Disney has been making feature-length animated films since
it released Snow White and the Seven
Dwarves in 1937. That’s 77 years and over 50 full-length cartoon movies in
the theaters – not to mention the countless tv shows, animated shorts, and
straight-to-DVD sequels they’ve made. In other words, Disney animators are like the Olympic
athletes of animation. They are the very best of the best. When it comes to
cartoons, Disney is the NBA, the Yankees, Jack Nicklaus. They have been at the
game longer and found greater success and influence than anyone else in the
world.
With that kind of longevity, of course, there have been ups
and downs. Disney’s classical period began with Snow White and more or less ended with Sleeping Beauty in 1959. They had a mixed middle period in the 60s
with great films like The Jungle Book
and not so great movies like The Sword in
the Stone. Then came their murky, uneven, kind of depressing low period
that lasted most of the 70s and 80s. (The studio lost so much money on 1985’s The Black Cauldron, the company
seriously considered shuttering the animation division permanently.)
Then in 1989, The
Little Mermaid debuted and began a renaissance for Disney that, with minor
dips here and there, hasn’t abated.
Disney is now in an interesting period of trying to embrace
computer animation while still trying to acknowledge and capitalize on its rich
history of hand-drawn movies. The company wants to be classic and cutting edge
at the same time.
This brings us to Disney’s latest, Big Hero 6, a sci-fi superhero movie for the kid and tween set. It’s
the story of a 14 year old robot-building boy genius portentously named Hiro
and his sidekick, a tubby medical robot named Baymax. You’ve undoubtedly seen
Baymax in the commercials. He looks like the Michelin Man and Shmoo had a baby
and sounds like the world’s most pleasant GPS voice. The movie is about how
they and four other friends become superheroes, the Big Hero 6 of the title.
It’s a Disney film, so there are spunky sidekicks, sight gags, a nefarious
villain out for revenge, a few scary moments, and a happy sunlit ending.
Story-wise, it does what Disney movies are supposed to do – in spades.
But in addition to the feel-good story, there is also, of
course, some deliriously good animation. In one gorgeous, minute-long sequence,
Hiro and Baymax fly around and through the gleaming, futuristic skyscrapers of
San Fransokyo in their new superhero identities and land on an airborne wind
turbine to watch the sun set. When the two characters landed, one little kid in
the theater where I saw the film actually started clapping. It was an act of
spontaneous appreciation, something you might do when watching Hank Aaron hit a
home run or Baryshinkov dance. The kid seemed to know he was watching the very
best in the world do something they are the very best at.
Disney is a massive powerhouse in the entertainment world
these days, and plenty of people have problems with their business practices. Those
concerns aside, these particular athletes of animation still know how to
deliver a colorful, beautifully designed, emotionally satisfying movie that can
entertain kids and adults alike.
This review originally appeared on Q90.1. For more information, visit www.deltabroadcasting.org.
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