, it’s revealed that Stan is actually Fred’s dad who also moonlights as a superhero. Speaking as someone who idolized Stan and misses him a great deal, I’m always happy to relive one of his many cameos. Excelsior!

Songs:

There’s only one song of note in the film. It’s called Immortals and it’s performed by the band Fall Out Boy (a band coincidentally named after a metafictional superhero from The Simpsons) and played over an incredibly cool montage of Hiro building everyone’s superhero gear. The sequence is absolutely awesome and the song itself is pretty badass if you happen to be a fan of Fall Out Boy. They’re usually pretty hit and miss with me, but this is one of their better songs. Good stuff.

Memorable Scenes:

There are actually a few scenes I’d like to point out. First, pretty much any scene with Baymax early on is comedy gold. Whether he’s getting stuck in a window, trying to tape himself up as he slowly deflates while a bewildered cop looks on or simply failing to understand the concept of a fist bump, it’s always good for a laugh. For my money, the funniest part of the film is when Baymax’s battery starts running out which, for some reason, causes him to act like he’s drunk. I especially love the part where he pets the cat and proclaims it to be a “Hairy Baby.”

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s the scene where Hiro is finally forced to confront his grief. See, in a scene we’ll talk about a little later, Hiro removed the chip that prevents Baymax from harming humans and orders him to kill Professor Callaghan. After Callaghan gets away when the others put the chip back, Hiro returns to the lab and tries to remove the chip again but Baymax refuses to open his access port. Baymax may be a robot with a fairly simple program, but even he realizes that killing Callaghan isn’t what Hiro needs and it’s definitely not what Tadashi would have wanted. This finally forces Hiro to confront the truth he’s been avoiding this whole time. Tadashi is gone, and nothing can bring him back, but becoming a killer is no way to honor his memory. Baymax then shows Hiro a video of Tadashi creating him. What I particularly like about this is it’s not some schmaltzy speech about how much Tadashi loved Hiro and believed in him and all that crap. That would have been nice, but incredibly cheesy and besides, Tadashi’s love for his brother was never in question. Instead, it’s just Tadashi being Tadashi, and that’s enough to remind Hiro that his brother will always be with him. It’s an incredibly moving scene and something much heavier than you’d expect from a Disney movie about superheroes. But then, The Incredibles dealt with some heavy subject matter too so maybe I’m just talking out of my ass.

Finally there’s a scene towards the end that I would like to comment on. During the final battle, Callaghan opens up a big portal in the sky that sucks up everything, because that was just the trend in the mid-2010’s. After Callaghan has been apprehended, the hole is about to close but Baymax detects a feint life sign within the dimensional portal, Callaghan’s daughter, alive in suspended animation. What I love about this scene is how it show that Hiro has truly let go of his angry as he risks his life without hesitation to save the daughter of the man who caused his brother’s death. However, I have a bit of a nitpick here. Don’t get me wrong, the scene where Baymax sacrifices himself so Hiro can escape is a tearjerker, but I can’t help but find it a little, shall we say, familiar. Yeah, this is the one time where the comparisons to The Iron Giant get a little distracting because all this scene is missing is Vin Diesel saying “You Stay, I Go, No Following.” That combined with the fact that Hiro later rebuilds Baymax with all his memories intact causes the scene to lose some of its emotional impact on repeated viewings.

Story:

So, underneath the funny balloon robots and kickass superhero adventures, Big Hero 6 is a movie about Grief. Specifically, it’s about dealing with one’s grief in a healthy way, something that neither Hiro or Callaghan are able to do at first. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying that grief is an easy thing to deal with. Sometimes it can cause you to feel overcome with anger or completely drained of energy and you’re willing to anything to alleviate your pain, even if your way of going about it isn’t entirely healthy. What one needs to do is work through their grief and try to move forward in life as best they can. At the time I’m writing this, I have recently lost someone very close to me, so a lot of this movie hit close to home. When I first heard that this person had passed away, it really did feel like the world had ended. I was… numb… like it wasn’t real yet. Like, any minute I would wake up and it would all be a bad dream. The days that followed weren’t any easier. With the family in town for the funeral and all the stuff going on around me it felt like I was plunged into chaos when all I wanted was a moment to gather my thoughts. Fortunately, in the month since, I’ve been trying to channel my grief in healthy ways, like exercise and keeping my house clean. The pain still hasn’t gone away, and it probably never will but I just keep reminding myself that the person I lost would want me to move on with my life. Hiro in this film is, even though initially hellbent on revenger eventually finds a way to channel his grief into something that will help people. He probably wasn’t planning on becoming a superhero, but he is still moving on with his life and honoring Tadashi’s memory. It’s a powerful message for anyone who watches it who has lost someone important to them, and like I said, it hit close to home for yours truly.

The Dark Disney Factor:

We alluded to it earlier, but let’s discuss the scene where Hiro orders Baymax to murder Callaghan. Hiro has just found out that Callaghan is the one who stole his microbots and the one who started the fire that killed his brother. He even reacts with seeming indifference when confronted about Tadashi’s death. Hiro, finally face to face with the man who caused his brother’s death is overcome with Rage and orders Baymax to destroy Callaghan. Baymax, being programmed not to harm anyone, refuses, forcing Hiro to remove his healthcare chip, the chip that also contains his lovable personality. Now gone is the lovable and adorable robot buddy with spent the bulk of the movie with. Now, all that’s left is a mindless killing machine. It’s amazing to see this character who was making us laugh ten minutes ago transformed into a nightmare. Again, it’s a lot like that scene in The Iron Giant where the giant reacts to the military attack and we finally see the full destructive capabilities of the robot we’ve come to love. Its deeply unsettling to watch as Callaghan cowers in fear of Baymax has he pursues him through the shadows with his glowing red eyes. Hiro’s teammates are horrified, none of them having signed on to be murderers. Hiro is only saved from making the biggest mistake of his life when his friends replace Baymax’s healthcare chip, but the scene beforehand is nothing short of a nightmare. Final Thoughts:

Big Hero Six is a triumph! It's a fun action movie, an effective comedy and a surprisingly mature look at the effects of grief and loss. It is one of my favorite Disney movies of all time and I rewatch it regularly. This was my first viewing of it since suffering a loss of my own, and I saw my own struggles reflected in both Hiro and in Callaghan and the movie really hit me in the feels. Speaking of feels, our next scheduled article will be on the Pixar favorite, Inside Out. See you next time.