EDITOR’S NOTE: Earlier this year, we shared with you the initial reactions to Guardians Of The Galaxy’s‘s sneak peak at Disneyland for their annual passholders.  Our friend Scott Muchow wasn’t terrified enough after that experience of writing for us, and was awesome enough (and he really is) to shoot us a message after seeing the sneak peak for the upcoming Big Hero 6!

“Big Hero 6: Sneak Peak”, by special guest writer Scott Muchow.

So, GotG has been moved out of the Magic Eye Theatre and Big Hero 6 has moved in. Honestly, I am doubtful if we see Captain EO back again. This part of their marketing machine seems pretty well oiled and the theatre is a perfect spot for it. This ‘little’ write up turned out longer than before, sorry, there was just more footage to yap about.

So, the sneak peek of Big Hero 6. I went into this with almost zero knowledge of the property’s origins, other than it being a Marvel comic, I basically knew nothing beyond what I had seen in the trailers. Tonight we got to see four extended cut scenes from different parts of the film followed by an extended trailer which is mostly the same footage in today’s newly released regular trailer. It was enough to give us some brief character introductions, a glimpse of the basic story arc and a feel for the ‘vibe’ of the film.

The first scene is obviously early in the movie as we see Tadashi taking his kid brother Hiro to the “Nerd Lab” and introducing him to it’s inhabitants. We meet hardass Go Go, the cool and somewhat hipster Wasabi, bubbly cute Honey Lemon and dorky nerd mascot Fred, who we learn is responsible for everyone else’s nicknames. We see each character with a cool science gadget, well except for fred who is actually wearing the mascot costume and introduces himself as such. Go Go has a futuristic looking bicycle and riding gear, Wasabi throws an apple through a field generator thing and slices it paper thin and Honey Lemon paints a giant ball of titanium(? I think) pink and pops it like a balloon.

Deeper into the trailer it’s obvious that the gadgets are a hint at each team members’ soon-to-be-donned costume and/or ‘power’. And when I say costume, oh yeah, watch out con attendees, I think you will be seeing a fair amount of these digital costumes brought to life. Hell, from a distance you would swear Hiro is Mega Man and my hat is off to anyone who can pull off an armored Baymax.

But, back to the sneak peek spoilers. The second cut scene is a longer version of what we have seen a little of already with Hiro in his bedroom. Hiro meets Baymax after he drops a large robot part on his bare foot. Hiro yells in pain and Baymax self inflates in what we assume is his brother’s half of the bedroom. Baymax knocks over the books and comes to investigate the injury. This is where we really get a feel for the film’s humor. Baymax asks Hiro that most annoying of doctor questions, to rate his pain level on a scale of 1 to 10. He even has a nice little happy/sad face graphic that appears on his chest. Hiro trips and falls over backwards, tries to get up, pulls a shelf down on himself causing toys to slide down onto him one after another, and with each hit, Baymax starts the question “please rate your…”. It was honestly laugh out loud funny.

Cut to subsequent bedroom scene (ugh, sounds dirty just to write it) of Hiro’s small robot creation going crazy in what can only be described as a little covered petri dish. Baymax wonders where it is trying to go and annoyed Hiro tells him “well, why don’t you find out”. This leads us into the third scene at a dilapidated warehouse. Hiro and Baymax break in through a window and we get more humor with Baymax trying to fit through the window. Baymax chooses to deflate and we get allusions to him breaking robot wind. Once again, laugh out loud funny, not just because it’s a fart joke but the way it’s so well crafted and timed. The editing and shots of Hiro’s face make these scenes. It is the same perfect mix of shot and timing used in the ‘tape over the Baymax’s leaks’ scene at the police station that we witnessed in the first regular trailer. While in the warehouse we find out that Hiro’s little robot is being mass produced and stored by the truckload.

We also meet our masked villain who seemingly has control over this tiny robot army. It immediately made the geek in me flash to The Replicators in Stargate (but just think of any kind of nanobot scifi terror and you’ll have an idea) mountains of little bots ready to form complex mechanisms and wreak mayhem. The final cut scene is them assembling the team. We see Hiro is the mastermind of the new briefly shown suits and we see a majority of his first flight with Baymax.

And how cool it was, Baymax is turned into a portly Iron Man with an armored kid on his back. They fly straight forward, straight up, through town, clumsily dodge obstacles and end up on top of a large tower of a very Golden Gate looking bridge. Here we get a peek at the emotional undertones of the movie. Baymax scans a happily excited Hiro and declares that the treatment is working, right before he slow dives from the top of the tower to race along the waters surface.

So, if you consider all the previous trailer footage and fill in the gaps, you can get a pretty good idea of the story, it’s not that hard, although there really are no hints to the third act. I am sure there will be both met expectations and a few surprises there. First impressions…it’s going to be a slightly more anime style Wreck-it Ralph, mixed with The Incredibles and I suspect a little Up. Yes it looks THAT much like a Pixar film, be happy about that, this isn’t Mars Needs Moms. I actually think it will have a broader appeal than Wreck-It Ralph and will probably do better at the box.

Plus, lets be honest, it’s going to be more toy/costume/T-shirt friendly, which equals staying power. Cars anyone? But aside from the business aspects of it, this film is going to have heart. Just the ten minutes of footage we saw was enough to guarantee that. It’s going to be a tale of loss and healing at it’s core with a superhero-esque adventure backdrop.

I will definitely be seeing this on the big screen and probably in 3D (which looked great). The humor won’t play as well on the second viewing but the emotional journey just may take people back for a third. I could be wrong, but I really think audiences will leave the theatre wanting to hug it out, and that is more powerful than any toy sales.

Disney’s Big Hero 6 is set for a November 7, 2014 release.

Trailer one:

Trailer two: