Big Hero 6

[Matt_Black]

Interstellar has some challenges: At 169 minutes, it’s long. And while it’s mostly appropriate for all ages, the film includes a lot of science-talk that young kids may not be thrilled by. Big Hero 6, on the other hand, doesn’t require any previous knowledge of gravity equations or black holes.

That said, BH6 didn't shy away from the techno-speak either, but rather presented it in a fairly easy to digest manner. It trusted to kids to either understand or to ask questions and learn later. That's a great thing for a movie.

 

[prberk]

I guess it's hard to merchandise a rat.

And a mouse is different? ;-)

(Sorry, had to.)

My father used to call Mickey Mouse "Mickey Rat". Back to the topic.

I saw Big Hero Six this weekend and loved it. It was fresh and fun, with heart (the necessary componant of all good Disney animated films).

A few points:

• The scenes at the science fair reminded me a little of the best days of EPCOT, and I thought the music was reminiscent of it as well during that part of the film. (EPCOT should still be as inspirational, but that is a topic for another thread. Just gave me hope that WDC still understands the way to do it...) It really hit me and made me think of it.
• The animation was spectacular, I thought, especially for the crowd scenes and all of the minutia going on. And, of course, the flying scenes.
• I did not understand, though, the implication of "San Fransokyo" in our not-so-distant future. It seemed like that could have been offensive to some, or it implied a Japanese take-over of the United States. Even the Golden Gate Bridge was changed to have Japanese architecture on it. I understood the completely multi-cultural cast of characters, but for the city to have been formally changed did not make sense to me.
• Loved the extra scene. I wanted to stand up and tell people leaving that there was an extra scene. I did tell the people around me, and they were glad they stayed.
• To what extent was this story already done by Marvel as a comic? Many have alluded to it. Please explain. I understand that there was a connection. Just not clear on what was already a known story and what was not. (May also help explain San Fransokyo.)
• As for those above who have mentioned Brother Bear and Chicken Little, I still appreciate the beautifully hand-drawn animation as well. I liked Brother Bear, and I thought that the artistry was beautiful (done at WDW mostly in the now-defunct Florida studio). I think there is room for both digital and hand-drawn.

 

[RandomPrincess]

• I did not understand, though, the implication of "San Fransokyo" in our not-so-distant future. It seemed like that could have been offensive to some, or it implied a Japanese take-over of the United States. Even the Golden Gate Bridge was changed to have Japanese architecture on it. I understood the completely multi-cultural cast of characters, but for the city to have been formally changed did not make sense to me.
• To what extent was this story already done by Marvel as a comic? Many have alluded to it. Please explain. I understand that there was a connection. Just not clear on what was already a known story and what was not. (May also help explain San Fransokyo.)

Big Hero 6 takes place in Japan in the comics. I'm sure San Fansokyo was a "clever" way to appeal to both American audiences new to the story or who don't like "foreign things" and the original comics. Plus the Asian movie market is huge and including a nod to it helps boost the box office there.

Here is a short history on Big Hero 6 and it compares it to the movie. - http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/7/7157579/big-hero-6-is-much-weirder-than-you-think

It originally ran for less then a year in 1998. In 2008 there was a new limited run but it wasn't very popular either. The movie is really only inspired by the comics they gave it a pretty big makeover.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Here is another article on the differences between the comics and movie.

http://popwatch.ew.com/2014/11/10/big-hero-6-comic-differences/

 

[Sped2424]

Does disney have another big hit on their hands? If so iger is going to have a field day. Can I be the first to say that if big hero 6 needs a ride or land there is space already available to be transformed and not demolished?

Just close this for a year or so and make it into SANFRANSOKYO

It even has a san francisco street...They could turn all of that into...

Could be like the osborne lights when it comes to night views. Except 24/7.

 

[Bairstow]

• I did not understand, though, the implication of "San Fransokyo" in our not-so-distant future. It seemed like that could have been offensive to some, or it implied a Japanese take-over of the United States. Even the Golden Gate Bridge was changed to have Japanese architecture on it. I understood the completely multi-cultural cast of characters, but for the city to have been formally changed did not make sense to me.

You sure the setting didn't imply an American takeover of Japan?

 

[RandomPrincess]

Does disney have another big hit on their hands? If so iger is going to have a field day. Can I be the first to say that if big hero 6 needs a ride or land there is space already available to be transformed and not demolished?

Just close this for a year or so and make it into SANFRANSOKYO

It even has a san francisco street...They could turn all of that into...

Could be like the osborne lights when it comes to night views. Except 24/7.

Osborne Lights could stay for Christmas as well.

 

[Tony Perkis]

From Entrainment Weekly -

Audiences were slightly more interested in visiting Disney’s San Fransokyo than Christopher Nolan’s outer space this weekend, as Big Hero 6 ($56.2 million) nabbed the No. 1 spot over Interstellar ($50 million).

Interstellar made its IMAX debut Nov. 5 ahead of its wide release on Nov. 7. In those first two days, the film took in $2.2 million and set the pace on Friday evening with $17 million to Big Hero 6‘s $15.8 million. But Big Hero 6 benefited from families heading to the theater on Saturday–and from those who aren’t parents heading to the theater throughout the weekend.

“It really is something that’s as appealing for an older audience as it is for a younger audience,” Dave Hollis, executive vice president of theatrical exhibition sales and distribution at Disney, told EW. “Audience demos that we dive in and take a look at are encouraging in that big portions of our audience are the not-a-parent range.”

Interstellar has some challenges: At 169 minutes, it’s long. And while it’s mostly appropriate for all ages, the film includes a lot of science-talk that young kids may not be thrilled by. Big Hero 6, on the other hand, doesn’t require any previous knowledge of gravity equations or black holes.

Shame. Interstellar may be the most ambitious big budget film I've seen in years.

I loved it, but I'm also very partial to Christopher Nolan films. This film is THE big screen experience of the year.

 

[prberk]

Big Hero 6 takes place in Japan in the comics. I'm sure San Fansokyo was a "clever" way to appeal to both American audiences new to the story or who don't like "foreign things" and the original comics. Plus the Asian movie market is huge and including a nod to it helps boost the box office there.

Here is a short history on Big Hero 6 and it compares it to the movie. - http://www.theverge.com/2014/11/7/7157579/big-hero-6-is-much-weirder-than-you-think

It originally ran for less then a year in 1998. In 2008 there was a new limited run but it wasn't very popular either. The movie is really only inspired by the comics they gave it a pretty big makeover.

Thanks. Still not sure that the "San Fransokyo" mash-up idea was better than just having it set in one or the other place. But I understand now. Just not sure it was well-thought-out beyond a marketing team. Especially nearing Veterans Day, it strikes me as having perhaps unintended allusions.

 

[Sped2424]

Thanks. Still not sure that the "San Fransokyo" mash-up idea was better than just having it set in one or the other place. But I understand now. Just not it was well-thought-out beyond a marketing team. Especially nearing Veterans Day, it strikes me as having perhaps unintended allusions.

Unintended allusions? to whom? It's a bit of a far fetch statement to think it's anything more than an amazing aesthetic choice. They wanted to make it an east meets west city. And that's what it is.

 

[RandomPrincess]

Thanks. Still not sure that the "San Fransokyo" mash-up idea was better than just having it set in one or the other place. But I understand now. Just not it was well-thought-out beyond a marketing team. Especially nearing Veterans Day, it strikes me as having perhaps unintended allusions.

I think it also might be generational. I don't immediately think of WWII when I think of Japan. I was born a good 30 years post WWII.

 

[Magenta Panther]

And a mouse is different? ;-)

(Sorry, had to.)

Oh, yes, a mouse is very different. As far as the public is concerned. Mice are cute. Rats are not. Yes, it's species-ism. But there it is.

Of course, while Mickey is a mouse, he's also a little kid, and it's the latter part of that persona that is emphasized. Why? Because Walt found out early that audiences preferred Mickey that way when he produced a cartoon that treated Mickey and Minnie as, well, mice - mice living in a mousehole, running from a cat. Audiences didn't like that, because they identified with Mickey too much. So Mickey and Minnie grew in height a couple of feet and wound up living in a barnyard community, in which everyone is an animal, but lives like a human.

Sometimes, I think that "human" bit was taken too far, what with Horace, a horse, riding another horse in a Western-themed story and such, and then there's the weirdness with Goofy and Pluto. The new Mickey Mouse short cartoons, happily, have tackled some of those issues (in one short, Mickey, recognizing that Goofy IS a dog, tries to enter him in a dog show, and in another short, he assumes that Donald, being a duck, can fly), so things are maybe changing - and that's one of the reasons I love those new shorts. (They gave Pete back his tail!!!!)

 

[AllyInWonderland]

Fred's angels.....something something something lol

Six intrepid friends led by Fred their leader Fred
Fred's angels
mm-mm mm
Fred's angels
mm-mm mm
Harnessing the power of the sun with the ancient amulet they found in the attic
mm mm-mm
The amulet is green
mm mm-mm
It's probably an emerald-

Wasabi: Fred, I will laser hand you in the face!

 

[prberk]

Unintended allusions? to whom? It's a bit of a far fetch statement to think it's anything more than an amazing aesthetic choice. They wanted to make it an east meets west city. And that's what it is.

I think it also might be generational. I don't immediately think of WWII when I think of Japan. I was born a good 30 years post WWII.

I understand now the intention, but was not sure at the movie. And it felt awkward to me that they had done a physical mash-up, which in a lot of darker futuristic movies is a device used to imply a takeover of some sort (usually a sort of post-apocalyptic vision of a world after a big war -- especially if a dictator had taken over and changed everything to reflect him). What felt the most awkward was the Golden Gate Bridge (clearly recognizable) but with the changes to look Japanese.

And I don't immediately think of WWII when I think of Japan either, but the "mash-up" idea, especially with the name and known structures, I think was just ill-conceived, given its use in other movies to represent a takeover. It could be seen in a way of suggesting an alternate history where the Japanese empire had taken over America -- which to a lot of people who knew people who fought in WWII and saw it as the struggle for freedom worldwide, could be taken the wrong way, at least without explanation.

Now, the movie itself had a whole different tone, which totally told me that that was not the intent. It just left me a little confused as to why they did it in the first place, if it didn't really advance the story. I better understand now, and I do appreciate the east-meets-west idea. Just making a point, though, that its execution by physical mash-up seemed ill-conceived, to me. Simply having people of various backgrounds coming together could have been enough. (More like cooperation, less like homogenization.)

Changing the subject, I do wonder if anyone else almost "felt" EPCOT in the science fair scene. Even the music reminded me of it.

 

[Matt_Black]

First, if you're going to have an awesome car chase scene, your movie either needs to be in San Fran or a city that looks like San Fran.

Second, the only American city more suited for a pseudo-cyberpunk story like BH6 than San Fran is Seattle, and San Fran meshes with Tokyo better aesthetically.

Third, I think in part the choice was to make the film more appealing to the very profitable Chinese market, and China has never gotten on well with Japan.

 

[Bairstow]

Second, the only American city more suited for a pseudo-cyberpunk story like BH6 than San Fran is Seattle, and San Fran meshes with Tokyo better aesthetically.

Eh?

 

[Matt_Black]

Most of Los Angeles is boonies. As someone on another board said, Tokyo and San Francisco mesh aesthetically the way peanut butter goes together with chocolate.

 

[Sped2424]

Six intrepid friends led by Fred their leader Fred
Fred's angels
mm-mm mm
Fred's angels
mm-mm mm
Harnessing the power of the sun with the ancient amulet they found in the attic
mm mm-mm
The amulet is green
mm mm-mm
It's probably an emerald-

Wasabi: Fred, I will laser hand you in the face!

BLESs you lol

 

[Sped2424]

I understand now the intention, but was not sure at the movie. And it felt awkward to me that they had done a physical mash-up, which in a lot of darker futuristic movies is a device used to imply a takeover of some sort (usually a sort of post-apocalyptic vision of a world after a big war -- especially if a dictator had taken over and changed everything to reflect him). What felt the most awkward was the Golden Gate Bridge (clearly recognizable) but with the changes to look Japanese.

And I don't immediately think of WWII when I think of Japan either, but the "mash-up" idea, especially with the name and known structures, I think was just ill-conceived, given its use in other movies to represent a takeover. It could be seen in a way of suggesting an alternate history where the Japanese empire had taken over America -- which to a lot of people who knew people who fought in WWII and saw it as the struggle for freedom worldwide, could be taken the wrong way, at least without explanation.

Now, the movie itself had a whole different tone, which totally told me that that was not the intent. It just left me a little confused as to why they did it in the first place, if it didn't really advance the story. I better understand now, and I do appreciate the east-meets-west idea. Just making a point, though, that its execution by physical mash-up seemed ill-conceived, to me. Simply having people of various backgrounds coming together could have been enough. (More like cooperation, less like homogenization.)

Changing the subject, I do wonder if anyone else almost "felt" EPCOT in the science fair scene. Even the music reminded me of it.

You think take over I think a city where two things blend to create harmony. It's just two different cultures. I don't go into chinatown and think they are taking over america. They are apart of america, this country is a melting pot of cultures. Big hiro 6 is representative of that all the way to the cast. Honey lemon is latina, wasabi is african american, Hiro is japanese american, gogo is korean, and fred is white. To see anything esle or anything that would imply a takeover of another country boils into tin foil hat territory. The city itself is cooperation, not homogenization, you have street cars from san francisco with lanterns hung from japan. Sky scrapers that have pagoda like theming on them. It's all a meeting ground of two different styles.

 

[Matt_Black]

And, again, Tokyo and San Francisco blend in an aesthetic sense really, really well.