Movie Reviews
I am severely behind on this.
Also, I took a trip to my local record store recently and found quite a few gems. They had copies of Eleanor Friedberger's New View, which is an excellent album. I've had He Didn't Tell Me About His Mother stuck in my head, which is a very pleasant song to have in your mental playlist all day. I found a used copy of Deerhoof's The Runners Four which is an exceedingly nostalgic album for me. I listened to it constantly back in 2007/8-ish. Hearing it again, I'm reminded of just how great the timing is on every single song. And I had seen Rufus Wainwright's first self-titled album constantly there but never picked it up. It was used, priced at $5.99 and part of me always thought, "Next time," figuring that next time it would be gone. It wasn't. And the price had been lowered to $3.99, indicating that this was an album they just couldn't get rid of. So, after paying for it, said album grew some limbs, I took its hand, and we walked on home.
I don't understand why it was an album they couldn't get rid of - it's excellent. Foolish Love alone is worth the $3.99 price. It makes me think, has Rufus Wainwright ever released an album I don't love?
Anyway, movies. Keep your focus straight, me. Movies. I would write about more films, but my time is limited today. So one.
Big Hero 6 (2014)
The first image that one has associated Disney's Big Hero 6 with is Baymax, a giant marshmallow-esque being who serves as a care-giving robot. Despite his grand body-mass, it's amusing to watch him shuffle around carefully, picking up objects in his way and carefully placing them elsewhere. It's the kind of creature that would take up an entire film for Ghibli Studios. But this isn't Ghibli Studios. This is Disney. And not only that, this is a property of Marvel that was acquired by Disney.
Thus, action. Super-heroes. The dreaded, cliched super-hero plot.
I would hate to sound negative immediately. It's not that I hated Big Hero 6 outright, it's that the film seemed to have absolutely no direction. Was this supposed to be an action film? Was it supposed to be a film about siblings? If that's the case, it was certainly superior to Disney's previous sibling escapade, Frozen. Protagonist Hiro Hamada and his older brother Tadashi are given a good forty minutes to make you believe in their sibling relationship. They're both highly likable characters - seeing Tadashi's failures in trying to create Baymax humanizes him. Hiro's interest in bot-fighting which is slowly changed to attending a school for robotics ("nerd school," he calls it without realizing his love for robotics makes him part of those "nerds.") makes him far more interesting than a typical super-hero protagonist.
For that matter, all of the characters in Big Hero 6 are powerful in their intellect rather than their athleticism. They're all scientific, engineering whizzes who enter the realm of Sentai Squad. This is reminiscent of Batman's origins, who, time and time again, directors and writers forget was a detective of great intellect. If there is a prominent message within Big Hero 6, other than moving on from the past, it's that you don't have to fit in with what society dictates as "strength" in order to make a great impact. Tadashi's school friends, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Fred, don't see themselves as "heroes" until Hiro collects them and recognizes them for their talents.
I enjoyed the elements within this film. But the pacing is off. I would have enjoyed far more time with Hiro and Tadashi, which would have made the older brother's death have more of an emotion behind it. I would have enjoyed seeing the rest of Big Hero 6 fleshed out. The only one of Tadashi's friends who has any personality is Wasabi, who, as they are being chased by the man in the Kabuki mask and could be killed at any moment, still follows the rules of the road in his car. And yes, he uses the turn signal as they are trying to lose said villain. Fred is amusing as well, but Honey Lemon and Gogo have very base personalities. This is upsetting if you know of the Big Hero 6 lore. Honey Lemon and Gogo didn't like each other. It took them time to respect one another. If this relationship was shown in the film, that would have given this film some kind of emotional depth. Or, you know, more Baymax.
Due to the pacing and the amount of story that is forced into this film, I found Big Hero 6 to be a dearth of emotion. I didn't feel anything for the story, except for the few amusing moments. The animation is incredible, but that alone doesn't win me over these days. I did enjoy seeing Hiro express a rather uncomfortable emotion when he discovered the truth of his brother's death, but it's so easily solved. He gets over that kind of anger too easily. I have to wonder, how is it that the accompanying short, The Feast, can express so much emotion in a minimal story that takes a fraction of the running time of Big Hero 6?
My biggest problem with Big Hero 6 comes in the twist and if you haven't seen the film, I'd suggest skipping this paragraph. So, am I correct in assuming that the only reason why Professor Callaghan had any interest in Tadashi and Hiro attending the robotics fair was in the hope that they would create something he could use to take his revenge on Krei? This plot point is so far-fetched that I had no idea how to feel about it at first. It's ridiculous. What if they created something that wasn't as great as Hiro's mini-bots? Would Callaghan just not have had his revenge?
Ultimately, the heart and soul of Big Hero 6 is Baymax. The primary themes and ideas of this film should have come out of Baymax. Hiro ends up seeing Baymax as an extension of Tadashi and places human emotion upon the robot. But Baymax is merely a robot. Any emotion that Hiro has placed on it is an extension of his need for his older brother. In the same way that Tadashi always protected him, Baymax now exists to protect his health. When Hiro has to say goodbye to Baymax, realizing how much he has grown to love this inanimate object, there is a glimmer of what this film could have been: a boy grieving for his older brother and finding the only thing that can console him is a robot.
But let's face it: that isn't how you make money in a kid's film.
Also, I took a trip to my local record store recently and found quite a few gems. They had copies of Eleanor Friedberger's New View, which is an excellent album. I've had He Didn't Tell Me About His Mother stuck in my head, which is a very pleasant song to have in your mental playlist all day. I found a used copy of Deerhoof's The Runners Four which is an exceedingly nostalgic album for me. I listened to it constantly back in 2007/8-ish. Hearing it again, I'm reminded of just how great the timing is on every single song. And I had seen Rufus Wainwright's first self-titled album constantly there but never picked it up. It was used, priced at $5.99 and part of me always thought, "Next time," figuring that next time it would be gone. It wasn't. And the price had been lowered to $3.99, indicating that this was an album they just couldn't get rid of. So, after paying for it, said album grew some limbs, I took its hand, and we walked on home.
I don't understand why it was an album they couldn't get rid of - it's excellent. Foolish Love alone is worth the $3.99 price. It makes me think, has Rufus Wainwright ever released an album I don't love?
Anyway, movies. Keep your focus straight, me. Movies. I would write about more films, but my time is limited today. So one.
Big Hero 6 (2014)
The first image that one has associated Disney's Big Hero 6 with is Baymax, a giant marshmallow-esque being who serves as a care-giving robot. Despite his grand body-mass, it's amusing to watch him shuffle around carefully, picking up objects in his way and carefully placing them elsewhere. It's the kind of creature that would take up an entire film for Ghibli Studios. But this isn't Ghibli Studios. This is Disney. And not only that, this is a property of Marvel that was acquired by Disney.
Thus, action. Super-heroes. The dreaded, cliched super-hero plot.
I would hate to sound negative immediately. It's not that I hated Big Hero 6 outright, it's that the film seemed to have absolutely no direction. Was this supposed to be an action film? Was it supposed to be a film about siblings? If that's the case, it was certainly superior to Disney's previous sibling escapade, Frozen. Protagonist Hiro Hamada and his older brother Tadashi are given a good forty minutes to make you believe in their sibling relationship. They're both highly likable characters - seeing Tadashi's failures in trying to create Baymax humanizes him. Hiro's interest in bot-fighting which is slowly changed to attending a school for robotics ("nerd school," he calls it without realizing his love for robotics makes him part of those "nerds.") makes him far more interesting than a typical super-hero protagonist.
For that matter, all of the characters in Big Hero 6 are powerful in their intellect rather than their athleticism. They're all scientific, engineering whizzes who enter the realm of Sentai Squad. This is reminiscent of Batman's origins, who, time and time again, directors and writers forget was a detective of great intellect. If there is a prominent message within Big Hero 6, other than moving on from the past, it's that you don't have to fit in with what society dictates as "strength" in order to make a great impact. Tadashi's school friends, Wasabi, Honey Lemon, Gogo, and Fred, don't see themselves as "heroes" until Hiro collects them and recognizes them for their talents.
I enjoyed the elements within this film. But the pacing is off. I would have enjoyed far more time with Hiro and Tadashi, which would have made the older brother's death have more of an emotion behind it. I would have enjoyed seeing the rest of Big Hero 6 fleshed out. The only one of Tadashi's friends who has any personality is Wasabi, who, as they are being chased by the man in the Kabuki mask and could be killed at any moment, still follows the rules of the road in his car. And yes, he uses the turn signal as they are trying to lose said villain. Fred is amusing as well, but Honey Lemon and Gogo have very base personalities. This is upsetting if you know of the Big Hero 6 lore. Honey Lemon and Gogo didn't like each other. It took them time to respect one another. If this relationship was shown in the film, that would have given this film some kind of emotional depth. Or, you know, more Baymax.
Due to the pacing and the amount of story that is forced into this film, I found Big Hero 6 to be a dearth of emotion. I didn't feel anything for the story, except for the few amusing moments. The animation is incredible, but that alone doesn't win me over these days. I did enjoy seeing Hiro express a rather uncomfortable emotion when he discovered the truth of his brother's death, but it's so easily solved. He gets over that kind of anger too easily. I have to wonder, how is it that the accompanying short, The Feast, can express so much emotion in a minimal story that takes a fraction of the running time of Big Hero 6?
My biggest problem with Big Hero 6 comes in the twist and if you haven't seen the film, I'd suggest skipping this paragraph. So, am I correct in assuming that the only reason why Professor Callaghan had any interest in Tadashi and Hiro attending the robotics fair was in the hope that they would create something he could use to take his revenge on Krei? This plot point is so far-fetched that I had no idea how to feel about it at first. It's ridiculous. What if they created something that wasn't as great as Hiro's mini-bots? Would Callaghan just not have had his revenge?
Ultimately, the heart and soul of Big Hero 6 is Baymax. The primary themes and ideas of this film should have come out of Baymax. Hiro ends up seeing Baymax as an extension of Tadashi and places human emotion upon the robot. But Baymax is merely a robot. Any emotion that Hiro has placed on it is an extension of his need for his older brother. In the same way that Tadashi always protected him, Baymax now exists to protect his health. When Hiro has to say goodbye to Baymax, realizing how much he has grown to love this inanimate object, there is a glimmer of what this film could have been: a boy grieving for his older brother and finding the only thing that can console him is a robot.
But let's face it: that isn't how you make money in a kid's film.