Starring the voices of Ryan Potter, Scott Adsit, Maya Rudolph, Genesis Rodriguez, Damon Wayans Jr., T.J. Miller, Alan Tudyk and James Cromwell; directed by Don Hall and Chris Williams; 102 minutes; PG for action and peril, some rude humor, and thematic elements

“Big Hero 6” is Walt Disney Animation’s lovely and sometimes touching attempt to do anime with computer-generated animation. Based on Marvel comic book characters, it’s a story-driven, kid-pleasing mashup of plots, situations and ideas from scads of earlier tales of misfits battling a supervillain.

It’s lightly amusing, even though it isn’t about the gags. It’s a potential franchise-starter, even though it rarely feels that cynical. And when it hits its sentimental third-act sweet spot, you will be touched.

In the not-distant future San Francisco has morphed into San Fransokyo, a pan-Asian megalopolis where young genius Hiro Hamada (Ryan Potter) wastes his talent building robots for “Bot Fighting,” which he then gambles on. He’s just been convinced to go to college with his brilliant brother Tadashi at the “Nerd University” where all the sharpest minds, led by the legendary Professor Callaghan (James Cromwell), are inventing the future.

But Tadashi and Callaghan die in a fire, and the only thing that pulls Hiro out of his grief is his brother’s legacy, a prototype semi-inflatable “personal health care attendant” robot named Baymax.

Baymax is a great sight gag – a bloated “walking marshmallow” with a kindly, insistent bedside manner. But he has skills that lead Hiro to conclude his brother was murdered, perhaps by a supervillain.

Most every ingredient seems created by a marketing committee, from the post-racial cast to the merchandise-friendly aggregation of robots and special skills humans. But Baymax is more than a ginger-footed joke who masters the fist-bump in an adorable way. It takes all of Hiro’s vengeful hatred to turn him from fluffy nurturer into an armored warrior capable of facing down the villain who may be responsible for Tadashi’s death.

Roger Moore, McClatchy Newspapers

The new film, “Big Hero 6,” is a mash-up of Marvel comic book characters, plots, situations and ideas. Courtesy Walt Disney Animation Studios.