Big Hero 6 Blu-ray Review

Big Hero 6 Blu-ray review
4.0
out of 5

Disney and Marvel’s Big Hero 6 has a heart as big as its star, Baymax. It also deals with more mature and emotional subject matter than any advertisements let on.

While the wizards at Walt Disney Animation Studios have successfully made an obscure Marvel comic and its characters into a recognizable mainstream brand led by the big lug Baymax, Disney’s unwillingness to support the Blu-ray 3D format on new releases in North America is a glaring omission with the Big Hero 6 Blu-ray release.

Big Hero 6 shares some thematic similarities with Pixar’s The Incredibles in that a group of heroes must band together to take down a threat. I didn’t find the film’s human star, techno-geek Hiro, to be as relatable as Mr. Incredible and his desire to be great again. Hiro’s journey from a loner to a leader takes a backseat as his sidekick, Baymax, steals every single scene he’s a part of and becomes the father figure that Hiro never had.

Being as much a Disney film as the Marvel comic that inspired it, Big Hero 6 abides by Disney’s tropes as Hiro touches rock bottom on more than one occasion before being given the opportunity to shine and experience happiness. There is also loss on more than one occasion, so parental guidance is suggested for kids sensitive to on-screen death as I learned the hard way. Two scenes in particular are capable of rattling young ones fairly hard and are easy to be caught off guard by.

Big Hero 6 Blu-ray cover artThe Blu-ray edition of Big Hero 6 is a combo pack release with DVD and Digital HD included. What you won’t find in the U.S. or Canada is the Blu-ray 3D version of the film. As with the Disney Animation Studios film Frozen before it, Disney has opted not to release the Blu-ray 3D version stateside of Big Hero 6 despite the film playing theatrically in 3D.

What we do get is the 2D version on Blu-ray and as expected from a Disney animation release, it’s flawless. The colorful world of San Fransokyo translates wonderfully to home video and pops off the screen with dazzling colors everywhere, especially in the third act when Hiro assembles the Big Hero 6 superhero team.

It’s hard to wage any sort of argument against the 7.1 DTS-HD Master Audio soundtrack as Baymax is flying around and sound envelopes the entire room. From car chases to violent confrontations with the mysterious villain, the Big Hero 6 Blu-ray audio presentation is as fulfilling as the film itself.

In a move equally as perplexing as not including Blu-ray 3D, Disney chose to make two of the Big Hero 6 bonus features exclusive to the Disney Movies Anywhere digital version of the film. Likewise, some of the Blu-ray bonus features are exclusive to Blu-ray. There’s no way to own a comprehensive collection of Big Hero 6 extras without buying more than one version.

The extras offered are satisfactory, anchored by the delightful new short film that played in front of Big Hero 6 at the box office, Feast. In total the extras run under an hour in length and feel incomplete given the film’s theatrical success.

  • The Origin of Big Hero 6: Hiro’s Journey
  • Big Animator 6: The Characters Behind the Characters
  • Deleted Scenes
  • Big Hero Secrets
  • Theatrical Teaser

Despite two glaring oversights in a full suite of extras and 3D version, the Blu-ray combo release of Big Hero 6 still comes highly recommended and is just as entertaining to watch the third time as it is the first.

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