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

[phantom]

Maybe.

Wednesday and Thursday numbers of Interstellar are so depressing

[Mojoguy]

Hiro and Baymax started meeting guest at the Disney Parks today. There are already crowd reports that you have to wait 30-60 minutes in line just to meet them right now in Disney World. I can see that waiting time going way up during the holidays this December!

 

[dudalb]

Maybe.

Gonna be close. Interstellar seems to be edging out BH6 for Friday, but Saturday might be a different story when the hordes of kids descend on the theaters.

[kayumanggi]

[kayumanggi]

[kayumanggi]

He was the same person who got DW's attention for doing Hiccup.

 

[MovieMan89]

I wish that average rating would hit 7.5 at least. 7.3 is so low for a 90%-er.

[Ethan Hunt]

I mean, I'm not big on RT, but Disney's last few films have been ridiculously consistent

 

Winnie the Pooh 90%

Tangled 89%

Wreck-It Ralph 86%

Frozen 89%

Big Hero 6 90%

Whinnie the Pooh was disappointing. It was good but I mean the trailer literally had me in a puddle of tears, and the movie didn't carry the same emotional value.

[Sal]

Just got back from the movie.  Working on a write up of impressions.

[Sal]

According to RTH: BH6 15-17, see how rest day pans out BH6 especially daytrade could be all over place

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

Hoping it's on the high end of that. 

 

(fucking Noctis in the Weekend numbers thread      )

[AniNate]

I really liked this. WOM's going to be outstanding.

[WhiskeyTangoFoxtrot]

I really liked this. WOM's going to be outstanding.

 

Damn…. 

 

I am getting antsy for it. Following reviews and reactions the day before I go see a movie just ups the excitement factor. Some of my friends on twitter really, really loved it a lot. 

[AniNate]

I don't think it's possible to come out feeling shitty after seeing it. It's comfort cinema done perfectly.

Edited November 8, 2014 by tribefan695

[Sal]

So, info on my showing.  

 

We arrived half an hour early so we ran into a bunch of kids getting out from an earlier showing (maybe 15-20 kids plus parents).  The majority of them seemed very high energy/excited and some of the boys were doing 'fighting moves'.  The girls also seemed enthusiastic but more sedate/not acting out things.

 

There was a line for BH6 seating, probably about 20 people, an assortment of kids and adults.  We were on one of the smaller screens seating wise, most of the larger screens at this theatre were devoted to 3D.

 

After seating, the theatre was about 94-96% full.  A few open seats in the front row and maybe four or five scattered single seats.  A lot of kids at this showing, I'd say the ratio was about 65-70% kids.  Several of them seemed to be in big groups with a couple of attending adults.  A few of the kids already had Baymax toys (including a really young girl next to us who had a Disney Infinity Baymax figure).  

 

The young (maybe 3-4) year old girl next to us and her father both left before the movie started (about halfway into the short film before the movie).  I believe this was her first experience in a theatre as she kept trying to sit on her father's lap.  Their places were taken by some late-comers.

 

Now, content wise:

 

Our showing was only accompanied by one actual trailer (for Penguins of Madagascar).  The trailer got a lot of laughs and was pretty amusing (a lot of the jokes in the trailer seemed aimed toward adults though there was a lot of visual humour).  Our showing was also accompanied by some ads from our theatre, one for a special showing of 2001 and one for the live showings of our local opera.

 

The movie was preceded by a short film called "Feast", which was about a dog.   Very cute and almost entirely wordless.  A few of the younger kids seemed confused but there were a lot of laughs too.

 

Now to the main event:

 

I'm going to precede this by saying I had read several reviews (and skimmed others) beforehand.  While there were a few points to be made, there's at least two instances I saw where the reviews were outright wrong on plot details.  

 

There aren't actually two villains as some reviews imply.  One of the characters is a jerk but he's not actually a villain,

 

Overall it's a fairly solidly made film.  There's a slight tonal shift between the first and second halves of the film that may be a bit jarring because it feels for a moment like the movie is switching genres.  However, there is enough in the first half that it doesn't feel entirely out of place and they do manage to retain the science elements of the first half in the latter part of the movie, which I was afraid they wouldn't.

 

The villain is surprisingly scary for the age range but the look and powers are very neat and fit within the universe.  The origin is a little glossed over but I disagree with the reviewers who stated that the villain was generic and with no motivation.  His motivations were very clear and (unlike Ronan from GotG) they actually SHOW his reasons instead of just telling them.  It doesn't delve as much into the shades of grey morality touched on by Frozen but it's not entirely black and white.

 

Hiro's personality traits are identifiable and they do a good job of not just making him that annoying kid supergenius type.  He feels a lot like a realistic 14 year old.  This may lead to a bit of discomfort when tackling the topic of loss in the movie, though I wonder if it'd be more for the parents than the kids.  Also a surprise: Hiro doesn't shy away from using the word 'dead' in reference to another character.  He has some dark moments in the movie, but not like 'gone to the dark side' style.  Hiro struggles with finding a meaning or rationale in what's happened and there are moments when he lashes out at other people who are close to him.

 

Baymax is adorable.  He earned a lot of laughs from the audience, virtually anytime he was on screen.  I personally loved his design and I want one of my own.  Surprisingly he had some character growth over the course of the film.  The way he moves and reacts is very unique and despite the simplicity of his design, it could be very emotive. 

 

The additional characters were not utilized as much in the second half of the movie (not as much as implied by the trailers).  They did a good job of giving them all distinct personalities and something to do, but it did feel more like a set-up/origin story for them (but oddly not as much for Hiro and Baymax who are definitely central in this film).  They kept the science aspects throughout and it was important to the style and abilities of each character... however, I actually think a lot of the stuff they did before becoming heroes was even cooler and the movie makes a good job of making science look... well... cool.

 

Visually it was stunning. Very bright without being gaudy.  San Fransokyo was a very engaging city.  My GF made a comment that she wanted to visit it, then corrected herself that she'd be happy just going to San Francisco.  I caught at least a couple of small SF nods that I recognised from being a Bay Area native most of my life.

 

There were several callbacks/references to earlier things in the movie.  There were also several cameos, plenty of Disney but at least two Marvel ones I spotted.

 

The audience seemed very engrossed the entire time, which surprised me.  There were a lot of laughs, some whispering and even the parents seemed to be reacting to it.  At one point, one of the parents actually 'yelled' at the screen.  There were also several gasps at a key moment in the film.  

 

At the end of the movie there was some scattered applause.  Several people stayed around to about halfway through the credits, but only four other than my group stayed until the end.  There is an after credits scene which is a lot of fun.  I recommend staying to see it at least once.

 

When we were leaving the theatre, there was already a large line for the next showing (which was at 8 or 8:30) and I was surprised to see that it was still about 40% kids, especially at that hour.

 

Overall I rate the movie as 4.5 out of 5.  There were a few areas I actually feel they should have added a couple of extra minutes in to expand little bits of information for the storyline.  I may not recommend it for very sensitive or easily frightened children.  The storyline may seem a bit standard fare to those familiar with superhero origin stories, but I actually think it handles subjects like grief better than most adult-oriented comic films.

 

So, it gets a thumbs up from me.  I'm probably going to try and catch it a few more times, though probably in matinee given my current finances.

[Sal]

I don't think it's possible to come out feeling shitty after seeing it. It's comfort cinema done perfectly.

 

Yes.  That's the perfect way to describe it. 

 

It's maybe not the most complex bit of cinema ever, but I think it'd be hard to come out of this without feeling like you've been given a big warm hug.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Sal

[GuardiaStar]

Yes.  That's the perfect way to describe it. 

 

I think it'd be hard to come out of this without feeling like you've been given a big warm hug.

That is beautiful! I really can't wait, my anticipation is overriding my senses. I've reached my quota for likes!

[Sal]

Heh, also sorry everyone for that massive wall of text.  I wanted to get as much info out as possible and I didn't realise it was that huge of a post.

[AJG]

Nightmares.

[Empire]

Heh, also sorry everyone for that massive wall of text.  I wanted to get as much info out as possible and I didn't realise it was that huge of a post.

No worries. Sometimes you need a big post to get all of your thoughts out there.