Big Hero 6: Balalala

From Wreck-it-Ralph to Frozen, Disney has finally redeemed its reputation of being one of the most loved movie productions when it comes to children's films. 

Pan to the city called San Fransokyo. San Fransisco Bridge with torii designs: a mix of Japan setting. Hiro Hamada with his fighting bots: Real Steel. Hiro side by side with the huggable, marshmallow-like Baymax: Hayao Miyazaki's Totoro and Satsuki. Baymax in an armor suit: Marvel's Ironman. There are a lot of familiar scenes you could see materialize in Disney's newest movie release Big Hero 6, and yet it has pulled off a very unique and heartwarming film that you'd want to watch over and over again. Directed by the makers of Bolt Chris Williams and director of Winnie the Pooh Don Hall, and produced by Pixar's legend John Lasseter, the movie would definitely make you laugh off your seat and give you tears for the heartwarming story of friendship and of not giving up that you would never forget. 

"I will never give up on you. " In a semi-futuristic setting that closely resembles that of Lewis's world in the movie Meet the Robinsons and even Ironman, the story revolves around a genius 15-year-old Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter), who is addicted to bot fighting using his small but terrible micrbot. His older brother, Tadashi (Daniel Henney), on the other hand, is an equally genius guy who goes to college and makes unique inventions, and is always saving Hiro from trouble with his bot bouts. He invites him to his school and meets his classmates, Go Go (Jamie Chung), who works on electromagnetic fields and suspensions, Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez), who is a chemist-freak, Wasabi (Damon Wayans Jr.), a neat-freak genius and Fred (T.J. Miller), who is addicted to becoming a real fire-breathing dragon inspired by his comic books. Tadashi introduces Hiro to his latest invention, Baymax (Scott Adsit), who is a personal health care assistant robot. With much delight, Tadashi was able to convince Hiro to enroll in his "nerd school" and present an invention of his own in an annual science fair. Using his microbots, he was able to wow the audience with his invention, but things took a change for the worse when the school was caught in a big fire and Tadashi, who wanted to help rescue his mentor, died. 

All the hope and the purpose of going to the school went with the fire as Hiro lost his interest and grieved over his brother's death. On that moment in his room, he met again Baymax who was still active. He also noticed his microbot which seemed to be attracted to another microbot, and with Baymax's help they were able to pinpoint the origin of the attraction. There they met a man with a "kabookie" mask, who made more microbots and attacked them. The action to search for that man started, with the help of his brother's friend to find out the truth about the incident and give justice to his brother's death. 

When they found out that the man in the kabookie mask was Tadashi's mentor, Hiro raged and tried to kill him, but Baymax and his friends tried to stop him. In a heartwarming scene where Baymax insisted that Tadashi was still with them, he showed Hiro the times when Tadashi was still experimenting on the success of Baymax, and Hiro finally had his inner peace and went off with his friends to end the evil plan of the notorious man who was the mentor of Tadashi. They found out that he was seeking for revenge for the loss of his daughter in an experimental procedure of a teleportation portal. They were able to stop him and even save his daughter, but Hiro lost Baymax in the process. 

What I loved about the movie is the lesson that Tadashi portrayed; that is, he never gave up on inventing Baymax, and on his brother Hiro, just as Baymax did not give up on Hiro on their friendship. Big Hero 6 is the first animated Marvel film that was theatrically released by Walt Disney Animation Studios. 

Big Hero 6 is truly an epic film with a lot of mix-ups and twists and turns, from the unique incorporation of San Fransisco and Tokyo, which was Executive Producer John Lasseter's idea to the must-awaited end-credit scene where we find out that Fred is the son of the Marvel creator Stan Lee. The design of Baymax was also inspired by the "soft robotics" research at Carnegie Mellon University. 

Wreck-it-Ralph: One game at a time

"I'm bad, and that's good. I'll never be good and that's not bad."

This is the very reason why I love bad guys and villains in movies, it's because they are a product of their own histories. It's because they were never meant to be bad guys in the first place. It's because they never wanted to be one in the beginning of the story.

I needed some reference with regards to different kinds of sweets, pastries and candycane lollipops for my book I am currently writing and I remembered Sugar Rush in the movie Wreck-it-Ralph. This is one of my favorite Disney movies and no wonder that the cinematography and the story itself is parallel to the Pixar movies is because John Lasseter, the director of many of the movies in Pixar, was the executive producer of this movie. 

Arcade games? Many of us was still able to connect and experience first hand arcade games and now comes in the game Fix-it-Felix, where the protagonist Felix (Jack McBrayer)  fixes the building that Ralph the bad guy destroys. However the story does not revolve in the heroic acts of Felix but in the frustrations of Ralph (John Reilly)  in being the bad guy and living in the block dumps and not having cakes and fireworks and medals. He wants to prove that even bad guys can earn medals and goes Turbo and went to the game Hero's Duty. At first he thought it was that easy to earn the medal in such game until he realizes his life and the whole game could be at stake if he would not shoot the cybugs and help his comrades. The game was over in less than a minute because of Ralph's recklessness and secretly climbs and enters the building where a shining gold medal awaits him. However things took a turn for the worse when he accidentally flew a spaceship with a cybug in it and crosses over to the game Sugar Rush. 

Here he meets the glitch--Vanellope von Schweetz (Sarah Silverman), who was also in need of a gold medal/coin so she could join the race. Everyone in her game despises her because they said she was never meant to exist in a game--a glitch. The two first had a series of misunderstandings because Vanellope stole Ralph's gold medal and used it so she could join the race. Vanellope decided they should be partners--Ralph would help her get a legitimate race car while Vanellope would win the race so Ralph can get his medal back. 

And so comes the bonding and the development of their friendship with a bonus candy medal saying "You're My Hero" to the bad guy. However another conflict surfaces and their friendship ends until Ralph finally deduces the real reason why Vanellope is a glitch. He helped her get in the race after all and after much combat to the multiple cybugs that almost invaded Sugar Rush, Ralph and Vanellope were able to reset the whole game, while discovering at the same time that Vanellope is a princess and the lead character in the game consul. 

I can watch this film a thousand times and never get bored because the story reflects how bad guys are always mistreated and misunderstood. We meet different kinds of "bad guys" in our lives but we tend not to hear their stories of pain and anxiety. Most of us never tend to understand where their anger really comes from because it takes a lot of effort and time. On my part, this is the very reason why I love bad guys--because they have untold stories that are treasures of knowledge of humankind.

Cars 2: Tow Mater, Average Intelligence

"If he's your best friend, why would you ask him to be someone else?"

This is the exactly why I didn't submerge myself in the dangerous realm of friendship. Observing others forming their own BFF clubs back in high school, I realized one cannot fully be himself as the group will always fall into booby traps like backstabbing, senseless fights and misunderstandings and a political arena of passively dominating each other--may it be in terms of romantic relationships, academic statuses or any other unproductive endeavors.

Somehow these were the kinds of friendship I observed that, of course, have evolved from its simpler value and definition. I began to contemplate on what friendship should truly be about after I watched Disney-Pixar's Cars 2 (2011, directed by John Lasseter and Brad Lewis).

With Tow Mater (Larry the Cable Guy) leading the breathtaking race, Pixar gave a whole new, action-packed James-Bond-like storyline incorported with the quest to define true friendship. At first I was too overwhelmed by the fast pace of the movie, starting with Finn McMissile (Michael Caine, James Bond himself) spying on an illegal mission run by Professor Z (Thomas Kretschman).

Maybe the high-speed chase and the rather complicated plot further muddled by Mater's quite incomprehensible articulation of words buried the simple moral lesson that was unlikely of Pixar. Nevertheless, I truly enjoyed the movie as I also love action-packed ones, and Tow Mater successfully pulled off the humorous atmosphere throughout the movie. I was also amused at how Pixar perfectly portrayed Japan, Rome and London with their respective trademarks, like the geisha in Japan, the Pope in Rome and the Queen in London.

PIXAR @25: TOY STORY (1995) A peek at the "real playtime" for toys

We've no idea what comes alive when we're away or asleep.

There are two reasons why I somehow believe my stuffed toys talk and pounce around when I close the bedroom door: I was around 8--a stage where I believe everything in what everyone says--when I watched Toy Story; and I am a Filipino and as studies claim we are the most gullible people in the world.

Toy Story (1995, directed by John Lasseter) became Pixar's debut movie with its first ever computer-animated motion picture. It was a big hit for all ages as it finally reawaken the wonder and childish belief about talking toys and their own world.

The door closes with a bang, the bedroom is clear and out comes Andy's toys led by sheriff Woody (Tom Hanks). We were eight-year-old kids chewing gum and we ecstatically took our first peek at the world where toys of different boxes, origins and manufacturers "play" on their own and take on adventures we wished we could've witnessed on our own toys.

Did they also argue and punch each other like what Woody did when rookie toy Buzz Lightyear (Tim Allen) invaded his territory and his Andy? Did they also lead an unexpected adventure down the streets, and almost got tortured by the big bully kid next door? At one point in my life, just after I watched Toy Story, I seriously began to contemplate on these questions. But whatever escapades they could've gone through, I was still comforted by the fact that whenever I got home, they were still on my bed, neatly arranged.

Woody and Buzz, along with the rest of Andy's toys, portrayed a mix of the human behavior involving coping up with differences, aggression over entitlement issues, jealousy and the discovery of who they truly are.

Maybe we'll never really know what comes alive in our own backyards.

TOY STORY Facts:

1. Toy Story was the first full-length animated feature film to be completely created by artists using the 20th century technology.

2. It became the highest grossing animated feature film in 1995, with a whopping $358 million in worldwide box office receipts.

3. Tinny, the mute wind-up musician was originally the inspiration of Toy Story making. In fact, he was originally cast as Andy's new toy but was then replaced by the futuristic Buzz Lightyear.