#1046 – Review: Big Hero 6

I finally got around to watching Big Hero 6 this weekend. I wanted to see it in the theater last year but didn’t have the opportunity. The movie was definitely worth the wait, though; it was great.

Big Hero 6 was much more than just an animated super hero movie. The movie has a tremendous amount of heart and that heart is shaped like a big marshmallow. Baymax is amazing; he should join the annals of Disney’s greatest heroes.

Here are some thoughts I had while watching Big Hero 6.

Loss

Big Hero 6 is sad. Not sad like Frozen, which was sad for about two minutes, but sad throughout the entire movie. Tadashi’s death hangs like a cloud over the entire movie. Tadashi’s death motivates Hiro, in both extremely positive and extremely negative ways. Loss is a part of life, one from which we can’t get away. I appreciated how Big Hero 6 didn’t shy away from Hiro’s loss, his grieving and the long-term impact of Tadashi’s death. A lot of animated movies have a loss and then quickly move on from it. Unfortunately we can’t move on from a loss as quickly as characters do in movies.

Comfort

Big Hero 6 may focus on Hiro’s loss, but it also shows the path to healing. Baymax hugging Hiro and giving him emotional support is one of the most lasting images from Big Hero 6. Hiro didn’t address his loss and grief after Tadashi’s death; instead he jumped feet first into finding who had stolen his microbots. Baymax knew that Hiro needed to work through his pain and grief, but Hiro simply wanted to ignore them. Ignoring them almost led to Hiro’s downfall, but he eventually found the comfort he needed with his friends.

Teamwork

Teamwork is a core theme in Big Hero 6, even before Hiro and his friends become super heroes. Hiro’s microbots are built upon the concept of teamwork; one bot by itself is useless but together they can change the world. The same is true for us and the work we’re called to do for God’s kingdom. We can make a small difference for God’s kingdom by ourselves, but if we want to change the world we need to work together. Even when Jesus was on earth he assembled a team to do his father’s work. If Jesus needed to work with a team, then how much more to we need to work as a team? Hopefully we have someone on our team as cuddly and likeable as Baymax.

Now that I know how great it is, I’m sad I didn’t see Big Hero 6 in the theater. Thankfully I’ve got it on Blu-ray now so I can watch it whenever I want, like twice this past weekend.

What did you think of Big Hero 6?