Big Hero 6

By: Robert Murphy

It may just be me but growing up I can't think of a time where I did not want to have a robot buddy of my own, something right out of Medabots that I could bring with me everywhere and maybe even battle other robots with and in the futuristic world known as as San Fransokyo, I could finally get my wish granted. This city is a melting pot of filled with futuristic technology and Japanese architectural design hidden throughout the world, I'm not sure if we were conquered by Japan in the future or if they just became so prevalent that their ideas transferred over or what but I liked what I saw. Our story follows to boys in particular, orphaned sons that are now being taken care of by their aunt, Hiro (Ryan Potter) and his older brother Tadashi (Daniel Henney) are both incredibly gifted kids. They both particularly show off their skills in the field of robotics and while one brother is off in college, the other spends his nights earning cash through illegal robot fights. But Tadashi will prove that his little brother can put his smarts to better use in the very touching Big Hero 6.

Yes, I still enjoy the occasional Disney and Pixar production from time to time especially when one like Big Hero 6 comes along and was originally from a Marvel comic and has now been adapted into a pluckier form of storytelling. Hiro is our main character, a rebellious kid whose smarts surpass his brothers so far that he graduated high school at his ripe young age of 13. His brother though got all the common sense in the relationship and wants his brother to do something more with his smarts and gets him to try and join him and his friends at the quote "nerd school." However, disaster strikes as it often does in Disney movies and Tadashi is killed in an explosion during the presentation that would get Hiro into his school along with Tadashi's professor. Then enters Baymax (Scott Adsit,) the chubby marshmallow creation that Tadashi built for his robotics project, he is a walking inflatable care giver who was designed to be an at home helper for when you're sick or hurt. Baymax steals the show in every scene he is a part of and his oblivious charm is something just like Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator routine where he misses obvious figures of speech and jokes, except in this case I'd stick with the walking hug machine. Baymax gets activated when Hiro stubs his toe and tries to help but finds Hiro needs a whole other different kind of help after the passing of his brother and he is determined to help.

Baymax is so hard not to love as he tries to find out just what happened to Tadashi for Hiro, he makes every scene he is great fun to watch and whole Hiro may not have wanted it, he is the best thing that ever happened to him. Baymax goes the extra mile too and invites Tadashi's former classmates along for the ride as they try and solve the mystery of who stole Hiro's robotic design in the contest and is now using it for mysterious purposes. These people are a solid grab bag bunch of people, Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.) an OCD neat freak, Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez) who is the bursting of energy and spunky chemist, Go Go Tomago (Jamie Chung) whose the general tough guy or girl rather character and Fred (T.J. Miller) who is the Shaggy-esque character who is just the laid back science lover of the group. Together they sort of form Hiro's team who would do anything to help him out in honor of Tadashi and in a big way become a superhero team as well. Using the future style technolgies around them and make superhero costumes out of their school projects, Wasabi and his lazer cuter, Honey Lemon and her matter changing chemical, Go Go and her super powered skates and well Fred wanted to be a lizard-man so they make him a costume and let him breathe fire. Even Hiro and Baymax get some cool upgrades too match and it serves as an interesting concept on hero making, it's almost like an Iron Man scenario where they make themselves their own heroes and it's fantastic. 

In the end, Big Hero 6 is impossibly charming not to watch if not just for watching Baymax and his antics throughout the entire film. Sure, Disney and Pixar always manage to tug at your heart strings but I haven't seen something quite so enjoyable since Meet the Robinsons. Hiro and his friends manage to fulfill two of my childhood fantasies, one having a robot and two become big superheroes in their own right. It is implied at the end of the film that they continue on defending San Fransokyo and that is an idea that is great to leave things on. Everything that was created here in Big Hero 6 is fun and immersive, I would definitely recommend taking your kids for this one or yourself if you have a craving for a solid Pixar production once again. 

Good:

- Baymax makes every scene hilarious and fun

- The world of San Fransokyo is immersive and incredible along with all the visuals present

- T.J. Miller as Fred is great as well as all of Hiro's friends 

Bad:

- Standard Disney and Pixar formula but hey it's a kids movie, it's still awesome

Scully Rating: 9.0 out of 10 

   

  

Transformers: Age of Extinction

By: Robert Murphy

Three hours long! Yes I do believe that was one of the many thoughts that went through my mind as I watched the end credits role on the newest entry into the Transformers saga. Micheal Bay is back to direct and start thing anew with the franchise and you know what I was happy to think about the chance for a change of pace. No, I am not going to bash Bay for his work because say what you will I enjoy most of his movies, that may be shameful to some but it isn't for me and Transformers was a great film when I first watched it but things did go downhill. The hopes that this film would start something new for the franchise also met with a quick decent for me as well as Transformers: Age of Extinction took already shaky ground and made it collapse. 

For such an exceedingly long film you would expect there to be a tiniest inclination of a story but you would be wrong about that as the story and the characters on screen jump from one laughable interaction to the next. The story takes place a few years after the events of the last film, Dark of the Moon, and shows a much darker and more secretive United States as we took the events of Chicago very hard. I also mentioned to my friends at how much of a dick move it was for the Autobots to pretend to leave, have thousands of people die and prove the point that we need them to survive. A black ops division of the CIA now is hunting down the remaining Autobots and is led by the not so menacing Harold Attinger (Kelsey Grammer). His plans for all the dead robots is so very sad that it is hard to even write but he intends to build a robot army to defend the United States against it's laundry list of enemies.

We then turn our attentions to our hero Cade Yeager (Mark Wahlberg) who is a down on his luck robotics mechanic who is raising his teenage daughter Tez (Nicola Peltz) and is a bit of an over bearing father type. He is desperatly trying to send her to college but everything is working against him but lets drop all that and save the world because it just so happens there's a semi truck in an old theater Cade just happens to be fixing up. Between the insane logic behind Cade reviving Optimus Prime with some jumper cables and the oh so stressing young daughter trying to go to college and having a secret boyfriend, it becomes a tired mess of cliches. 

Now what usually saves a Transformers film for me at this point would be the action but even this proved to be a sour note for the film too. I wasn't at all dazzled by the idea in which the movie tries to re-write history and saying that the aliens caused the dinosaurs to die out and new robot ones took on the form of some of the more iconic of them such as the T-Rex. I was even less impressed when they joined into the final fights and Optimus came in at the very end to save the day astride one of these creatures like some hero in a western. This however is where a lot of the film got it's attention and it shows, the over the top action was meant to wow and amaze you to try and distract you from the complete absence of a plot for the movie. 

In conclusion, I believe that Transformers has lost sight of what it is doing and it is never more present than with this attempt to try and start fresh. Transformers: Age of Extinction proves to be just what the title implies, it is going extinct but it will undoubtedly make enough for the two more movies that are ready to follow it up. I wish that directors would realize how not so serious of a story that there needs to be with a movie like this and go back to the way it was with the first movie. People may enjoy the plethora of over the top stunts and effects you will see but honestly there won't be much else for you to spend your money on, sorry Optimus. 

Good:

- Creates a spectical for the audience, which means "Oooo look big fights, lots of explosions"

- T.J. Miller provides some laughs and kept me going

Bad:

- Absence of story 

- Exceedingly long film

- For the most part all very poor plot for the main characters

- The new robot dinosaurs were a waste of time and special effects budget

Scully Rating: 3.5 out of 10