Megamind

Megamind PosterRating: ★★★½☆

A city without a hero is indeed a bummer, but for the villain, it could be a catastrophe. Why formulate a nifty plot that will overtake the world if no one out there is good enough to challenge it? Where’s the fun in building an enormous, vicious, dancing machine if no man of equal awesomeness will stand up to it? Megamind (Will Ferrell) knows this feeling all too well.

When he was just a little infant, with skin as blue as an Avatar’s and with a head as large as a papaya, Megamind (Brad Pitt) was sent to earth by his parents right before their planet was obliterated by a natural calamity. Just as we humans are about to complain again about the typhoons and global warming in our planet, we see theirs get sucked into a black hole.

A neighboring planet had the same idea, and a second infant, soon to be famous as Metro Man, travels with small baby Megamind. The two aliens grow up to be rivals in Metro City, and battling each other has become an almost outlined routine. Villain kidnaps the girl. Hero shows up. Beats up villain. Sends him to jail. When villain inevitably escapes, the cycle is repeated. Each citizen seems to enjoy this, except for TV reporter Roxanne (Tina Fey), who is reasonably tired of the clichés.

Roxanne’s response to all this reflects the tone of the makers themselves. “Megamind” both spoofs and salutes the superhero genre with an endless supply of joy and jokes. Superhero and Supervillain politics are executed with self-awareness and innocuous mockery, but things quickly change when the movie allows the villain to taste victory when Megamind was able to make Metro Man disappear.

Superhero Politics

With only one side left standing, a portion of the film shows Megamind in a humorous and oddly thoughtful existential dilemma with himself. “The Incredibles” has already done many great things for this genre, but “Megamind” also delivers some useful insights expertly wrapped in slapstick. The people at Dreamworks specializes in silly humor, which we can find here, but it’s funny how their most acclaimed project, “How to Train Your Dragon”, is the one with the least jokes.

Another signature move from Dreamworks Animation is the hiring of high profile actors. And, as far as opinions go, the cast in “Megamind” is my current favorite. Tina Fey makes more of her Roxanne, which is a role usually used only as an accessory. Besides being pretty, Roxanne is smart and funny, and has a notable influence on our beloved aliens.

Will Ferrell doing the voice of Megamind should surprise no one, who is, as always, over-the-top. When Ferrell finds the right roles, he could be priceless. What does surprise me though, is the man in charge of Metro Man, who is Brad Pitt. We appreciate that Pitt lets out his goofy side that we all loved in “Snatch” and “Inglorious Basterds.” To have seen this as live-action would be interesting. To have seen Ferrell and Pitt as mortal enemies would definitely be interesting.

Speak Your Mind

*

Share
Like this article?
Good thing we have a button for that
Megamind