One of the main reasons I enjoy animated family movies more often than live action adult movies is because of the quality of the writing.
Monsters Inc. set the bar as far as I’m concerned. Last year’s Monsters vs. Aliens (also by DreamWorks) was pretty good, too, and the list goes on. I’m not saying this is a rock-solid script here or that the direction took me on a visual and spiritual ride unlike anything I’ve ever experienced. But these filmmakers have the freedom to create worlds and explore stories that contain equal parts humour and pathos and concurrently appeal to young in a compelling way.
Megamind follows closely on their heels, and even raises the bar in certain ways. It’s a smart movie for a savvy audience because it takes the notion of the antagonist and turns it on its massive blue head. The story is about a super smart little alien child with loving parents on a doomed planet. As the planet is being sucked into a black hole, the parents send their cerulean bald-pated baby into a survival rocket careening across the galaxy to a safe rock.
Unfortunately, the parents of another baby — this one white, arrogant and strong — shoot him off in his own capsule at the same time. The two pods knock into each other, sending the white baby through the front door of a rich family leading him easily to a life of privilege and power. The blue baby, on the other hand, somehow bounces off several buildings and lands smack dab in the middle of a prison for the criminally gifted. And thus, a simple twist of fate can lead two seemingly identical people into vastly different lots in life. How’s that for chaos theory? The rich kid becomes Metro Man (Brad Pitt) while the blue baby in prison turns into evil genius Megamind (Will Ferrell). It’s the screenwriters’ argument for nurture over nature, except Megamind really just wanted to be loved by others and be good. Things just don’t quite work out his way.
As an adult, Megamind is in constant battle with Metro Man, but always loses. Suddenly he finds himself the winner but his victory is bittersweet. What is the ultimate bad guy supposed to do with the rest of his life once he no longer has a nemesis to battle against? For poor Mr. Blue, he decides that he needs to create a new good guy in the form of red-haired video game addict Tighten (Jonah Hill). The plan backfires and he becomes hell-bent on destruction instead, threatening the very existence of Metro City and especially Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey), newscaster and love interest for absolutely every superhero in this movie. She’s smart and sassy but she does little more than propel the plot for the male characters. When are these superhero movies going to have a female main character? Ever?
I love DreamWorks almost as much as Pixar for its fun and family friendly animated movies. Madagascar rocked. Kung Fu Panda was grand. Shrek was good, but the rest of the series kinda left a bad taste in my mouth. Flushed Away was fantastic but Shark Tale stunk! So where does this one fit in? Somewhere in the middle but closer to the top, I guess. It’s a classic story about the outsider getting the girl but with a fun spin. It was pointlessly shown in 3D so you can safely take the kids to any regular multiplex without missing a single moment.
I think that what struck me most is the vocal performances propelled the characters, especially with Ferrell. He has that special kind of natural inflection that you can’t help but laugh at. Megamind also has a butt-kicking, hard rock soundtrack that makes me want to go out and buy the CD for the first time in years.
