By Taylor Tu
On Tuesday, February 17th, NJIT’s Student Activities Council (SAC) held an evening premiere of Walt Disney Animation Studios’ Big Hero 6, which brought both laughter and tears to the students in the audience.
Written by Don Hall and Chris Williams and inspired by Marvel Comics, Big Hero 6 is an action-packed, comedy-filled unorthodox origin story about a boy, his friends, and a robot. This epic adventure follows a young robotics genius named Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter), who lives in the breathtakingly animated futuristic city of San Fransokyo.
Originally wasting his time and talents competing in illegal robot street battles, Hiro is convinced by his older brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney), to instead use his skills to create more productive inventions at the university under the tutelage of Professor Callaghan (James Cromwell). However, at the unveiling of his helpful microbots – robots that can link together to form unimaginable structures – a fire causes him to lose not only his invention, but also his beloved brother. Out of grief, Hiro shuns his family and friends, until he stumbles upon Tadashi’s invention Baymax, a “personal healthcare companion.”
Baymax, a robot that looks like a fusion between a giant marshmallow and the Michelin Man, steals the show with his huggable demeanor and absolutely adorable one-liners. He is a character that is impossible not to fall in love with. On the other hand, the Scooby-Doo-esque masked man who steals Hiro’s microbots and had most likely caused the fire that killed Tadashi, is hated from the moment he appears on-screen. Together with Baymax and his friends, GoGo, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, and Fred, Hiro must suit-up to unmask the villain and defeat his plans to destroy the city.
I highly recommend this movie to audiences of all ages. With a refreshingly diverse cast and surprisingly touching story, this movie is not just the run-of-the-mill, loud noises and explosions, super-hero movie. It was very well animated and had tremendously talented voice actors.
In the end, I would rate it ten out of ten Baymax-trademarked “ba-la-la-la-laaa” fist bumps. I highly encourage any readers to watch Disney’s Big Hero 6, a movie about the strength of brotherly love, the importance of friendship, and the power of healing.
