Movie Review Big Hero Six

Big Hero 6 

Directed by Don Hall, Chris Williams

Written by Jordan Roberts, Robert L. Baird, Daniel Gerson

Starring Scott Adsit, Ryan Potter, Daniel Henney, Jamie Chung

Released November 7th, 2014 

On June 29th, Disney is bringing back Baymax! The hero of the 2014 animated movie, Big Hero 6, is getting his own 6 episode series and fans are excited to have Baymax back. The voice of Baymax, Scott Adsit is returning as is Ryan Potter as the voice of Baymax's best friend, Hiro. And, Maya Rudolph is reprising her role as Hiro's aunt. There is no indication that the Big Hero 6 mech team will be back, they had their own series which just ended its run last year. With Big Hero 6 returning as a series, I decided to reflect on the 2014 movie which was a surprisingly thoughtful and dramatic kids adventure with some big themes regarding death and grief. 

At its core the animated movie Big Hero 6 is a story of grief and recovery. Our hero, Hiro, has lost his brother in a tragic fire. The villain, Dr. Robert Callaghan, has lost his daughter in the tragic pursuit of science and profit. These stories intersect because Dr. Callaghan's attempt at revenge leads to the death of Hiro's brother Tadashi. Hiro's journey dealing with this loss leads him to battle Dr. Callaghan's grief with the love and support of a new surrogate family.

Find my full length review at Geeks.Media, linked here. 

Movie Review: Monsters, Inc.

Monsters, Inc. (2001

Directed by Pete Docter

Written by Andrew Stanton, Daniel Gerson

Starring John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, James Coburn 

Release Date November 2nd, 2001 

Published November 2nd, 2001 

What is the future of the animated film?

Many thought we would find out in Final Fantasy, but if beautiful computer graphics over the top of lame spiritual platitude and sci-fi conventions as old as time then animation is in trouble. My hope is the future of animation lies with the brilliant artists at Pixar who with Toy Story and Toy Story 2 and their latest Monsters Inc. are revolutionizing animation the way Disney did with Snow White. 

Monsters Inc. is the story of Sully and Mike a pair of workaday monsters whose job it is to scare children into screaming and thus providing electricity to the city of Monstropolis. Mike and Sully are voiced by Billy Crystal and John Goodman who are so brilliantly matched you would never guessed they have never worked together before. Steve Buscemi provides the voice of Randall the chameleon-like bad guy and Oscar winner James Coburn is there multi-legged boss. All the voicework is flawless with each actor finding exactly the right pitch for there character.

Monsters Inc. is hampered a little by a tendency toward sickening sweetness but the story is so wonderful that the sugar-shock is worth it. 

If you didn't like Toy Story 1 and 2 you don't have a soul, the same could be said if you didn't like Monsters Inc. Forget about that whole animation is for kids stigma and go see this movie and be a kid again. Monsters Inc. is one of the best movies of the year.