Big Hero 6 | November 7, 2014 | Now available on home video

[Melvin Frohike]

The Incredibles is the best superhero movie made, so not sure what feet you're talking about here.

This has always irked me:

http://forums.boxofficetheory.com/index.php?/topic/4266-big-hero-6-november-7-2014-first-look-at-hiro-baymax-page-33-new-trailer-page-89/page-124#entry1753706

There are some other things that I don't particularly like, but those are a matter of personal taste. The movie also has its own generic elements, such as much of the family and married couple drama (yes, it's presented fairly believably, and I get the point, but it still feels tiresome and trite).

 

Brad Bird's vision is so much stronger and the identity so much greater than anything out of Marvel.

Well, in my book that's not saying much. Among Marvel's movies (Big Hero 6 NOT being one), I really only like the Captain America ones, and even then I could drive a Hummer through their plot holes.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Melvin Frohike

[Sal]

You're right about The Incredibles. I like it a lot in some ways, but at a fundamental level, it doesn't hold up that well, one aspect of which you just touched upon. For me it's usually fine when the hero isn't perfect and the villain has a point, but it's more than that--Syndrome may be evil, to be sure, but nonetheless he is "super" in the sense of what he managed to accomplish with his intellect, but this is brushed aside in favor of "super" physical attributes. On top of that, although his intentions are bad (vengeance), he was willing to allow everybody to have increased abilities, which we'd have to be careful with but it's still the right idea. The issue is that Syndrome didn't just have a point--in some ways he was more profoundly right than Mr. Incredible, but instead of taking this and running with it, the movie continues as a typical superhero story, as though these issues were never brought up.

If we look past this, the movie makes a good point about how we as individuals should be allowed to achieve our potential and be "special" and excel in any way that we can, but then Dash is forced to hold back and deliberately strive for second place in a race, which would sure seem to contradict this. So in the end it's all about the supers who pretend they're as weak, slow, or as inelastic as the rest of us so that we can all get along, while knowing that they're superior and special because they have something that the rest of us do not. Meanwhile the guy who wanted, albeit for his own nefarious purposes, to give everybody greater abilities, using ultra-advanced technology as an enabler, is a villain who is killed off so that the supers can remain special. I can't be the only one who felt a bit ambivalent about some of the movie's major themes and the victory of the supers, despite agreeing with the basic point that was intended (but not with other points that were nevertheless made).

The Incredibles has many strong attributes such as its characterizations, relationships, the ways in which the characters' abilities are used in conjunction with one another, action, and the ways in which some of its themes are organically supported, but its fundamental weaknesses are major and detract heavily from the movie--even to the point of making it just a great "popcorn flick" for me (have to turn off my brain to enjoy it, which I guess is appropriate considering the fact that intelligence amounts to nothing much in the movie itself).

Now, Big Hero 6 seems to be a rather different movie, which makes direct comparisons problematic, but at least it seems to portray high intelligence as a "super" or "special" ability, as well as encourage the use of one's intellect to better the lives of others. Technology is used for both good and evil in the movie, as it is in real life, but at least there is a balanced portrayal of the power of intelligence instead of vilifying it and making it seem less significant than other abilities.

 

It's not just limiting--when abused like it often is, it judges a movie on another movie's terms instead of its own, which is patently unfair. Like you said, it's not trying to be a clone of The Incredibles or anything even close. Actually, beyond the superhero trappings, it probably has more in common with Frozen, if anything, not that it's trying to be like that movie or should be directly compared with it, either, except in very focused ways. If there is any point of comparison between Big Hero 6 and The Incredibles, it's what I mentioned above regarding intelligence, and Big Hero 6 seems to have a better and better supported theme in this respect.

 

This deserves to be reposted.  Because you pretty much explained every issue I had with The Incredibles.

 

I dislike that 'yank the chain' turn in the movie.  It makes such a big deal about how important it is to be special, but then immediately slaps limits on what 'special' actually is.  Just being incredibly smart or dedicated to a field isn't enough to make someone 'special'.  You either are or you aren't.  There are elements of the film that smack of that old 'haves' and 'have-nots' thing and that rubs me wrong.  To make it worse is the fact that they're basically feeding the message 'If you're not born special, you should just accept your shitty lot in life and not even try'.  At no point do they ever acknowledge ordinary people as though they're even potentially capable of being equal (with the possible exception of Edna?).  I mean with the way Mr. Incredible talks at a couple of points in the movie, you'd almost think they'd just decide "let's get rid of all the talentless peons" since they're useless for everything except having to save.

 

TL;DR: The movie's basically saying "You're born special or you're a useless pimple on society who should never try to be special."

 

That's far from the uplifting message about how to embrace your unique talents that some people seem to want to tote it as.

[Wadey Wilsoney]

Dragons 2 should really beat this.

Shit was bland. Also I just will never understand why they had to stop the villain. He was hurting nobody. And the second they went into another dimension, I just fucking lost it. This shit will get by in the Disney branding alone.

Spoilers, please! The staggered release date means a lot of people on these forums haven't seen it yet!

[SpiderByte]

Dragons 2 should really beat this.

Shit was bland. Also I just will never understand why they had to stop the villain. He was hurting nobody. And the second they went into another dimension, I just fucking lost it. This shit will get by in the Disney branding alone.

Except for, you know

the guy he was trying to murder. And the kids he actively tried to murder the second he saw them. And the crowd of people near the building he leveled.

Edited December 2, 2014 by SpiderByte

[Dingdong123]

Lol I'm sorry but I never really managed to connect with HTTYD2. It seems lime it was too forced with the drama thing. I'm here for Big Hero 6 and Lego Movie having a fight on awards season. But knowing the annies and their politics, they'll give the top award to dragon 2 in an instant.

[AJG]

Except for, you know

the guy he was trying to murder. And the kids he actively tried to murder the second he saw them. And the crowd of people near the building he leveled.

what people? Those people were gone. And those kids would be fine if they stayed away. Fuck that one guy, he was a douche

[Spidey Freak]

Link to the interviews? Because that is the most numb-skulled thing a director could possibly do. That alone makes me lose respect for them. We want something new not the same old shit. Every beat that echoed a superhero movie was awful. Not even kidding. It was lame, generic, predictable, safe, boring etc. Very disappointed if that was the case. Link??

 

Here's one that I remember: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=55270

 

Q. I'm always fascinated to hear the different influences, pop culturally, from other films and mediums that inform what you were doing.

 

Williams: We had to keep up with what was going on, as far as action movies or superhero movies go, because there's a certain expectations the movie has, and we didn't want to let people down when they came to this movie for their superhero action fix. We wanted to deliver because we're fans of those kinds of movies, so we wanted to really bring that to bear as well.

Edited December 2, 2014 by Spidey Freak

[Spidey Freak]

what people? Those people were gone. And those kids would be fine if they stayed away. Fuck that one guy, he was a douche

 

The way I saw it, Hiro was actually saving the villain from himself.

[AJG]

Link to the interviews? Because that is the most numb-skulled thing a director could possibly do. That alone makes me lose respect for them. We want something new not the same old shit. Every beat that echoed a superhero movie was awful. Not even kidding. It was lame, generic, predictable, safe, boring etc. Very disappointed if that was the case. Link??

 

THIS.

Holy shit. It was like someone said "hey, let's just copy and paste what everyone else did, and make it more boring". I love superhero shit, but if the action isn't unique don't even bother.

[portgas]

THIS.

Holy shit. It was like someone said "hey, let's just copy and paste what everyone else did, and make it more boring". I love superhero shit, but if the action isn't unique don't even bother.

Eh, to be honest, action is pretty tame in most superhero flicks. BH6 action sequences were among the most fun and innovative. And he's right, people do expect action in superhero movies. I do. If it's not there, why even bother watching it? There are some things that you just MUST have. Just like songs in princess animated movies. If I pay for a ticket, I expect certain things. It's not the most "numb-skulled" thing like somebody said above, it's what all high-budget movie directors do. Come on.

Edited December 3, 2014 by portgas

[Captain Craig]

Meanwhile this film is "quietly" pushing towards $200m.

BH6 be at or over $180m next Monday...much better than that?

[phantom]

Meanwhile this film is "quietly" pushing towards $200m.

BH6 be at or over $180m next Monday...much better than that?

Sneaky much. There's nothing much to talk about BH6, I guess.

[wileECoyote]

Sneaky much. There's nothing much to talk about BH6, I guess.

It's pretty much consistently 10-15% above WiR. Steady and solid run. At least it's not a disappointment

[cory]

Still on track for $215-220m. 

[Omni]

It was to be exprected. An early-November release date allows for solid or even strong performances, but it also prevents breakouts. Studios have been releasing animated films on the first weekend of November for more than a decade, and none of them has ever broken out or surpassed expectations (Monsters Inc is the strongest success, but it was inevitable and no Finding Nemo; The Incredibles ended up high but below expectations). In the top 10, both adjusted and unadjusted, there's no animated film released in the first weekend of November. Madagascar 2 was the lowest of the series, Over the Hedge made more than Bee Movie. Competition is tough, dailies are weak and Thanksgiving is the only boost, and it's 3 weeks away, so it's due to structural reason. No room for phenomena, which need a wide market or long holidays on the horizon to grow. Big Hero 6 had "solid 200M performed" written on it since the beginning.

[BK007]

Here's one that I remember: http://www.comicbookresources.com/?page=article&id=55270

 

Thanks and that is terrible. They are fans of that kind of movies but it takes more than dropping in a couple beats to make a coherent story. Awful direction.

 

Eh, to be honest, action is pretty tame in most superhero flicks. BH6 action sequences were among the most fun and innovative. And he's right, people do expect action in superhero movies. I do. If it's not there, why even bother watching it? There are some things that you just MUST have. Just like songs in princess animated movies. If I pay for a ticket, I expect certain things. It's not the most "numb-skulled" thing like somebody said above, it's what all high-budget movie directors do. Come on.

 

I'm talking story beats. Boring.

[23IsEverywhere]

Maybe it can excite overseas... at least it will do better than WiR and Tangled

[yjs]

Maybe it can excite overseas... at least it will do better than WiR and Tangled

 

still interested to see how IS, HTTYD 2 and this turn out in the WW B/O ranking.

guess IS doing better than HTTYD 2 is a given but not really sure where BH6 will be placed.

[AJG]

Eh, to be honest, action is pretty tame in most superhero flicks. BH6 action sequences were among the most fun and innovative. And he's right, people do expect action in superhero movies. I do. If it's not there, why even bother watching it? There are some things that you just MUST have. Just like songs in princess animated movies. If I pay for a ticket, I expect certain things. It's not the most "numb-skulled" thing like somebody said above, it's what all high-budget movie directors do. Come on.

I personally didn't think there was anything really innovative about it. It was 6 guys (i forget the names and appearances of 4 of them) chop down black Lego blocks. It was like The Avengers without the style, sense of peril, humour, and characters I actually care about.

Even the main character is boring, he's a Peter Parker clone (Right down to living with his aunt) without anything that makes people love Peter Parker.

[AniNate]

what people? Those people were gone. And those kids would be fine if they stayed away. Fuck that one guy, he was a douche

 

Yes, because someone being a douche is a perfectly good excuse to murder them.