Big Hero 6 ended up being less than what I had hoped for thanks to the trailers.

In order to explain why, I need to risk spoiling some things, which I do with great reluctance. Before I start, if you haven’t seen the trailers for Big Hero 6, stop reading this and go see the movie! It’s got lots of heart, and is beautiful, exciting, imaginative, and fun.

And the trailers are misleading.

SPOILER ALERT:

The trailers make it look like our inciting incident is the scene in which Hiro and Baymax (the boy and the balloon-bodied robot) are attacked by a man in a Kabuki mask who is operating an army of tiny robots.

Nope! Our inciting incident (the thing that sets the whole story in motion) occurs half an hour earlier, and most of the first act is a complete surprise for those who watched the trailers. Unfortunately, the direction of that first act is NOT a surprise, so I spent the first third of the film waiting for a moment that had been described in great detail in the trailer. “Come on, movie, get on with the story you promised me!”

I know, I know, it’s hardly fair to judge a movie by the trailers, but I’ve never claimed to be fair. I had less fun at the theater than I wanted to, and while the film easily clears my Threshold of Disappointment, it didn’t clear my Threshold of Awesome.

I also had some non-trailer problems with the film, and they’re the same sorts of problems I have with the Iron Man films. If, however, you are in the superhero frame of mind, you’ll enjoy things just fine.

Probably.

Don’t watch the trailers!

(Aside: The short which preceded Big Hero 6 was wonderful.)

I didn’t go see Dracula Untold on opening weekend because the reviews were bad. Maybe my low expectations helped, because it didn’t seem anywhere near as awful as its early reviews suggested.

That’s not a huge vote of confidence, I know, so let me say this: I enjoyed it.

No, really!

It’s kind of a superhero origin story, complete with the “bitten by a…” and the “look what I can do!” underscored by “with great power comes great responsibility.” Also, comic-book physics, at least insofar as the portrayal of the inertia of a swarm of bats goes. And, you know, pretty much every vampire ability on display.

Dracula Untold comes in at #20 for me so far this year, which puts it squarely between my thresholds of “awesome” and “disappointment.” In terms of your movie dollar, however, seeing Guardians of the Galaxy again might be more rewarding.

The Boxtrolls is quirky, funny, dark, and a little disturbing in all of my favorite ways. I enjoyed it, but I can see lots of places where folks might not think it’s their thing. Then again, there are probably other folks who will love it a lot more than I did. It comes in just a hair below my Threshold of Awesome.

It’s dark for a kids’ movie, but it’s definitely a kids’ movie. You can tell because all the adults are either evil, disinterested, or too stupid to help, leaving our young heroes in charge of fixing things themselves. A trope, yes, but handled in ways that I found very satisfying.

Did I mention that this film is beautiful? Oh, my. I don’t even know where to start. Even the ugly bits were beautiful. This is one that I may want to own on Blu-Ray just so I can freeze scenes and stare deeply into the designs. On that note, though, the poster above does it a great disservice. It hints at some of the energy of the film, but fails completely to catch the spirit or the beauty of it.