Review - Megamind (2010)

“Is there some kind of nerdy supervillain website where you get Tesla coils and blinky dials?”

Director: Tom McGrath
Starring: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross and Brad Pitt
Writers: Alan J Schoolcraft, Brent Simons

Well I had no expectations going into this one, was just looking for a fun movie to pass away the time. Low and behold what I got was a film that had me laughing from beginning to end and really managed to surprise me with how much I dug it. Seriously getting this close to the end of the year I didn’t expect such a pleasant surprise but there you have it. So let’s get a little bit in depth and see why I dug it so.

If anything this is just one of those animated films that get the voices so right for their characters. In the beginning I was thinking oh look, its Will Ferrell doing a voice, after about ten minutes all I was hearing was the voice of Megamind. That’s how you really know you’ve hit the jackpot. When character over rules the star you are doing something right. In fact everyone is just so perfect I wasn’t thinking of the human counterparts once. Tina Fey is just awesome as Roxanne Ritchie and really made the most of this interesting character. Maybe the weakest link is Brad Pitt but I don’t think this is too much a major thing. He does the hero thing pretty well and if I had to imagine a celebrity as a superhero I think Brad Pitt would be on the top end of the list. David Cross as Minion does manage to steal the show many times and seemed to have a really chemistry with Ferrell and make me wonder if they recorded their scenes together.

A complaint I’ve read from other reviewers is that it isn’t very original in the story department. Honestly I think this is a false argument as the stories comedy comes from slightly twisting what we’ve seen before hand in other movies. Saying it’s not original is kind of missing the point of what the movie is trying to do. This makes me come to a weakness in the movie; if you are not familiar with some of the comic book villain and hero beats then you won’t get as much from the movie. In the audience I may have been laughing more than the kids present because I was seeing things that were subtle jabs at the hero and villain dynamic present in many comics. I also thought the message of the movie was nice and simple and didn’t seem to be crammed down the audiences throat like some company’s tend to do. (I love you Pixar but I’m mainly looking at you)

One of my biggest pet peeves with animated features is also the constant pop culture references that are often replacing proper jokes. I’m glad to say while this movie does have its references they are normally in the background and the comedy is mostly derived from the story. This combined with the great voice acting allows for a movie that stands out from the rest of the pack that is getting very crowded at the moment.

Visually I loved the look of Megamind and I thought that it was very pretty. Now I managed to go and see the 2D version of this movie so I’m not sure what the 3D is like. But I must say the 2D version in my mind is a good call for not having movies always in 3D. I’m not sure what the added dimension would have added to the movie honestly. Also just a weird aside but I couldn’t help but notice the eyes of the all the characters. They seemed to express so much emotion yet I know it’s all digital trickery. Technology is really taking a leap forward.

At the end of the day I should probably stress that the reason i'm so high on this movie is that it beat the expectations I had for it. It doesn’t have the emotional heft like some of the more recent animated features but I was laughing pretty consistently so that in my mind is a great recommendation. If you’re after a decent animated feature that has some great voice acting and some laughs then go see Megamind.