Nutshell: I’d give Big Hero 6 an A-.  It’s tough to top Frozen, but BH6 manages to delight with gorgeous animation and a voice cast that’s up for fun.  Drunk Low Battery Baymax is Best Baymax!

It’s no secret that I’ve been crushing on the poofly adorable Beymax from Big Hero 6.  But I worried; would this film be too cutesy?  Would it smash up too much of the Marvel superheroes the film is (barely) based on?  And could it stand beside the mighty juggernaut Frozen?  Well: not too, oh most definitely but not in a bad way, and well, what could?

Hiro is your typical 14-year-old.  As long as typical means a kid that graduated from high school at 13 because he’s flipping brilliant.  So Hiro spends his days at ‘Bot Fights, betting — and winning — money because his robots are way better than anyone else’s.  (And way cuter too, which makes folks lower their guard, and open their wallets.)  But older brother Tadashi is on to Hiro’s tricks, and tries to get Hiro interested in “nerd school”, the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology.  (Did I mention this film is in the near/maybe further out future?)  Tadashi’s ploy works, and soon Hiro is planning a show-stopping presentation that will get him admitted.  But dark forces are at work, and they throw a wrench in Hiro’s plans.  Soon Hiro finds Tadashi’s project; a bell-faced “healthcare companion” robot named Baymax (squee!) he’d hoped would do a lot of good in the world.  But good is such a subjective term; can Hiro and his group of friends from SFIT put things right?  Kids movie!  Of course they can!

Let’s get this out of the way first; Baymax the poof-mallow of adorableness is not Baymax of the MCU.  But with the re-imagining of the whole BH6 clan, that’s just fine with me.  Also, have you seen how he walks?  Squee!  The whole gang, from wannabe-techie-but-too-lazy Fred, to chemical whiz Lemon Drop (who has a wee touch of the Weeaboo with her exacting pronunciation of Hiro), gum-popping speed (as in RPM) freak Go Go and Wasabi’s OCD-is-fun demeanor (that I simultaneously loved and worried about) all pay homage to their origins without being too rough for the kiddie crowd.  Plus, did I mention the cuteness?  If this is re-imagining, bring it on, y’all.

But then I’d expect nothing less than glomp-able cute from Disney Animation Studios, and they definitely bring it here.  And their usual fine attention to detail; while watching Big Hero 6, I already wanted the Blu-Ray because I wanted to stop the action and admire/check out all the tidbits flying by my eyeparts as the film whizzed by.  Little things like the gleam off Baymax’s soft balloon-y self, the signs selling all sorts of fun and funky stuff in San Fransokyo, the huge collection of geek gear BH6 member Fred has stashed at his house…as with Wreck-It Ralph, Big Hero 6 is total eye candy, and a graphic designer’s wet dream.

The movie’s themes of dealing with grief and loss and overcoming your fears are weighty ones for a kids film, but nothing that hasn’t been done a zillion times before.  (Note: while loss drives Hiro, it’s not the only thing, and the film leaps forward time-wise immediately after said loss.  So don’t worry about an overabundance of doom and gloom.) Will tiny wee ones be afraid?  Well, do bear in mind that though this is a Disney property, the film is rated PG.  There are scenes where the Kabui Masked Man attacks our heroes, and while I didn’t hear as much as a sharp intake of breath by the younger generation at the screening I attended, if you’ve got kids younger than elementary school age you should think about what s/he can handle before queuing up.  And the 3D?  Definitely cool, but with all this eye candy on display completely unnecessary unless you’re treating yourself.  Big Hero 6 needs no other bells and whistles beyond it’s own beautifully crafted self.

PS: The short film before BH6, Feast, is adorable, and reminds me of the heart-tugging cuteness of Up.  Make sure you get to your seat well before the film starts, you won’t want to miss this.

PSS: With this being a Marvel property, you may wonder if there’ll be a Stan Lee sighting in Big Hero 6.  Duh — of course!  Keep your eyes peeled whenever you see a pictureframe….