First, my score guide:
Quality: This score indicates entertainment value.
0 stars is horrible (think “Cars 2”), while 5 stars is spectacular (think “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or “Dead Poets Society”).
Political: This score addresses political messaging.
0 stars is aggressively anti-Conservative (think “Cars 2” or anything from Michael Moore), while 5 stars is highly pro-Conservative (think “Atlas Shrugged” or “Team America”). 3 stars is apolitical.
Moral/Religious (M/R): This score addresses moral and religious messaging.
0 stars is either intensely immoral (think “Team America”) or all-out, needless assault on Christianity (think “Paul” or “The Lego Movie”). 5 stars is either great moral messaging (think “Kung Fu Panda” and “The Blind Side”) or highly pro-Christian (think the “Narnia” movies and the less intentional, “The Matrix”). 3 stars is inoffensive either way.
Quality: This score indicates entertainment value.
0 stars is horrible (think “Cars 2”), while 5 stars is spectacular (think “Raiders of the Lost Ark” or “Dead Poets Society”).
Political: This score addresses political messaging.
0 stars is aggressively anti-Conservative (think “Cars 2” or anything from Michael Moore), while 5 stars is highly pro-Conservative (think “Atlas Shrugged” or “Team America”). 3 stars is apolitical.
Moral/Religious (M/R): This score addresses moral and religious messaging.
0 stars is either intensely immoral (think “Team America”) or all-out, needless assault on Christianity (think “Paul” or “The Lego Movie”). 5 stars is either great moral messaging (think “Kung Fu Panda” and “The Blind Side”) or highly pro-Christian (think the “Narnia” movies and the less intentional, “The Matrix”). 3 stars is inoffensive either way.
Big Hero 6
Quality - 4 stars, Political - 3 stars, M/R - 4 stars
Disney’s latest animated entry, Big Hero 6, is a visual delight. Images are sharp and fast, with all the soaring action sequences we’ve come to expect from modern cartoons. The hero (appropriately named, “Hiro”) learns good moral lessons and even the value of hard work and ingenuity. Alas, Big Hero 6 also furthers today’s kid movie trend of jarring young viewers with tragic loss. This won’t cause years of recovery therapy like “How to Train Your Dragon 2” (which had me considering drug use), but it’s still a bit tough on the kiddies.
The movie is set in “San Fransokyo,” an imaginary, Japanese-American hybrid city, where young people with Japanese names look disturbingly un-Japanese. Seriously, I could move there calling myself “Takeshi: Samurai Warrior,” and no one would blink. Appearing plucked from a Romney family album, young tech genius Hiro squanders his talent on an obsession with “Bot Fighting”—an illegal practice of creating robots and entering them in unlicensed battles for money. I think I saw Michael Vick in the crowd.
Hiro’s brother, the equally Romneyesque Tadashi, draws Hiro from his dead-end vices into a nerdy tech school Tadashi attends. Here we quickly meet several one-dimensional characters; and that is a good thing. Funny and diverse, the nerds brandish one trait apiece and zero character development, allowing the plot to speed along unencumbered. Nicely done, Disney—some editor deserves an “A.” Granted, this makes us feel nothing for them as their roles expand, but the nerds will surely receive further development in sequels.
The show is then stolen by Baymax, an inflatable healthcare bot constructed by Tadashi, and with whom Hiro forms a charming friendship. Comparisons to the Pillsbury Doughboy are inevitable, and though emotionless, Baymax proves lovable, cuddly, attentive, and more polite than Maria from “The Sound of Music.” Rarely will young viewers enjoy a funnier and more comforting character than the huggable Baymax.
Without spoiling the rest, Hiro commits to the institute, experiences terrible loss, then must help the nerds equip themselves with superhero tech to fight the bad guy (who knows a little about loss himself).
Is Big Hero 6 a great movie? No, but it’s a good one. Funny but not hilarious, touching but not gut-wrenching, Big Hero 6 will please viewers of any age.
The movie is set in “San Fransokyo,” an imaginary, Japanese-American hybrid city, where young people with Japanese names look disturbingly un-Japanese. Seriously, I could move there calling myself “Takeshi: Samurai Warrior,” and no one would blink. Appearing plucked from a Romney family album, young tech genius Hiro squanders his talent on an obsession with “Bot Fighting”—an illegal practice of creating robots and entering them in unlicensed battles for money. I think I saw Michael Vick in the crowd.
Hiro’s brother, the equally Romneyesque Tadashi, draws Hiro from his dead-end vices into a nerdy tech school Tadashi attends. Here we quickly meet several one-dimensional characters; and that is a good thing. Funny and diverse, the nerds brandish one trait apiece and zero character development, allowing the plot to speed along unencumbered. Nicely done, Disney—some editor deserves an “A.” Granted, this makes us feel nothing for them as their roles expand, but the nerds will surely receive further development in sequels.
The show is then stolen by Baymax, an inflatable healthcare bot constructed by Tadashi, and with whom Hiro forms a charming friendship. Comparisons to the Pillsbury Doughboy are inevitable, and though emotionless, Baymax proves lovable, cuddly, attentive, and more polite than Maria from “The Sound of Music.” Rarely will young viewers enjoy a funnier and more comforting character than the huggable Baymax.
Without spoiling the rest, Hiro commits to the institute, experiences terrible loss, then must help the nerds equip themselves with superhero tech to fight the bad guy (who knows a little about loss himself).
Is Big Hero 6 a great movie? No, but it’s a good one. Funny but not hilarious, touching but not gut-wrenching, Big Hero 6 will please viewers of any age.
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