Disney has been on a lucrative and creative roll with their tentpole animated features of the last five years, and "Big Hero 6" will not change that. A closer cousin to 2012's rainbow-hued adventure "Wreck-It Ralph" than to the superior fairy-tale musical stylings of 2010's "Tangled" and 2013's "Frozen," this affectionate yarn of a troubled young boy and his unlikely buddy—think "E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial" with a robot in place of an alien—has a huge heart, visual wonder to spare, and a script that could have perhaps used a few pre-production tweaks. Directors Don Hall (2011's "Winnie the Pooh") and Chris Williams (2008's "Bolt"), along with co-writers Jordan Roberts (2005's "March of the Penguins"), Robert L. Baird (2013's "Monsters University") and Daniel Gerson (2001's "Monsters, Inc."), broach certain subjects—like the process of grief and moving forward following the passing of a loved one—in a way that, thankfully, have not been sidelined or homogenized for sensitive modern audiences. Death is a tough but necessary topic for discussion, and "Big Hero 6" does it justice until a misguided conclusion that loses its way from the presumed central message.
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