Big Hero 6 has dominated the November box office so far, climbing past $100 million in just 10 days. Baymax plushes went from being plentiful on Disney Store shelves to being as hard to find as an Elsa doll. It’s clear that Walt Disney Animation Studios has another big hit on their hands and I suspect the quest for Big Hero 6 merchandise will only get more perilous as we get closer to Christmas.
The film’s soundtrack was released digitally on November 4th, but the CD comes out November 24th. It arrives in a plastic case with a fold-out booklet full of character artwork. Baymax is the only member of the team on the album cover. A similar image is mirrored behind the disc, but the lovable huggable robot is waiving at you in the second image.
The first song on the soundtrack is “Immortals” by Fallout Boy. It’s a catchy rock anthem that is used in the film and repeated during the end credits. I’m not a huge fan of this band, but really enjoyed this song (and it’s been in my head all day).
The rest of the CD is filled up with 19 tracks of score by Henry Jackman. He’s no stranger to Disney or superhero films, having scored Wreck-It Ralph and Captain America: The Winter Soldier prior to this. His score is uplifting and memorable and for this film, he has infused lots of digital instruments with a full orchestra and Japanese sounds. The imagery that came to my head while listening was often vistas from Tomorrowland (the land, not the upcoming film). If Disney Parks ever decides to expand the background music in that land, I could easily see many tracks from this film being added (as well as music from Tron: Legacy, Wall-E and even Wreck-It Ralph). My favorite tracks are “Microbots,” “Upgrades,” “So Much More” and “First Flight.”
It’s great that Disney is offering this soundtrack on CD (as opposed to digital-only). Fans of vinyl can also order the soundtrack through Disney Music Emporium, which comes with a collectible Baymax vinyl record. Henry Jackman’s score is very well done and it’s great to listen to all of the detail put into his compositions that are easy to miss while watching the film. The addition of a decent Fallout Boy song make it hard to go wrong when picking up a copy of this soundtrack.