3 out of 5 stars (average)
Superhero movies have become a large part of the film industry in the last decade. A different hero in each story, but it’s the same story each time: Hero gets powers, he/she has a helpless love interest, and he/she has a villain they must fight, who kidnaps the love interest. Films such as “Spider-man” (2002), “The Dark Knight” (2008), and “Hulk” (2003) have followed this formula. But what if The Green Goblin had taken the victory over Peter Parker, or if The Joker had prevailed? That question is answered in DreamWorks new family comedy “Megamind.”
Megamind (Voiced hilariously by Will Ferrell, “Elf”) and Metro Man (Voiced well by Brad Pitt, “Mr & Mrs. Smith”) have literally been in the hero-villain game forever with Megamind the villain and Metro Man the hero, in Metro city. Megamind and his assistant Minion (Voiced by David Cross, “Alvin and the Chipmunks” franchise) try hard, but good always prevails over evil. To catch their battles on camera is eager reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Voiced by Tina Fey, TV’s “30 Rock”, “Mean Girls”,) who always ends up getting captured by Megamind in his plans to destroy Metro Man. These plans always fail, Roxanne is saved, and Megamind goes to jail.
That changes when our “hero’s” newest “Destroy Metro Man” scheme actually succeeds. With the city now at his mercy, Megamind decides to live it up, stealing $$ from banks, scaring the heck out of cops, and cavorting down the street to rock music. But this life is not all it’s cracked up to be. Apparently villains need someone to fight-a nemesis, or else they are just average Joes.
As he’s pondering his boredom, he falls for Roxanne and disguised as a mild-mannered man, gets close to her. He decides to fill the void left by Metro Man by turning a normal human into a superhero using a small strand of Metro Man’s DNA. His ‘normal human’ target? It’s Hal, (Jonah Hill, “Superbad”, “Funny People”,) Roxanne’s goofy smitten cameraman. Hal is overjoyed at first, thinking that having these powers means Roxanne will totally go for him, but when that turns out false, he turns into Titan, a crazy super villain. Megamind now must enlist the help of Roxanne to defeat Titan, which won’t be easy once she discovers who the “man of her dreams” really is.
I went into this film thinking it was either going to be good or really bad. It was good. The film isn’t as hilarious as some of this company’s previous films (“Shrek”,) but it’s still very funny. The plot is unpredictable, something unexpected for this type of material, which is good. The action sequences are very well animated and the actors are picked smartly. Megamind’s tendency to mispronounce words (Metro City vs. Metrocity) is hilarious, as are his body movements and crazy actions. Metro Man, though loved by the citizens of Metro City, is not stuck up, but just the type of character you expect; a people pleaser. Roxanne is a different kind of character for this type of film, though the helpless captive, she isn’t scared at all by Megamind’s numerous torture devices, as opposed to Mary Jane Watson, who is always screaming when she should know Spider-man will save her from whatever death situation she is in.
I loved the kick-butt rock music in the film, and they way Megamind moves around during the sequences. My sister and mom loved the animation of Roxanne’s hair. Apparently it looked real. I wasn’t looking at her hair.
The only bad thing about his film, and this is probably because I’m older and don’t think this material is funny now, is the scenes where Megamind and Minion are comically hitting/insulting each other. Hal is also mildly annoying at the start of the film when he’s overly desperate for Roxanne’s affection. (Lloyd from “Dumb and Dumber” has a better chance of scoring this girl than he does) but that is taken care of when he turns into a crazy villain with a hairdo nearly identical to that of Syndrome in “The Incredibles”. The obligatory scene at the end where Roxanne pleads with Megamind to save her from Titan, “The city needs you, I need you,” is also present and pretty corny but the moms will love this part.
I recommend this to families who want to see some good clean comedy.
Rated PG for action and some language (Two uses of “Oh, God”)