Disney’s Big Hero 6 Teaser Showcases A Giant Freakin’ Robot Belly
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You’ll have to pardon us for not taking on Disney movies more often here at GFR. We aren’t against the idea of movies for kids, but we’re more interested in covering movies that take on real issues. Like the one about giant shape-shifting robots that’s based on a toy series, totally grown up stuff. In any case, we would be remiss if we ignored the animation giant’s upcoming sci-fi action comedy Big Hero 6, which dropped its enjoyably silly first robot-friendly teaser trailer. If you’ve ever had a less than ideal time in a department store dressing room, take comfort in knowing not even artificially intelligent beings have it made.
Big Hero 6 is the first animated project to spawn from Disney’s gigantic Marvel buyout back in 2009, and is based on the lesser-known comic series created by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau in 1998. That iteration of the sextet is more adult than the House of Mouse tends to go with its more colorful tales. I’m fairly certain the comic version of the hulking metal behemoth Baymax never lost his torso plate because its fat tum-tum sent it flying across the room.
So it’s no surprise that this is a loose adaptation. (No Silver Samurai, guys, sorry.) I’ve got no hard feeling about that, since I’ve never had a chance to sit down with the comic to get into it. But it sounds like this version is probably the only Hollywood take on the material that studio execs felt would translate well to wide audiences. When it doubt, America, just turn it into a kid’s movie and make a character fat enough to laugh at. (Okay, so he actually looks inflated and not fat, but the visual gag remains the same.)
The teaser is fine, all things considered. Given that this is the next in line after such revered films like Wreck-It Ralph and Frozen, I’m expecting the full trailer will reveal a much larger and more dynamic story. Here we just have the young robotics wizard Hiro Hamada designing and creating his robot and closest companion Baymax. The animation is really sharp and bright, especially for a scene that takes place in a darkened lab. The jokes are funny enough, as we can all relate to creating robot parts and trying to fit them on to a bulbous, soccer ball-loving blob.
With a voice cast that includes Samuel L. Jackson, T.J. Miller, Maya Rudolph, Freddie Highmore, Josh Hutcherson, and Jamie Chung, Big Hero 6 will see Hiro and Baymax team up with four other powerful beings to save the world from something. It’s going to be a big end of the fall season when Big Hero 6 hits theaters on November 7, the same day as Interstellar.
