Blu-ray Review: ‘Big Hero 6: Collector’s Edition’

Disney’s Big Hero 6 is the latest movie in Disney Animation Studio’s recent string of successes and is now available as a Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD Collector’s Edition combo pack. Loosely based the Marvel comic book of the same name, the film marks the first time that Disney has featured one of the recently acquired comic book maker’s properties in an animated film. Despite the Big Hero 6 comic book’s previous lack of name recognition, the picture is already Disney’s third highest grossing movie, domestically, behind only The Lion King and the record setting Frozen.

Set in the fictitious mash-up city of San Fransokyo, Big Hero 6 centers around a 14 year old robotics genius, named Hiro Hamada. While Hiro is perfectly content to hustle robot fights, his older brother, Tadashi attempts to get Hiro back into school. After introducing Hiro to all of his friends and showing him all of their amazing projects, Tadashi concludes his pitch by revealing his own project, Baymax, a personal healthcare robot. Intrigued by everything he saw, Hiro decides to give the university a shot, but a sudden fire at the school’s science fair claims the life of the older sibling.

Some strange indications lead Hiro to the conclusion that his brother’s death wasn’t an accident. Determined to solve the mystery, Hiro retrofits his brother’s scene stealing creation.  With a new armored Baymax, Hiro and his brother’s classmates try to get to the bottom of what really happened at the science fair.  By perfecting each of their projects, the ensemble, along with Baymax become a de facto superhero group, the Big Hero 6.  Though the Big Hero 6 comic book is tied into other Marvel properties, like Alpha Flight and the X-men, the movie is meant to be a standalone.

With such a large group of heroes, it’s inevitable that some fall into the background and despite the efforts of a solid cast, it’s the squishy robot, Baymax that steals the show. That being said, there is something in this movie for almost everyone. Obviously, there is plenty of physical humor and the second half of the movie is nearly non-stop action. What is surprising about Big Hero 6 is how touching the movie is, and that they were able to turn an inflatable robot into such a lovable character. My only complaint is that besides Hiro, the rest of the characters are largely left unexplored.

As you would expect from Walt Disney Studios, the Big Hero 6 Collector’s Edition Blu-ray is a solid package.  It is a little surprising that a 3D home offering is not available in the United States, despite a 3D theatrical release. Despite the lack of a 3D option, the video’s 2.39:1 1080p digital transfer to blu-ray is flawless. Disney employed a number of new rendering tools to make the film, and they have all contributed to a beautiful piece of cinematography.  The 7.1 channel DTS-HD Master Audio track is equally impressive with a nearly perfect balance of volume and separation, where each component shines without muddying the soundtrack.

A 2.0 descriptive audio track is also included on the Big Hero 6 blu-ray, along with French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. The bonuses included Collector’s Edition include, the theatrical short, Feast, some behind the scenes insights along with deleted scenes.  Unfortunately, none of the deleted scenes were actually animated and they are almost entirely storyboards. There are also some extras available on Disney Movies Anywhere that would have been nice to have on the blu-ray too. The hard to find short Baymax auto tune video, Beatmax and Tokyo Go – A Mickey Mouse Cartoon would be nicer to watch in the living room.

Big Hero 6 is a surprisingly well done film and something the whole family can watch together.  Unlike its Disney Animation Studios predecessor, Frozen, there isn’t an endless number of songs that your kids will be singing for the next two years. Overall, the Big Hero 6 Collector’s Edition is a nice addition to any family’s home video library. While the Collector’s Edition could have been a more complete package, what is there, is worth owning.  As an added bonus, after watching the film, your kids will have a new component in their “fist bump” repertoire.

[amazon template=iframe image&asin=B00O4ZC57I]