Ever wonder, “What if Lex Luthor actually beat Superman?” Well, wonder no longer, that is basically the premise behind Megamind, and sometimes getting exactly what you want, is the last thing that you want to happen. Take the jump to find out if this movie soars like a bird, or plummets like a rock with cardboard wings.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GL1rf9TsXzE[/youtube]
Megamind
Starring: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, David Cross, Jonah Hill, Ben Stiller, and Brad Pitt
Writers: Alan Schoolcraft & Brent Simons
Director: Tom McGrath
Studio: Dreamworks/Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG
Year: 2010
Both sent from dying alien worlds, Megamind(Will Ferrell) and Metro Man(Brad Pitt) even at an early age are rivals. As a adult, Megamind is always kidnapping Roxanne Ritchie(Tina Fey), the supposed girlfriend of Metro Man, usually with the assistance of his friend/servant Minion(David Cross). Time after time his plans are foiled and he is returned to prison. But with a copper lined wall, and a death ray, Metro Man is gone, and all the hopes of the people of Metro City left with him.
With Metro City’s spirit essentially broken and the once laughable Megamind able to strut into City Hall with his Robo/Ape/Fishbowl-headed servant/friend blaring out AC/DC’s “Highway to Hell” on a good ol’ Ghetto Blaster. Realizing a bit too late that without a hero to fight, his life is pretty much meaningless. He slips into depression, only finding solace in a blossoming relationship with Roxanne, and grooming Hal Stewart(Jonah Hill), her cameraman, and semi-stalker, to become the next hero of Metro City.
Though this is a comedy first a foremost, it wears the skin of sewn up comic book issues proudly, and to such a extent that Hal Stewart, is named after two Green Lanterns. Some of the references that it makes will probably go over some kids heads, but it makes it even more fun for those who know that extra bit of knowledge. For example, Megamind comes screaming in a “Sky Chopper” something that is very similar to Lobo’s own personal mode of travel. Also, when Megamind disguises himself as “Space Dad”, to train Hal to be a Hero, it is a clear homage to Marlon Brando in Superman: The Movie.
The CGI Animation that is in the movie is really good, especially when the action kicks in. The scene in the rain after the disaster at the restaurant is particularly memorable due to the way the streets look as the rain water washes over them. The characters look and sound great, while everyone turns is a good to great performance Ferrell and Cross steal a lot of the scenes they are in. But that’s not really nothing new, they know comedy, and this is after all, a comedy.
The musical score, though being from Hollywood’s current “it” composer, Hans Zimmer(with Lorne Balfe), isn’t really that memorable, but that’s understandable when the other musical choices are like a giant foam finger at a funeral. It’s not like I didn’t want to hear AC/DC, Guns N’ Roses, Ozzy Osbourne, George Thorogood, and some Michael Jackson, it’s just when you’ve got that peppering throughout the movie, it drowns out the musical score my being loud and flashy, in a good way.
BOTTOM LINE: CHANGE IS GOOD
Where Megamind could be easily be a action/comedy with comic book super-hero overtones, it moves past that and becomes a character piece of how being isolated, and alone, can warp your perceptions on the world(and it doesn‘t help being raised by convicts), making you turn to what is easier, evil. But after a life altering course of events you can change, evolve as a person, move out of that dank hideout with a fake observatory on top of it, and become the hero you need to be. To save the day, the girl, and ultimately yourself.
Megamind receives 4 Stars, out of 5.
5 Comments
I liked Megamind well enough but prefer Despicable Me, with it’s similar supervillain premise, and which came out around the same time. I found Gru to be a more likable character, and the story better in general.
My problem with Despicable me was that shrinking and removing the moon from earths orbit would of caused massive world disasters and freezing peoples heads in blocks of ice pretty much kills them unless they can get a tracheotomy pretty quickly, the whole needing to breathe and all.
Haven’t seen either Megamind or Despicable Me, but several things annoyed me about the ad campaigns/press for these.
1. It seemed like, for the longest time, no one made comparisons to the two “CG cartoon, comic-book-villain-centric stories with main characters voiced by A-list comedian” movies. I have no idea why that is, but the fact that that no major press outlet called that out until some time after its release made me feel like I was taking crazy pills.
2. The Megamind trailers seemed to talk about 3 different movies with 3 different plots, depending on the trailer. One showed the story this review seems to highlight: what happens when the villain wins? One showed a villain turns hero story. And one showed a story that seemed to be a carbon copy of Despicable Me–the villain battles another villain that’s even more villainous. It made me question the focus of the film itself.
On the first point, meh. I do believe they came out far enough apart that they wouldn’t be competing with eachother, so the media didn’t care. As for the second point, it actually is all three, as the first line happens within the first few minutes of the story, and the other two happen because of the first. He creates another “hero” who ends up being more of a villain than anything else.
After the first 10 minutes, all the energy just seemed to get sucked out of this movie. I lasted until about the 30 minute mark before calling it a day. It visually looked great but there wasn’t much of a story, for my tastes.