My family absolutely loves Big Hero 6. It’s Justin’s favorite Disney movie and the boys both really like it, too- in fact, Zac has recently been playing it on repeat. Since we love the original movie so much, we’re super excited that it’s finally becoming a TV show! Before the launch of the series, however, we’re getting another special feature- the new TV movie Big Hero 6: Baymax Returns!
Last week I had the chance to watch it and to chat with Executive Producers Mark McCorkle, Bob Schooley, and Nick Filippi as well as the voice of Hiro, Ryan Potter. Below, check out my 6 Big reasons to watch Big Hero 6: Baymax Returns!
1. It sets up the series. I haven’t seen the TV show yet, but from seeing the movie it’s clear that it’s setting up the tone and the backstory for a lot of what’s to come in the series- and it also sets up the city of San Fransokyo. Now that doesn’t mean it’s boring because it’s setting things up- far from it. There’s a lot of action packed into it!
There’s a little foreshadowing practically to every plot in the first season. There’s little nods to characters you’re gonna meet. We fell in love with the idea of this mash-up culture of San Francisco and Tokyo, just because it was such a cool idea, and that sort of informed the animation. We were like, ‘Let’s make it look like sort of traditional American animation. The stuff in it, like noodle burger, which are hamburgers on a Ramen bun roll. So there’s a lot of that. And Muirahara Woods- this is a smash up. It’s like Muir Woods and Tokyo’s Aokigahara Forest. So it definitely became sort of this fun thing to create that combo world. -Bob Schooley
2. It has a fun new animation style. In following with other recent shows on Disney XD, the show takes a 2D approach instead of the CGI-heavy look from the original film. The animation style is really fitting for the feel of the show, and it’s really well done!
“It is traditional hand-drawn animation, where the feature was computer generated 3D animation.We chose to go with hand-drawn animation partially because we wanted to create a new world and look for the show. We wanted everybody to immediately recognize these characters, to embrace these characters that they fell in love with in the movie, but we wanted to have a fresh start on the show, so we choose hand-drawn animation similar to what Disney was doing in the 60’s. We were referencing 101 Dalmatians. We wanted something that had a graphic feel that the animators could really latch on to, but also the warmth of the hand-drawn pencil line.” -Nick Filippi
3. It fills in some time gaps. In the original movie, we see Hiro discover Baymax’s chip in his fist and we know that Hiro rebuilds him. This movie fills in a lot of that time in between- when the group is coming to the decision of whether or not to continue crime fighting, Hiro is trying to find his groove at “nerd school”, and of course, Hiro is rebuilding Baymax.
4. It has a lot of heart. Even though we know from the original movie that Hiro is able to bring Baymax back, it’s still such a sweet moment when we see him come back. There’s also a little more of Aunt Cass, who I think we can all relate to as someone who is trying her best but has no idea what she’s doing half the time.
5. It’s funny. Truly funny. Just like the original movie, this is a feature that adults will not only tolerate watching with their kids, but will actually like!
6. It’s like revisiting a bunch of old friends. The characters have stayed true to their personalities and all even have the same voice actors!
“We always encourage the actors- especially when you’re adapting a movie, the actors know the characters better than we do coming in- we let them take the lead on that to a big degree. I mean, Scott with Baymax, he has a very specific idea of what Baymax would and wouldn’t do, what he wouldn’t say. We never mind if an actor is like “Ah, I don’t think that feels right for the character.”
So, it definitely keeps it with the continuity of the movie where the characters don’t feel like they’ve changed. They’re evolving over the course of the series, but we feel like they’re true to the movie.” -Bob Schooley
Big Hero 6: Baymax Returns airs this coming Monday, November 20th at 8pm EST on Disney XD!
