I've been putting off the drawing lately, due to my being super stressed about the holidays, a writer's/illustrator's conference and my new job still being somewhat new to me, but you know what? I've still been able to get tons of inspiration from animation lately.
First, let me tell you about BIG HERO 6.
Oh my goodness. Disney, how do you do it? How do you make me get all the feels over some silly robot and its relationship with a 14 year old genius kid? I went to see this on my own due to the hype being way too much for me to put it off any longer, and it all made sense. Disney is luring away from its reputation of just being all about fairy tales and princess stories by giving the boys a bit to awe over. Science. Engineering. Superpowers! Not to say that girls can't be interested in that, but let's face it- it's hard to get boys into Disneyanything because boys are all about video games and phones and absolutely nothing cute nowadays. So in this case, the main character is a boy, who is a whiz at video games and gets bored all the time because things come so easily for him. He is finally pushed to do something with his brilliance by his older brother, who tragically dies too soon in the movie and gets you even more hooked on the characters. This story isn't just about a boy, really, it's about a team of kids working together to make themselves superheroes through science and teamwork, but not forgetting about the heart of superheroism (represented by Baymax the robot): doing good. The movie is also encouraging kids to study hard and get into the STEM fields. Really. I'd watch this again just for the action sequences. Good job, Disney! 9/10.
Now, on to my second film: The Penguins of Madagascar.
I didn't know much about the Madagascar universe, but I can easily recall these penguins as being a highlight to anything I knew from that universe. You have the somewhat-functional leader, the brains, the loose cannon, and the mascot... and they go on dangerous missions as penguins without thinking things through because they're "rejecting nature" and they want to have a hell of a lot of fun. That's all you really need to know about this movie. The story isn't that original, but the action sequences were great, the new characters were great, the villain was decent, and the dialogue was so much fun. 7/10.
