Film Review: Megamind

We've had quite a year for animated films, with plenty of ups (Toy Story 3) and downs (Despicable Me). I was expecting Megamind to land somewhere in the middle, probably more on the side of such Dreamworks films as Madagascar. So I was pleasantly surprised as the film got into the groove of things, eventually proving itself to be the most simple fun to be had at the movies all year. It carefully treads the line between Dreamworks and Pixar, this time to somewhat better success than How to Train Your Dragon. It's still mainly a Dreamworks film, which means, among other things, that it can have the best of both of worlds, along with a bit of the bad.

The film focuses on Megamind, a blue-skinned intellectual villain from another world, who has spent his entire life combating against the hero of Metro City, Metro-Man. When Megamind finally bests (and by bests I mean kills) his foe, he finally realizes that having a nemesis was really what kept him going. So he creates a new superhero out of his frequent kidnap victim Roxanne Ritchi's cameraman Hal, who becomes the villainous Tighten. From there on the story escalates into a tale of redemption with Megamind learning who he really is and who he wants most to be. In any of the old Dreamworks films it would've come out cheesy, but this was rather heartfelt and struck true.

There are quite a few things that I absolutely love about this film, the first of which is the voice-cast. Will Ferrell really made me forget that he was the man behind the voice, which helps liken him to the audience and myself, especially since he turned me off from The Other Guys. Brad Pitt is totally solid as Metro Man, who most closely resembles the Harry Potter character in A Very Potter Musical. It's a strange reference, but the one that most rings true. Jonah Hill is the most recognizable of the voices, just because he plays a fat guy in this film, and he's a fat guy in real life as well. David Cross is pretty good in the role of Minion, and since I still don't know what he looks like in real life, he blends in pretty seamlessly. However, the best person in the cast is without a doubt Tina Fey as Roxanne Ritchi. The last time we got such a spectacular connection within an animated character based solely on the voice acting was Ellen Degeneres in Finding Nemo. Fey just goes above and beyond with everything she does simply with her voice. If I didn't already know it would never possibly happen, I'd recommend her as a Supporting Actress contender for this film.

In so many ways, I actually prefer Megamind to How to Train Your Dragon. I know that the latter may have more realistic emotional content to it, along with the powerful sense of danger. Megamind was simply the sort of film I can envision going back to over and over again and still having a fantastic time. I was laughing at most of the jokes, which is pretty much a prerequisite for any animated feature. The romance in this film comes off in a genuinely emotional way, and doesn't seem to come out of the blue (no pun intended). You can tell that Ritchi and Megamind have a nice long-standing relationship, even if it is in something of a negative light starting out.

Finally, the action in the film is just a return to form for superhero films, live action and animated. Iron Man 2 didn't really give us anything that made us care about the characters, which is important for the action to feel necessary at all. By the end, you're hoping Megamind will win and save the day, and that's the key to all of this. It only helps that Lorne Balfe and Hans Zimmer have put together a superb action score as usual, and that theme almost never gets old. It doesn't forget to inject some humor into it, including a moment that briefly parodies how some final battle sequences seem to keep finding excuses to go on and on. Megamind is definitely going to have people set against it, and it is at least five minutes too long, but the last time I can remember having this much fun at the theaters was last year when I went to see Star Trek for the first time. It's a fantastically enjoyable and fast paced experience that I hope more people take in.

B+