Megamind (***)
Directed by: Tom McGrath
Starring (voices): Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Brad Pitt, Jonah Hill, David
Cross, Ben Stiller, J.K. Simmons
Seen: December 16th 2010
*** Out of ****
2010 is the year animated movies stabilised into a reliable source of
good movies. Now there are still some bad ones out there (Planet 51 was
terrible, Alpha & Omega scores 4.1/10 on IMDb, the coming soon South
African effort Jock of the Busveld looks atrocious), but the major studios
rarely make a bad one nowadays. Megamind continues this trend with a good
story, interesting characters, more than enough humour, and great animation. The
3D in Megamind is also pretty good; it doesn’t detract from the story at all. In
fact, it is so unobtrusive as to be almost absent – seeing Megamind in 3D won’t
increase enjoyment of it over a 2D viewing.
When the Glau-Punkt quadrant collapses, Megamind’s (Ferrell) parents
send him off in a small shuttle that eventually ends up on earth, at the same
time of arrival of another shuttle, that of the Superman-like Metro Man (Pitt).
The two grow up together, with Metro Man as a part of regular society, while
Megamind’s shuttle ended up in a Prison for the Criminally Gifted, teaching him
a completely different set of values. Brought up as a villain, that’s the only
thing Megamind knows how to do, and his battles with Metro Man for ‘control’ of
Metro City become a way of life almost as much as his compulsive need to kidnap
Roxanne Ritchi (Fey), with the help of his faithful sidekick, Minion (Cross).
When one of his plans actually works out, Metro Man is removed from
the equation, and Megamind runs rampant on the streets of Metro City. Megamind also
poses as museum curator Bernard (Stiller) while trying to avoid Roxanne, and in
this guise he manages to get closer to Roxanne than he would have as Megamind. He does get bored of its monotony though, and
decides to find a way to create a new hero for Metro City, one that he can continue
the fight between Good and Evil with. When he does find out how however, the
wrong person is accidentally given Metro Man’s powers, and Titan (Hill) turns
out to be even worse than Megamind, seeing that Megamind never had true
superpowers. Titan must be stopped, and Metro City needs Metro Man more than
ever if they are going to survive, and it falls onto Megamind’s shoulders to find
the correct “arrangement” of events to free Metro City from Titan’s crazy hold.
While Megamind is a lot of fun it doesn’t quite reach the levels of
emotional attachment and entertainment that How to Train Your Dragon, Toy
Story 3 and even Despicable Me wowed audiences with earlier this year. The movie is funny all the way
through, but never really laugh-out-loud funny. Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Brad
Pitt and David Cross effectively bring their characters to life, and the
animation really feels fresh. The movie’s starting shot is fantastic, with the
later return to that specific point being even better once you realise that
this is where things started off. Megamind is not great, but it is very good
fun for the holidays.
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