All the Disney-fied ingredients we’ve come to expect are present in abundance in the bold, sleek and action-packed adventure Big Hero 6, Disney’s non-Pixar ploy to dominate the animation genre as we march into the holiday season. Heroics, heartbreak, humor and a steadfast lesson work together in this very loose adaptation of one of the more esoteric Marvel comics, about a boy genius, paired with a curious robot, who upgrades his friends with the help of science and robotics to create an unlikely superhero team.

There is a staggering technological aspect to Big Hero 6, which far and away steals the film. Every building in the cityscape, every person in the crowd feels deliberate, real and planned out—and in fact, they were, each and every one of them: Big Hero 6 is the first CG animated film to feature an entirely constructed city, from the ground up. It matches most of San Francisco’s grid, but with lots of extra touches to include the pan-Asian vibe of ‘San Fransokyo’. The crowds are also tailor made, with ‘extras’ being created one by one in a new program, as opposed to batches of formless people. More than just details, these aspects serve to show just how ‘real’ animation is getting, and there are some darker moments in this film that suggest something many have been wondering for a long time: when are we going to see animated films not meant for children at all?

In terms of character and story, Big Hero 6 is in fact pretty straightforward stuff. Baymax, the strange and very mechanical robot sidekick, succeeds for the most part in supplying much of the humor and heart of the movie, but once and a while viewers might wish his face was just a little more developed. There are some interesting overtones of Terminator 2 here, with a boy on the cusp of manhood connecting with a robot who is more than the sum of its parts. And said boy, Hiro Hamada (ably voiced by Ryan Potter), is primed and ready to learn his lesson, which involves the idea that revenge is never as sweet as we wish. While more than noble, this thematic falls short of the legacy of Disney’s other robot movie, the timeless and even haunting Wall-E, with its artful cautionary tale calling out mankind’s damage to the planet.

As a delightful aside, make sure to get to the theater on time so you catch the fabulous short film before the movie, entitled Feast and featuring one adorable—and hungry—puppy. Who doesn’t love adorable cartoon puppies?

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