From WOPR to Wall-E, Number 5 to Nexus-7s, there’s quite a crowded pantheon of robots in cinema. (I like to imagine that it’s rather rowdy, with C-3PO accidentally bumping into the T-800, the T-800 going to retaliate, and Gort incinerating the two of them with his laser beam). Considering the sheer number of robots that have come before it, then, Disney have pulled off quite an impressive feat - they’ve created a robotic character that feels original.
Baymax, the ‘personal healthcare robot’, is the huggable, vinyl heart of the film. Naïve and earnest, useful but adorable, he’s only capable of seeing the world as a waiting list of potential patients, requiring help (and possibly a red lollipop, if they’ve behaved well enough).
Baymax is joined by a crime-fighting group of research scientists, on a fast-paced tale of loss and revenge in the fictional city of San Fransokyo. Like Gotham, or Milton Keynes, San Fransokyo is a city designed for the aesthetic over functionality – and it is a beautiful aesthetic. (A bit of research reveals that Disney actually had to build a new cluster of supercomputers to handle the rendering of the project, with literally tens of thousands of buildings and vehicles, and about a quarter of a million trees. And, like a supermarket in mid-February, the scenery is surprisingly full of Easter Eggs).
At the heart of it, Disney’s last effort, Frozen, was about sisterly love. In contrast, Big Hero 6 is a film about loss, and how different people attempt to process it. Refreshingly, for a film featuring superheroes, the struggle isn’t unambiguously ‘the good guys’ versus ‘the villain’. Without wishing to give away any details of the plot, both the protagonist and the sinister antagonist are motivated by the same thing, and both sides find themselves making decisions that they later regret. Don’t let the bright colours fool you – this is an emotionally nuanced, complex bit of storytelling.
Perhaps, then, the character of Baymax is an apt analogy for the film; below the non-threatening exterior, there lies an awful lot of intelligence.