Viewed once on November 7, 2010 in theaters in 3D
From the past few DreamWorks films, it's hard to know what you're going to get. Either the movie will be one of the cutest movies you've seen in a while, or it will be funny and witty, or it's just plain dumb. The animation giant is really hit-or-miss.
Another observation: In live-action superhero movies, there's been a trend over the past few years to explore the good guy's darker side. In animated superhero movies, it's a trend to find the bad guy's good side. It's rather interesting, once you think about it.
And so we come to Megamind, with an all-star voice cast, beautiful animation, and a storyline that I'm pretty sure I've seen before this year (Think "Despicable Me"). At least, it starts out that way. This movie actually has a quite different storyline, one that is unexpected and (quite frankly) hysterically funny.
Megamind was sent to Earth from his home planet when it was being destroyed by a black hole. Unfortunately, another baby (Metro Man) was going through the exact same scenario at exactly the same time. Thus, "Our glorious rivalry was born!!" Metro Man lands in a rich, cushy family and is raised with everything anyone could ask for. Megamind, on the other hand, lands in a high-security prison and is raised by criminals, who teach him about crime and how to become the "master of all villainy." <<SPOILER ALERT!!!>> The two supers clash repeatedly in their growing up years until, one day, Megamind actually defeats Metro Man!! (GASP!!) The bad guy wins?? What will happen to us NOW?! Megamind quickly discovers a few things: A) It's not much fun being bad when there's nobody to fight you, B) that female reporter that Megamind has been kidnapping for years is really cute, and C) if you make a superhero who then turns bad, what do you do? This creates a major dilemma for Megamind: Stay a villain, or become a superhero who puts others first?
The story actually has some really poignant moments that teach some really great morals. One message is that of destiny: Metro Man says, "Destiny is not the path that's given to us, but the path that we choose for ourselves." Another is that of judging a book by its cover. Yet another is that of good vs. evil ("As long as there is evil, good will stand up to it."). And still another moral is that of purpose and the fact that everyone has a purpose. Megamind is a character who goes through some serious integrity overhauling. (Although I wonder if he ever was truly "evil" in the first place?? When comparing him to Tighten, I think Megamind was not all that bad, just mislead.) There were several moments in the movie where I was floored by the depth of the messages being shown. This is no shallow cartoon; this film has some real meat to it.
In the unavoidable comparison to Despicable Me, I'm faced with two films with very different deliveries, but essentially the same messages. Bravery. True heroism. Kindness. Compassion. Forgiveness. Overcoming a troubled past. Doing what's right, even when it hurts. However, I personally feel that Megamind is a much more enjoyable film than Despicable Me. I just find that alot of the humor in Megamind is much more my style than that of Despicable Me. (Fortunately, Megamind does NOT follow in the footsteps of many other DreamWorks films--it's mostly clean from innuendo and potty humor. Mostly.)
When comparing Gru (Despicable Me) to Megamind, I get a very clear picture of who really is a better character. Personally, I think that Gru is not as interesting of a character. He's just not really credible as a bad guy, where I feel that Megamind (if only for the first fifteen minutes) is truly intimidating as a bad guy (though not NEARLY so much as Tighten!). There's a certain menace that's present in Megamind that isn't quite there with Gru. Also, I think that Megamind faces much deeper issues and comes to grips with himself, learning a valuable and life-changing lesson; I sort of get the feeling that Gru at the beginning of the movie was kindof the same as he is at the end of the movie, as if he was waiting to make that change the whole time. Finally, I'm also MUCH more attracted to Megamind as a character than to Gru. I like Megamind alot more, where with Gru I was always a little detached from the situation. Maybe the atrocious advertising for Despicable Me did that.
NEGATIVES:
>> Profanity: None except for juvenile words such as "crap nuggets," "freakin'," "good lord," "god," "gosh"...and the like. There are a few objectionable songs in the soundtrack (such as AC/DC's unavoidably catchy tune "Highway to Hell"), but the editors cleverly cut the song in such a way that we don't hear anything bad.
>>Violence: This film's violence is kindof in the same vein as other DreamWorks and animated superhero movies. (Think "The Incredibles" meets "Madagascar," and that's the kind of violence you have.) There is one skeleton that's pretty shocking but rather funny. Stuff gets blown up, melted with X-ray vision, thrown around by invincible superheros, characters get dehydrated and thrown into walls and dropped from high places. Characters run into walls and invisible cars. It's not much at all. ("Legend of the Guardians" was more violent.)
>>Spiritual Content: A comment is made about Megamind's parents looking down from "evil heaven." Metro Man appears to walk on water nonchalantly. The citizens of Metro City seem to worship Metro Man in almost cult-like fashion.
>>Alcohol and Drugs: Characters drink socially in a fancy restaurant over dinner.
>>Sexual Content: One super character picks out his Spandex wedgie. Two characters kiss. Some of the lady characters wear some tight/semi-revealing clothing.
On the whole, this film was one of the more entertaining ones I've seen in a while. I was worried it would fall into "Oh I've seen this before," or "Whoa, why did DreamWorks have to go there?" But overall I was very, VERY pleased with it and I'd be up for watching it again. Endearing characters, witty dialogue, and quick, clean animation all combine to make this film funny and a rollickin' good time. I would say this film is OK for everybody, including younger kids--it's a little bit scary once or twice, but it has some awesome morals and <<SPOILER ALERT!!!>> The good guy wins. :)
5 1/2 out of 6 stars
So that everyone (including myself) may benefit from it, please feel free to leave your own personal opinion of this film.
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