Megamind

This is a great year for animations. With ‘How to Train Your Dragon’, ‘Toy Story 3’ and ‘Despicable Me’ among others ending up being one of the most acclaimed movies of the year, the bar has been set pretty high. Keeping that and its faint similarities to ‘Despicable Me’ and ‘The Incredibles’ in mind, DreamWorks’ ‘Megamind’ is a very entertaining superhero comedy that stays afloat thanks to a funny script and an even funnier Will Ferrell.

Shot from a distant planet towards Earth as a baby, blue-skinned Megamind (Will Ferrell) was in constant competition with his arch nemesis Metro Man (Brad Pitt) who won over everyone on his side as a superhero and made Megamind feel like an outcast and making him resort to villainy instead. Years later, their rivalry is still present in Metro City. But here’s the thing – Megamind is never able to successfully defeat Metro Man even though he sometimes comes close. So one fine day, his master plan to defeat Metro Man by kidnapping TV reporter Roxanne (Tina Fey) actually works and Metro Man is defeated. But soon his happiness is sapped away when Megamind realizes he has no challenge anymore in a mundane life. To fix that, he decides to create a superhero out of an average guy (Jonah Hill) into Tighten so he has a rival to challenge him. But things go bad to worse when Tighten takes a liking to being a supervillain himself, forcing Megamind to become a reluctant hero for Metro City.

As you can read, the plot itself is very original and puts a whole new spin on the tired superhero genre by asking the question ‘What happens when the villain defeats the hero?’ By following the supervillain Megamind instead of Metro Man throughout the movie, that’s exactly what we find out and the result is smart in its execution. Mind you, the actual character arc of Megamind himself is very predictable from  the start as you exactly know how he will end up. But the way they go about it puts a fresh spin on the tired plot points we’ve grown accustomed to. When DreamWorks said this was their answer to Pixar’s ‘The Incredibles’, they didn’t take it lightly. While the Pixar classic is still untouchable, ‘Megamind’ is a different beast by itself and does things interestingly enough to get a high recommend.

What usually bogs down DreamWorks animations is a whole lot of pop culture references and emphasis on star value over story. And just like ‘How to Train Your Dragon’ of earlier this year, it looks like they’re changing their game. ‘Megamind’ boasts a hilarious screenplay that isn’t the most consistent in pacing but packs enough gags to keep you amused all the way through. The character-work is well done, the story hits the ground running very quickly and not one opportunity to make something humorous is under-utilized with almost all attempts working well. There’s an easy going flow to the movie that doesn’t make it look like it’s trying too hard to be something, and this goes on right until the end.

But Will Ferrell is the real tour-de-force here and once again proves his impeccable comic delivery in the animation genre as well. In fact, ‘Megamind’ seems more like a Will Ferrell vehicle than a DreamWorks animation at times. The main reason is because Will Ferrell has been given full freedom to improvise here and that adds a whole lot to the character of Megamind. Just like Gru from ‘Despicable Me’, Megamind is a very loveable villain in a more obnoxious but hilarious manner. Loudness is when Will Ferrell is playing a character and armed with a great character here, his brand of humor only makes it all the more amusing. If you were skeptical of his voice suiting the character when watching the previews (I was), rest assured that the finished product is classic Will Ferrell and not just him cashing in some quick buck. Without him, ‘Megamind’ wouldn’t be half as good as it is now and would probably be an entirely different movie. To think that Robert Downey Jr. was once set to play the part astounds me since it looks like only Ferrell can play Megamind.

It’s certainly not a perfect movie, though. While the first act of the movie is extremely fast-paced and full of momentum, the movie hits a prolonged lull during the second act as Megamind aimlessly goes around with a central story goal. While the humor here is still present, the pacing takes a hit and so does the movie. Things pick back up once Megamind realizes what he has to do next. As mentioned, predictability also plays a factor here as even though there are a lot of fresh ideas at play here, the ending is very much what any audience member would expect.

Brad Pitt plays a handsome hunky hero well in a pretty limited role, while Tina Fey is also effective as the damsel in distress reporter that Megamind begins to fall for. Jonah Hill plays a version of himself this time around, but gets to take a naughty villainous turn which is new territory for the actor and he does it well. David Cross is especially entertaining as Minion and has a lot of highlight scenes in the movie.

Once again, this is an animation which is always a genre that 3-D lends itself to most naturally. Hence, ‘Megamind’ is a visual treat in 3-D as the action sequences and the scale of the movie leads to some great moments on the big screen. That’s not to say that the value will be diminished when watching it in the normal screens. But the 3-D price here can be justified for the extra eye candy and sufficient 3-D moments that the movie provides at regular intervals.

‘Megamind’ may not be the best animated comedy of the year, but it definitely entertains quite a lot thanks to a lot of original ideas and a funny cast at hand. Could this be DreamWorks’ next franchise? I, for one, wouldn’t mind seeing Megamind in another new adventure that takes him places. See it with your kids and they’ll have a blast.

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