'Big Hero 6' Trailer: Tons Of Charm, Glimpses Of Characters

I have some complicated feelings about Big Hero 6, the forthcoming computer-animated Disney movie based on an obscure Marvel superhero concept. It seems like a weird choice for a Disney movie to begin with; a lot of the Japanese characters are no longer Japanese; and wasn't the whole deal with white comic creators appropriating Japanese culture to make Japanese superheroes sort of weirdly fetishistic to begin with?

But I've set all that aside for a couple of minutes to judge the new Big Hero 6 trailer on its own merits, and here's the good news; it's enormously charming. Surprise surprise, the people who brought you Frozen and the people who brought you The Avengers have a potential smash hit on their hands.

The trailer follows the example of previous teasers in focusing on our reassuringly smart hero, Hiro, and his toyetic balloon-bot buddy Baymax -- clearly a great source of physical comedy. The trailer also introduces us to the villain Yokai (aka "Mr Kabuki"), and he seems like a genuinely nightmare-inducing creation for little kids.

Getting less attention in this trailer; the other two-thirds of the Big Hero 6. Presumably we'll get to know them in future promotional spots. Now that Disney has formally uncorked the marketing genie for this movie, we'll probably get a constant drip-drip-drip from here to November, when the movie is released. That should give us plenty of time to unpack all of our concerns about Big Hero 6.

In the meantime, please enjoy drunken low-battery Baymax stroking a "hairy baby."