By CHRIS PUNTO & NATALIE SACKET
Columnists
Hey everyone, look over here and stop doing that sudoku puzzle. We watched a movie and we can tell you whether it was good or not. Our pick this week:
“Big Hero 6” (2014)
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Natalie’s Review-
5 heroes out of 5
Cute, heartfelt, adorable, touching, entertaining, funny.. These are six qualities of “Big Hero 6” that make it a big hero in the box office this week. It’s a thoroughly enjoyable and interesting film, from start to finish.
“Big Hero 6” tells the origin story of Big Hero 6, a team of superheroes appearing in Marvel Comics.
The movie takes the audience through several ups and downs. There are many laughs, and also a couple tear-jerking moments. Uhhhh…. No I didn’t cry? And if Chris tells you I did, he’s lying.
This movie was also very action-packed for a children’s movie. There are explosions, destruction, worm holes and fight scenes. There’s also death and grief, which is becoming shockingly common in the children’s film genre.
The characters are lovable and unique, stealing the show as well as the hearts of the audience, including mine. I’m definitely looking forward to a sequel.
Bottom Line: This is a film worth seeing, especially if you have baby-sitting duties coming up soon.
Chris’ review
4 heroes out of 5
I’m going to throw out a warning before I get started. In this review, I’m going to reveal the true nerd side of me. I apologize to all of you in advance.
Moving on. This week we watched “Big Hero 6,” a movie about a young boy and his robot who team up with other genius-level teenagers to fight crime and protect San Frantokyo from an evil masked man and his army of nanobots. Yes, you read that correctly. The city that this film is set in is called San Frantokyo. That may confuse some audience members but there is a definite reason for this. “Big Hero 6” is originally a Marvel comic that has Japanese manga influences. This combines American and Japanese and the animation created something pretty awesome.
For a movie targeted more toward a younger audience, the film deals with a lot of loss. If you ask me, that is perfectly okay. Not everything works out to give you a happy ending. That’s life, and kids should be learning that. That sounds harsh, but if children are prepared for this now, maybe they won’t hurt as much later. If this is truly what “Big Hero 6” is trying to show us, then they did a good job. They dealt with the matters of death and loss in a way that is appropriate for kids. The only problem was that my colleague, Natalie, does not have the emotional stability of the average 8-year-old. She cried her eyes out and made countless ugly faces. I wouldn’t wish that sight upon anybody.
“Big Hero 6” was an all-around great experience. There were plenty of laughs because of the witty script, the amazing improvisations from T.J Miller and the comparisons we made from Baymax to Natalie. The movie was not quite as humorous as “The Lego Movie,” but the chuckles alone are worth the movie ticket. I don’t want to say that it will win the Oscar for best animated feature just yet, but I think it is in the running.
Here’s where the nerd comes out. My problem with this film is how far from the source material it strayed. In the comics, Baymax is far from a huggable health care assistant. He looks fierce and powerful. There were also some notable characters that were cut from the team due to conflicts with Fox Studios. The Silver Samurai and Sunfire are original members, but due to their involvement with the X-Men, their rights technically belong to Fox, with the Silver Samurai even being a main antagonist in the film “The Wolverine.”
Now that the nerdy stuff is out of the way, let’s get to the bottom line. If you have a friend that’s an ugly crier, do not go watch this with them. They may have the resolve of a brick wall when it comes to shedding a tear, but do not take the chance. It’s not worth it. On a serious note though, this film was great. Each voice actor did a great job of bringing his or her character to life. There are some minor clichés, but those are to be expected. This is a superhero movie for kids, after all. Don’t let that steer you away though. I’m usually not one to say “there is something for everyone” but there really is. Definitely worth the cheap admission price.