I love Big Hero 6; I think it might be my favourite of the newer films Disney has produced in recent years. Baymax is hilarious and so loveable. I hope we see more of him and the rest of Big Hero 6 in the Disney Parks in the future!
Premiered on: November 4, 2014 at the El Capitan Theatre in Hollywood
Directed by:
Don Hall
Chris Williams
Produced by:
Roy Conli
Kristina Reed
John Lasseter
Based on: Big Hero 6 Marvel Comics by Man of Action Studios
Sequels: none
Cast:
Scott Adsit – Baymax
Ryan Potter – Hiro Hamada
Daniel Henney – Tadashi Hamada
T.J. Miller – Fred
Jamie Chung – GoGo Tomago
Damon Wayans Jr. – Wasabi
Genesis Rodriguez – Honey Lemon
James Cromwell – Professor Robert Callaghan
Alan Tudyk – Alistair Krei
Maya Rudolph – Aunt Cass
Katie Lowes – Abigail
Daniel Gerson – Desk Sergeant
Paul Briggs – Yama
David Shaughnessy – Heathcliff
Supervising Animators:
Doug Bennett
Jason Figliozzi
Nathan Engelhardt
Michael Franceschi
Brent Homman
Music by: Henry Jackman
Songs: “Immortals” by Fall Out Boy
Academy Awards: Best Animated Feature Film
The Story:
Big Hero 6 begins with a shot of San Fransokyo. Down a dark alley, small robots are fighting by remote control. Yama is declared the winner and he asks who has the guts to next step in the ring with his robot, Little Yama. A small voice asks if he can try and the crowd parts to let Hiro Hamada in with his small and simple-looking robot. He says that he built it himself. Yama and the crowd laughs and Hiro is told that he needs to pay to play. Hiro pulls out a crumbled handful of money and he is in. The bots get ready to fight. It is announced that two bots enter, but only one bot will leave. Little Yama quickly takes out Hiro’s bot and Hiro protests that it was his first fight and he wants to try again. He pulls out more money and his bot puts itself back together and Hiro commands it to destroy. It does and now easily beats Little Yama.
Yama is angry that he has been hustled and throws Hiro against a wall. He tells his gang to teach Hiro a lesson. Hiro’s brother, Tadashi, arrives on his scooter and tells Hiro to get on. They take off as Hiro’s bot attacks Yama before catching up with Hiro. Tadashi is giving Hiro a hard time about the bot fighting. He can’t believe that Hiro graduated from high school at 13 and he is bot fighting with his time. They argue about whether bot fighting or only betting on bot fighting is illegal but are soon stopped by police and arrested.
Aunt Cass picks the boys up from the police station and rambles on and on about parenting them. She is mad that she had to close her café up early to get them. They head back to the café where they live in the apartment above it.
Up in their room, Tadashi tells Hiro that he hopes he has learnt his lesson. Hiro says absolutely, but then Tadashi sees on his computer that Hiro was looking up locations of bot fights. Hiro is going to try to make it to another one. He grabs his bot and Tadashi grabs Hiro. He says that he will take Hiro there because he won’t be able to stop him anyway.
Instead of the bot fight, Tadashi takes Hiro to the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology, or nerd school as Hiro calls it. Tadashi wants to show Hiro his lab, but Hiro doesn’t really care. Inside, Go Go Tomago almost runs him over. Hiro starts to look at all the tech around the lab and becomes more interested. He meets Wasabi and Tadashi’s friend has a place for everything and everything is in its place. Go Go grabs a tool from Wasabi’s workplace and messes everything up, upsetting Wasabi. Hiro then meets Honey Lemon, who is very excited to meet Tadashi’s brother. She shows Hiro her experiments. Hiro asks about their nicknames and Tadashi says that Fred came up with them. Fred appears in his lizard suit. He is the school mascot and isn’t a student there, only a science enthusiast. He is trying to get Honey Lemon to develop a formula that will turn him into a fire-breathing lizard at will. Honey Lemon says that isn’t science.
Tadashi calls Hiro over to show him Hiro what he has been working on. He puts duct tape on Hiro’s arm and rips it off. Hiro yells in pain and Baymax activates. He waddles over to Hiro and introduces himself as his personal healthcare companion. He scans Hiro and sees the abrasion on his arm. Baymax is going to spray him with an antibacterial spray made of bacitracin. Hiro says that he is allergic, but Baymax knows that he is not. Hiro is impressed and Tadashi says that he has programmed Baymax with over 10 000 medical procedures. He shows Hiro the chip that makes Baymax Baymax. Hiro takes a closer look at Baymax and is very impressed with him. He is surprised that all the technology that built Baymax came from right there in the lab. Baymax gives Hiro a lollypop but cannot deactivate until Hiro says he is satisfied with his care. Hiro does. Tadashi says that Baymax is going to help a lot of people.
Professor Callaghan comes in and introduces himself to Hiro. He comments on Hiro’s robot and says that when his daughter was younger, all she wanted to do was bot fight. Hiro asks if he wants to know how he put it together and Tadashi tells Hiro that Callaghan invented that technology. Hiro realizes Callaghan’s background in science and is in awe. Callaghan asks Hiro if he has ever thought about applying there and Tadashi teases Hiro that he is too serious about his bot fighting. Callaghan comments that with his robot, winning must come easy. And if Hiro likes things easy, then the tech program is not for him.
Outside, they get back on Tadashi’s scooter. Tadashi says that they will need to hurry if they are going to make that bot fight. Hiro says that he has to go to this nerd school and asks Tadashi how he can get it. Tadashi just smiles.
Back at home, Tadashi tells Hiro about a student showcase coming up. Hiro will need to think of something that will blow Callaghan away. Hiro is pumped to get started. The “Eye of the Tiger” intro starts to play, but then fades out as Hiro cannot think of anything. Tadashi picks Hiro up and shakes him upside down. He says to use his big brain and think of a new angle. Hiro sees his robot and gets an idea.
Hiro goes down to their garage and gets to work. Tadashi comes in to help sometimes and so do his friends from the lab. They end up with many piles of microbots.
At the student showcase, Tadashi and his friends help Hiro roll in bins of microbots. They are encouraging him to stay calm. An announcement comes on that the next presenter is Hiro Hamada. Honey Lemon quickly takes a selfie of them all before Hiro goes on stage. Tadashi gives Hiro one last pep talk and then Hiro goes on; he is very nervous. There are not many people in the audience. Hiro shows them one microbot and one person leaves the audience, unimpressed. Hiro makes eye contact with Tadashi, who reminds him to breathe. Hiro takes a deep breath and gets his momentum. He says that one microbot does not look like much, but he shows what happens when it links up with more. All of the bins spill out on their own and the microbots all snap together. Hiro is able to control them with the neurotransmitter band on his head. He thinks what he wants them to do and the microbots do it. This draws in an audience and everyone is very impressed. They give him big cheers at the end of his presentation.
After the presentation, his friends are all congratulating Hiro. Alistair Krei comes over and says that this tech is revolutionary. He says that he wants the microbots for Krei Tech. Callaghan comes over and tells Hiro that he can either continue to develop the tech here or sell it to a man who is only guided by his own self interests. He tells Hiro that Hiro should not trust Krei. Krei says that he is offering Hiro more money than any 14 year old could ever imagine. Hiro insists that the microbots are not for sale. Krei leaves with one microbot in his pocket and Tadashi asks for it back. After Krei leaves, Callaghan gives Hiro his acceptation letter.
Hiro, Tadashi, Aunt Cass, and their friends leave the showcase to head back to the café to celebrate. Tadashi says that he and Hiro are going to catch up. Tadashi welcomes Hiro to nerd school and Hiro thanks Tadashi for not giving up on him. They hear an alarm and see that the school is on fire. Someone tells Tadashi that Callaghan is still inside. Tadashi runs inside even through Hiro tries to stop him. Tadashi says that someone needs to help. He runs inside just as there is a large blast. Hiro is knocked back.
A memorial is held for Professor Callaghan and Tadashi. The café is closed for people to gather together, but Hiro keeps to himself.
Hiro is very gloomy in his room, staring at his old robot. Aunt Cass comes upstairs with a new plate of food and takes away an old plate of uneaten food. She opens the blinds and says that the university called and that even though classes have been going on for a few weeks, it is still not too late to register. Hiro says that he will think about it and Aunt Cass leaves. Hiro closes the blinds. He turns on his computer and finds a message from his friends. He quickly turns off the computer. Hiro throws away the letter of acceptance before stubbing his toe by accident. He yells in pain and Baymax activates.
Baymax waddles over to Hiro and says that he heard a sound of distress. Hiro tries to brush him off and says that everything is fine. Baymax tries to comfort Hiro and pushes Hiro back into a small space between the bed and desk. Hiro tries to get up but breaks a shelf, causes everything on it to fall on him. Baymax tries again to comfort him and picks Hiro up in his arms. He says that it is okay to cry and Hiro insists that he is not. Baymax scans Hiro and says that there are no physical injuries but diagnosis him with puberty. Hiro tries very hard to get Baymax to deactivate and in the struggles, finds a microbot in his hoodie pocket. The microbot is active and is attracted to other microbots, even though that is impossible since the other ones were destroyed in the fire. Hiro thinks that it must be broken and puts it in a petri dish. Baymax picks it up and follows the direction the microbot is trying to go. He wanders outside and into the streets of San Fransokyo. Cars are honking at him and Hiro tries to follow. He is stopped by Aunt Cass, who thinks that he is finally registering for school. She is very excited and says that they will have a special dinner together that night. Hiro is finally able to get outside and follows Baymax through the streets. He finally catches up to Baymax at an abandoned warehouse.
Hiro thinks that Baymax is crazy and that the microbot is broken. He then takes a closer look and thinks that maybe it is trying to get into the warehouse. The door is locked and Baymax points out the open window above. They struggle to get through it, but make it. Inside the warehouse, someone is mass producing Hiro’s microbots. The microbots are activated and attack Hiro and Baymax. They try to escape even though Baymax is not fast. The microbots chase them through the warehouse and they see a man in a kabuki mask is controlling the microbots. Hiro and Baymax are finally able to make it back out the window and they fall to the ground below, Baymax protecting Hiro from the impact.
They run to a police station and the desk sergeant thinks that they story of a man in a kabuki mask telepathically controlling an army of tiny robots is crazy. Baymax tries to back up Hiro’s story, but he is low on battery and is not making any sense. The desk sergeant suggests calling Hiro’s parents, but Hiro and Baymax quickly run away to get Baymax back to his charging station.
They sneak inside the café and up to their apartment. Hiro says that if Aunt Cass asks, they were in school all day. Baymax excitedly responses by saying they jumped out a window and Hiro reminds him to keep quiet. Aunt Cass is very excited that Hiro is home and wants to hear all about school. Hiro sneaks Baymax up the stairs behind her and then makes up an excuse that he has lots of homework to catch up on and skips out of dinner.
Hiro puts Baymax on his charging station before flopping down on his bed. He stares at the one microbot he has and thinks that none of this makes any sense. Baymax looks over at Tadashi’s bed and asks when Tadashi will return. Hiro says that Tadashi is dead. Baymax says that Tadashi should have lived a long life and Hiro has to explain that there was a fire. Baymax insists that he is there for Hiro and he downloads a database on personal loss to help. He contacts Hiro’s friends for support and gives Hiro a big hug, despite Hiro protesting that he is fine. Hiro is thinking about the fire and now realizes that the man in the kabuki masks stole his microbots at the showcase and set the fire to cover his tracks so it wasn’t an accident. Hiro thinks that they need to catch him.
They sneak back downstairs behind Aunt Cass and into the garage. Hiro gives Baymax some upgrades and teaches Baymax karate. He builds Baymax armor and puts a new chip inside the personal healthcare companion.
They head out into the night to get the man with the mask. A van follows them. They head back to the warehouse, but it is empty. They follow the microbot in the petri dish through the shipping yards. The microbot goes flying into the fog above the water and the man in the mask is riding on microbots on the water, coming to shore. Baymax and Hiro hide behind a shipping container. Hiro tells Baymax that now is the time to use the upgrades. Suddenly the van stops by then and his friends get out. They are very surprised to see the new Baymax and Hiro tells them to go away. They insist that they will not be pushed away. The friends then see the man with the mask controlling the microbots. Baymax saves them from being squished by the shipping container and they all run into the van, dragging Hiro with them. Baymax is thrown onto the top of the van and they take off, demanding an explanation. Hiro says that the man stole his microbots and started the fire, but he does not know who he is. The man chases them through the streets and Go Go soon takes over driving because Wasabi is too slow since he follows all the rules of the road. She takes off and the man chases them right back to the water. The van crashes into the water and Baymax saves them by floating back up to the surface. They know they need to get out of there and Fred says that he knows a place.
He leads them to a mansion and the friends are very confused as to where Fred is going. They do not believe him at first that this is his home. But Heathcliff the butler welcomes him home and everyone enters inside. They are in awe of his home. Fred says that his parents are on vacation on the family island. He leads them into his super hero room and Hiro draws a sparrow symbol that he has seen associated with the man in the mask. No one knows what it is. They try to figure out who the mystery man is and Fred pulls out some comic books. He shows them that all the villains have secret identities so the man in the mask must be Alistair Krei. Fred says that Krei wanted the microbots, but Hiro said no. The others are doubtful about this theory, but soon Baymax says that he scanned the man. Hiro thinks that he can use that data to find out where and who he is. He plans to scan the whole city at the same time; he just needs to upgrade Baymax. Hiro also decides to upgrade all of them to apprehend the man in the mask.
The song “Immortals” plays as they begin what Fred calls their super hero origin story. They create new suits and equipment to aid them, including a new suit for Baymax. Baymax can now fly. He takes off with Hiro and they soar high above San Fransokyo. They sit on a giant balloon over the city and watch the sunset. Hiro tells Baymax to fire up his super sensor and he scans the entire city. A match is found on a nearby island.
They fly to the island on Baymax and everyone but Wasabi thinks it is awesome. On the island, they see a quarantine sigh, but only Wasabi is wary of it. They hear a sound and start to panic, using their weapons against whoever is approaching. It turns out to be a pigeon, and they all completely missed the bird anyway. They sneak into a facility on the island and Fred sings his own theme song. They find a large testing chamber for something, but it is completely destroyed. The sparrow symbol is on a piece of equipment. Up in a control, they find an old video and play it. Alistair Krei is there and he had created some sort of teleporter. He throws a general’s hat into one portal and it comes out another. A pilot named Abigail is getting ready to launch a pod into the portal. Control has picked up a slight irregularity, but Krei decides to ignore it. The pod is launched. There is a field breach and control loses contact with the pod. One portal explodes and the other starts to deactivate as well. It is ordered to be shut down.
Before Hiro and his friends can watch more of the video, the man in the mask attacks them. They fight back but fail since they don’t work together or have a plan. Hiro and Baymax end up knocking the mask off of the man’s face and they learn that he is Professor Callaghan. Callaghan explains that he hid in the microbots during the fire and survived. He says that it was Tadashi’s mistake for trying to save him. Hiro commands Baymax to destroy and takes out his personal healthcare companion chip. Baymax attacks. The friends try to stop Baymax and chase him through the facility. They are able to keep Baymax back long enough for Callaghan to get away and for Honey Lemon to put Tadashi’s chip back into Baymax. Hiro is very mad at his friends. Go Go says that they agreed to help catch the guy, but that was it. Hire tells Baymax to scan, but the scanner is damaged. Hiro commands Baymax to fly off and they leave the friends behind.
Back at the garage, Hiro is angrily working on fixing the scanner. He does and then tries to remove the personal healthcare companion chip again from Baymax. Baymax will not open the chip reader. He asks if that is what Tadashi would have wanted and Hiro again cries that Tadashi is gone. Baymax says that Tadashi is here and plays a video of Tadashi testing out Baymax. In the video, Tadashi tells Baymax that people are going to need the robot so he is not giving up. Finally Baymax works. Hiro cries from seeing the video and thanks and apologizes to Baymax. His friends appear and Go Go promises to help catch Callaghan and this time they will do it right. Wasabi says that next time, Hiro should not leave his team stranded on a spooky island and Fred explains that Heathcliff picked them up in the family chopper. Honey Lemon says that they found something Hiro needs to see. They play a video of Callaghan at the testing site of the teleporter. He is freaking out after it crashes. They play more videos are realize that Abigail is his daughter.
At Krei Tech Industries, Krei is giving a speech about reopening after some setbacks. Callaghan appears and is very angry about Krei calling the loss of his daughter a setback. Callaghan says that Krei knew the portal was unsafe and now his daughter is gone because of his arrogance. The microbots create a new portal about Krei Tech and Callaghan says that he is going to take everyone away from Krei. The Krei Tech building is destroyed slowly by its pieces being sucked up through the portal.
The team appears and try to stop Callaghan by reasoning with him, but he will not listen and attacks the team with microbots. They attack back and try to get the mask, which is controlling the microbots. Soon, they are all trapped by microbots. Hiro is floating up to the portal and sees that the individual microbots are floating up into the portal as well. He gets an idea and tells the team to look for a new angle to get free. They do and are all able to get out of their microbot bonds. Baymax flies up and saves Hiro and the team gathers together. Hiro says that he has a new plan which is to go after the microbots because they will get sucked up into the portal. The team works together and soon Callaghan does not have any more microbots to do his bidding. Baymax grabs the mask and crushes it. The few remaining microbots crash and therefore, the portal crashes as well. It is still on and sucking up everything around it and Krei says that they can’t turn it off, but soon it will tear itself apart. They need to get out of there and everyone takes off except Baymax. He says he detects human life in the portal in hypersleep and they realize that Abigail is still alive. Hiro and Baymax go in to get her.
Inside the portal there is debris everywhere. They fly around looking for Abigail and they find her pod. They are able to reach her and try to head back to the portal opening. Hiro climbs onto the top of the pod to guide Baymax out. They almost make it, but a piece of debris crashes into Baymax and destroys his suit. The thrusters are not able to turn on and Hiro pulls Baymax to the pod. Baymax says that there is still one way to get to safety and he is going to use his rocket fist to boost Hiro and Abigail out. He is unable to until Hiro says that he is satisfied with his care. Hiro does not want to lose Baymax as well and insists that there must be another way. Baymax says that he will always be with him and they hug goodbye. Hiro says that he is satisfied with his care and Baymax’s rocket fist shoots them to safety out of the portal right as it explodes. The team rushes to Hiro and are all sad that Baymax did not make it.
Abigail is brought into an ambulance and wakes up. Callaghan is arrested. The team watches from above. On a news story, the team is called a group of unidentified individuals who prevented a major catastrophize. They are all at the café getting ready to head out to school.
At school, Hiro opens Baymax’s fist and finds the original personal healthcare companion chip. He builds a new Baymax and they give each other a big hug. They go flying through San Fransokyo with the rest of their team. Hiro says that they did not set out to be superheroes, but life does not always play out as planned. The title card appears.
The end credits play to “Immortals” with the further adventures of Big Hero 6 shown as comic books and newspaper articles.
Fred is staring at the portrait of his parents. He tells his dad that he wishes he could share his accomplishments with him and he feels so distant because his dad is always on the family island. Fred presses against the portrait and a secret door opens. He goes into a room filled with super suits. His dad appears and holds up a pair of super underwear. Together they say that they go front, and then back, and then inside out, and then inside out and back. They hug and Fred’s dad says they have a lot to talk about.
Trivia:
- The first Big Hero 6 comic book was Sunfire & Big Hero 6 #1 by Steven T. Seagle and Duncan Rouleau, published in 1998.
- The television show Big Hero 6: The Series premiered in 2017.
- This is the first Disney animated feature film to have the title card only at the end of the film.
- A statue of Hans from Frozen is destroyed in Fred’s backyard as the team practices using their superhero suits.
- Behind the desk sergeant in the police station, there are wanted signs for Hans as well as Tangled directors Nathan Greno and Byron Howard.
- As Stan Lee has a cameo in all of his Marvel films, he plays Fred’s dad in the post-credit scene.
- Big Hero 6 is set in the future in a world where architects from Japan helped rebuild San Francisco after the 1906 earthquake. The city changed it’s name to San Fransokyo to honor Japan in appreciation.
- The island where Krei’s abandoned facility is on is called Akuma which means Devil.
- Tadashi’s hat has ‘SF’ on it for Sunfire.
- Honey Lemon’s purse has the entire periodic table on the front.
Representation in the Disney Parks:
Guests can meet Baymax in Future World in Epcot. In Shanghai Disneyland, there is the Baymax Super Exercise Expo in Tomorrowland.
Check out the other films of Disney’s Revival Era:
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