Megamind

I tend to prefer the quirky cross-generational humor of Dreamworks animation to the depressing and preachy Pixar breed. Megamind, the latest Dreamworks film, continues the trend of creating comedy marketed towards children but fun for all demographics. Will Ferrell stars as the voice of Megamind, an alien super villain in a constant struggle to defeat his archenemy, Metro Man, voiced by Brad Pitt.

The film has a similar premise to this past summer’s Despicable Me in that it addresses individuals who aren’t particularly evil but live as villains. It is an interesting angle, however it has become somewhat cliché. In Megamind, the title character finds himself emotionally attached to his frequent “kidnapee”, Tona Fey’s Roxanne Ritchi and I dare say they have more chemistry than their real life counterparts would. Fey and Ferrell both provide strong voice performances contributing great personality to their characters. The main disappointment comes from Jonah Hill’s contribution. Playing an individual that goes through great transformation, the viewer is unable to separate any type of character from the sound of what is clearly Hill reading from a script.

The pace runs a bit slow for a feature with such quality characters and concepts. Surprisingly though, the slowness seemed to help certain aspects of the film, allowing it to present characterization in the same vein as serious films more likely presented in live action. Either way, I can’t help but think more could happen in the overall story arch.

Comparing Megamind to other genre bending animated features, it ranks somewhere with the lower quality Shrek films. To translate, that’s still pretty good. Due to the evolution of the characters, a sequel would prove difficult, but like I said before, I can’t help thinking that there are still tons of possibilities for these characters. Overall, just a fun film that adds another quality title to the Dreamworks catalog. (7.8 out of 10)