Not too many people need convincing for this one, but just in case…

What’s It About? A child prodigy assembles a team of genius college students (and one robot) to track down a mysterious villain wielding dangerous new technology.

STRAIGHT UP: Good all around, but too tightly-packed. 8.5/10

What I Liked:

Baymax – Iconic character design, an endearing personality, and some cool equipment make Baymax the standout member of the cast. His relationship with Hiro is the standout element of the film, and provides the narrative with a strong emotional core.

So much heart – I think that the movie’s emotional moments might be stronger than its action scenes. More than a few of us in the audience were fighting back tears at various points.

Diversity – I think it’s important for modern superhero teams to reflect real-world diversity, and the Big Hero 6 deliver – the line-up features a black character, two Asian characters, and more than one woman. Everyone in the audience should be able to identify with somebody on the team.

The city of San Fransokyo – I mentioned before that I’m a sucker for bright and colorful sci-fi settings, and San Fransokyo is as bright and appealing as any I’ve seen since… well, the last Marvel movie. I love the fusion of Eastern and Western design elements in the city’s architecture, which makes it seem both familiar and exotic all at once.

The best post-credits scene ever – Whatever you do, don’t leave before the credits have rolled!

What I Disliked:

Not getting to know the other characters – Hiro and Baymax get plenty of screen time to establish themselves, but the other characters – with the possible exception of Fred (T.J. Miller) – get a little short-changed, which hurts the team dynamic. It’s not that I disliked the other members of team, either – I actually wanted to know more about them.

Villains as afterthoughts – The kabuki-masked supervillain shows up outta nowhere, and the screenplay spends hardly any time building him up as a serious, scary nemesis. Even his motivations feel like an afterthought and get tied up pretty quickly. There’s a second character who probably should have gotten the bad-guy treatment, too, but vanishes after the grand finale. I wish this stuff had been worked more thoughtfully into the plot.

CLOSING THOUGHT: After this movie’s huge opening weekend, it seems destined to make a ton of money and spawn at least one sequel. For once, I would welcome this development. Big Hero 6 introduces an amazing world full of appealing characters and interesting concepts, but barely gives itself enough time to explore any of them. In other words, this film needed to be longer; just 20 more minutes of run time could have seriously helped things along. That said, any sequel is going to have sky-high potential as a result. Future prospects aside, though, this is a solid all-around film that is well worth anyone’s time, and would probably rate as the best child-friendly movie of the year if not for February’s The Lego Movie. As a friend pointed out to me, it’s also a good complement to Disney’s other recent animated hit – Big Hero 6, with its themes of brotherhood and what it means to be a hero, pairs well with Frozen and its themes of sisterhood and the various meanings of love.