Film Review: Watch 'Big Hero 6' for its path-breaking animation, heartwarming story

Film: Big Hero 6
Direction: Don Hall, Chris Williams
Voices: Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Daniel Henney, James Cromwell, Alan Tudyk, Maya Rudolph
Rating: ****

What's it about: A kid genius from San Fransokyo Hiro (Potter) looks up to his protective elder brother Tadashi (Henney). He leaves behind the world of illegal bot fighting (he didn't seem that into it, anyway!) to live a life of purpose at the city's institute of technology, where everybody is making crazy developments in the field. The two brothers have a doting aunt Cass (Rudolph), who loves them like her own. A freak accident later, Tadashi dies and Hiro mourns his loss. His brother's project, a caregiving robot named Baymax (Adsit) tries to cheer him up and go meet his new friends. But when he comes close to figuring out who or what killed his brother and stole his latest creation, he fights back, only to be rescued and made to realise that he can't go up alone against an enemy he has no idea about. So this motley crew get their act together with some upgrades and get set to do battle against their foe. But when they finally figure out who he/it is, will they be able to finish the job?

What's hot: Decisions, decisions! It's at every turn, every corner, lurking and waiting to pounce on you, catch you unaware. And that's what keeps this film on its toes. You never lose sight of Hiro's journey. You're there with him through all his ups and downs, the heartbreakers and the corny moments et al. The animation is path-breaking and the end product is a mix of both familiar and awe-inducing. You have to keep up to see how it plays out. Most importantly, it doesn't ever take you for granted and its heartwarming at the same time. You wonder why Hiro is held back from killing the masked man who supposedly got his brother killed and then tell yourself that it probably was the right call. And maybe it was and maybe it wasn't... who's to say, right?

What's not: You get Hiro's backstory and Baymax's as well. But apart from Fred (voiced by TJ Miller), you're kind of left out of the loop when it comes to the other characters like Wasabi and Honey Lemon and Go Go. Why are they doing what they do? The story almost exclusively revolves around one character. Does anyone else smell 'beginning of franchise' here?
 
What to do: This is a film you can take your family to. It's the kind of a film a child any age can enjoy, despite a few violent moments here and there. But then again, we see far worse on cartoon shows, these days, don't we?