Marion G. Harmon, A Writer in Vegas.

I am a huge fan of CGI movies like The Incredibles and now Big Hero Six, as well as a big fan of Live Action/CGI movies like The Avengers and every other superhero movie out now. Why? A couple of reasons, but the first is the CGI, whether the cartoony CGI of Big Hero Six, or the “virtual” CGI of The Avengers allows Hollywood to at last give us superheroes and epic superhero action that looks as real as the rest of the movie, that doesn’t break your feeling that what you are watching is real. For me the “breakthrough” movie was Hancock.

Hancock used a combination of CGI and good old-fashioned FX to make a Superman-analogue look real and fight real; the real-estate wrecking fight between Hancock and his “ex” was viscerally believable. Of course then the script had to completely go off the rails…but the action was believable. And this is important to me, not because I like watching titans fight with real-world consequences and not look fake doing it (although that’s nice too), but because for me to buy into the movie emotionally requires my disbelief remaining, well, in suspension.

Of course Big Hero Six–and The Incredibles before it–is not “real” in the live-action sense, but the amazing CGI here is turned to the job of giving us an incredibly detailed world that nonetheless has the feel of the best four-color superhero comics. Here the CGI wizards give us awesome fight-scenes that are cinematic in the true sense of the word, and at the same time feels real enough to keep me inside the movie from opening scene to final credits. And all of that wizardry allows me to say this:

Big Hero Six is one of the best superhero movies to-date. And it did it without being in any way original.

Well, in one way original; in the creation of San Fransokyo. The part of my mind not sucked into the movie was spinning madly throughout–and afterward–trying to imagine the kind of alternate history that could result in San Fransokyo, the ultimate West-meets-East city. Did massive and focused immigration result in San Francisco’s Little Tokyo metastasizing to swallow the city? And what year was it? Ultimate high-tech says at least a decade in the future, but fashions were present-day.

Regardless, I loved the complete fusion of cultures, to the extent that Hiro comes from Japanese-English family. He is raised by his purely American aunt since his parents are dead, in their apartments above her very American coffee shop–which has a Japanese lucky-cat over the door. Signage throughout the city is a mix of English and Japanese, and to add a nice touch it’s spring and blossoming cherry trees are everywhere; it’s Hanami. And all of this is simply a cool backstop for the gleeful homage the movie makes to Japanese anime themes, a West-meets-East mashup of superhero themes, a great origin story.

Best of all, it did it without wallowing in stereotypes. Well, BH6 couldn’t avoid all stereotypes (I’ll leave it to you to spot them), but it nicely subverted most of them; the superteam that assembled around Hiro felt fresh and fun.

A total homage to Japanese cinema superheroes.

And, just like the CGI wizardry, the lack of clumsy stereotyping kept me in the movie, which brings me to my final observation. WARNING: SPOILERS.

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Okay, you were warned; if you haven’t seen it yet, you’re going to get a couple of twists spoiled here.

For all that the superscience-driven powers and action is completely four-color and cinematic, the story was real in the only way that matters; it was Hiro’s literal Hero’s Journey, a pure and moving iteration of the Monomyth. Each step of the way, Hiro acted and responded to events like the boy he is, in heartbreaking circumstances. His quest for justice feels real, and so does the circle of family and friends who rally around him to bring the man responsible for his brother’s death to justice. As a bonus, the master-villain of the piece–the man responsible for the tragedy–is himself a man driven by a quest for justice. This makes him both Hiro’s foe and his foil, adding another layer of emotional depth to the story. Because everyone concerned acted in ways that were true, even the witty banter and visual humor didn’t detract from the drama of the story.

Was Big Hero Six perfect? Well, no. I thought the character of Fred felt dropped-in from another movie, and in the end the revelation that he was the son of another science-superhero (who was never referenced in elsewhere in the movie) felt like a forced joke. But no story is perfect, and BH6 mixed humor and heart to raise the kind of spirit I try and infuse my own stories (with imperfect success).

So if you haven’t seen it yet, but you’re reading this blog because you like my books, go see it now. It’s not just a kid’s show. It’s not a joky story about a big balloon robot.Well, okay it is–at least Baymax provides the warm heart of the story, but it’s also so much more. You’ll certainly laugh, you may cry, you’ll want to see it again, and you’ll want to make San Fransokyo real.

Big Hero Six has so far generated 600+ fanfic pieces and counting. ‘Nuff said.

M.G.Harmon