ANI-MOVIES, *Big Hero 6

Disney decided to take their own crack at a Marvel comic, but instead of live-action they went with their non-Pixar animation department to make a full-length big budget movie. Even though the comics themselves have only really had about two mini-series, Disney went ahead and remade them in the more "Americanized" anime style similar to Teen Titans and Avatar: The Last Airbender.

Set in the fictional city of "San Fransokyo" which is some kind of Japanese-themed American metropolis, and young genius Hiro spends his time in underground mini-robot battles. His older brother Tadashi convinces him to instead attend the local nerd college, especially after meeting his quirky classmates. So Hiro creates a special swarm of microbots for the entrance exam/science fair that can unite to form any shape as thought be who is wearing a mental headband. But as typical in most Marvel stories, a fire breaks out in the lab during Hiro's presentation, and seemingly takes the life of Tadashi as well as his teacher, Professor Callaghan. After a bit of grieving, Hiro reactivates Tadashi's blow-up medical android he made just before he died by the name of Baymax which looks like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man merged with the Michelin Man. Hiro then discovers through one of his remaining microbots that a masked nameless villain is controlling an entire swarm of them, and has them poised to commit some major crimes. Barely escaping from the "man in black", Hiro brings together the rest of his future classmates from Tadashi's school to help him take down this masked menace. The team consists of the sentimental Wasabi who makes some laserblades for himself, Go Go and her giant-wheeled rollerskates, quirky Honey Lemon that uses a special purse that manufactures special orbs specifically suited for a variety of uses, and fanboy Fred who isn't a student at the school but rich pockets help supply the team with the gear they need as well as give him a special kaiju-themed mascot suit. The 6 track down the Amon-lookalike baddie, but his true identity possesses Hiro with wanting him bumped off instead of bringing him to justice. The rest of the movie has our heroes trying to stop the villain from carrying his deadly vengeance of deadly revenge, but comes to a satisfying conclusion. (P.S. Stay tuned for the post-credits bonus!)

The movie was directed by Chris Williams whose only main credit up until now was co-directing Bolt, but took a good enough hold on the production to produce an exceptionally good animated movie. There are parts that seem make Big Hero 6 like more of a Dreamworks film, but it fits well enough into the Disney warehouse. It might not appear like your typical Marvel movie, but the comic it's based on is outside the given regular comics continuity since the most of the X-Men related characters were left out. However, most generic comic geeks should appreciate it, especially if your a fan of The Incredibles!