Boxing Day 2014 can’t come soon enough as Big Hero 6 is coming to Australian screens!  It’s not often that a seriously fun animation can have me reflecting on its story for days after – and wanting to see it again.

When: Boxing Day 2014 release

Where: All major cinemas

Review

Big Hero 6 is one of those rare animations that takes you by surprise.  It possibly helped (on the surprise front) that I knew nothing of the story and was oblivious to the series of Marvel Comics.  But from about ten minutes into the film I quickly realised that this story must’ve been taken from a comic series as the story (and detail in the background) appeared very thorough.

Set in an imagined futuristic city our hero is a lost 14 year old called Hiro.  There are awesome robots and two spunky girl engineers (yay).

There are lighthearted references to Hiro’s puberty (physical and emotional state) and the story of the relationship between Hiro and his older brother is gorgeous (without being too sentimental).  At 102 minutes it’s not a short film – but we certainly didn’t notice the time.  There are plenty of big belly laughs that will make you smile for days and it was hard not to fall in love with all the main characters (although grr why did Honey Lemon need to be wearing such high heels?).

There are two (possibly three) sad moments.  One deals with an actual death and the second an almost death.  I was a blubbering mess on all occasions – and the kids also said they had a few tears (but I was much more emotional than they were).  It was a brave and interesting emotional journey for a Disney film – and I felt it was a valuable experience for my kids.  Possibly if your child has just recently experienced the grief of loosing someone dear then you may want to speak with them about this before you go.

We loved Big Hero 6 and can’t wait to see it again this summer.