Gorgeous visuals, charming characters fill Disney's 'Big Hero 6'

Disney is name-checking a couple of its recent successes in the TV ads for their new animated adventure "BigHero 6" -- "Wreck-It Ralph" and "Frozen."While it isn't as good as those movies (and doesn't even come close to the best animated superhero film ever, Pixar's "The Incredibles"), it's still

a quality entertainment, and a good start for a potential franchise.

The movie is based on a little-known group ofMarvel comic book characters. While Disney's purchase ofMarvel handed the studio the rights to some well-known content, it didn't earn them the

movie rights to some of the better known characters in the comic-book universe -- no Spiderman, no Fantastic Four, no X-Men. So Disney andMarvel had to do some digging into the catalog. The digging led to the discovery of "Big Hero 6," a superhero team which had made limited appearances in theMarvel universe. In other words, it was -- metaphorically -- underneath the pile of characters near the pile of characters next to the other pile of characters in the Room of the Mostly Forgotten.

Disney's animation division has reworked the characters -- which smartly kept some of the original character traits and disposed of others -- and created a gorgeously rendered backdrop for the characters to inhabit, outside of the world of the otherMarvel films. This makes the movie version

of "BigHero 6" its own universe, a place at once familiar and fantastic, one which will afford the freedom for future adventures of the group. That's a good thing, because the team of "BigHero 6" deserves a lot more screen time. The most family-friendly of the recent superhero squads, they are peopled entirely by good-hearted brainiacs GoGo (Jamie Chung), Honey Lemon (Genesis Rodriguez),Wasabi (Damon Wayans, Jr.) and Fred (T.J.Miller), who are brought together byHiro (Ryan Potter), the genius younger brother of Tadashi (Daniel Henney), a classmate and friend, to

pursue a fiendish masked villain who has stolen a technology that Hiro invented -- and may be responsible for Tadashi's death.

It's after his brother dies that Hiro accidentally reactivates the balloon-like Baymax (Scott Adsit), which Tadashi had designed to be a personal healthcare robot. After the cuddly, gentle-voiced automaton determines that the only way to help Hiro get past the loss of his brother is to assist him any way it can, Hiro elects to program the robot to fight and build it a flying battle suit.

He equips his college-age friends with their own gear, utilizing their individual skill sets, then they jump into the fray -- perhaps not realizing the deepening danger that they will be facing, not only from the villain, but also from Hiro's need for revenge.

Directed by the team of Don Hall and Chris Williams, "BigHero 6" is a visual feast -- a candy-colored joy land that only seems to get richer and deeper as the movie plays. The script by Robert L. Baird, Dan Gerson and Jordan Roberts is not as rich, but the voice cast's work, particularly that of Adsit and Miller, elevates the dialogue significantly.

"BigHero 6"may not be the best animated superhero adventure ever, but it's exciting, funny, and has warmth and heart to spare.

Content advisory: "BigHero 6" is rated PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements. Tadashi's death isn't graphically portrayed -- indeed, he's attempting something noble when he's killed -- but it's quite sad, and could upset young children, as could some of the

more violent sequences.