Megamind

I could tell by the trailers that this film was lacking in originality. It looked like a Dreamworks version of “Superman” and “The Incredibles”. Upon seeing “Megamind”, I thought it was fine but it had some classic problems that Dreamworks is becoming known for. I could tell that it was meant to be in 3D because of the gimmicks. “Monsters vs. Aliens” had a lot of these tacky 3D gimmicks where things pop out and they do nothing for me. I was right in that the story does feel recycled from other films in the genre but more importantly, the movie failed to be truly touching or relatable. The focus of the film was on the humor & on the cast, which is typical for a Dreamworks film. As usual, it worked to some extent. I hate comparing Dreamworks to Pixar all the time but I feel that I have no choice in order to best review this film.

I wish to start off talking about the story because it is what is most important in a film for me. I am beginning to compare Dreamworks Animation to an assembly line: quantity over quality. They usually don’t take any time to create something special, just something that will make money. As evidence of this, Dreamworks made “Megamind” and two other films for 2010. Pixar made one film, “Toy Story 3”, and it is nominated for Best Picture at the Oscars. Pixar values quality and they spend most of their time working on the story of their films. Because Pixar makes one film a year, they are able to give their movies the attention they need. “Megamind” could have been a great movie if the story had been given that same attention. Because Dreamworks is always trying to play catch up to Pixar, the stories that come out of Dreamworks usually hint at this. The opening sequence is nothing special because it felt cliché for this genre. The underdog angle of it was nice but it failed to really read with the audience. The cause for this is that the opening sequence was created at just another stop in the Dreamworks “assembly line”. Every underdog film needs some exposition and so it was quickly created and then sent down the line to the next part of the filmmaking process. The pace of the opening montage is too fast because I feel the filmmakers wanted to get to the scenes with adult Megamind and Metro Man. The story of “Megamind” has other timing and pacing problems such as with the romance between Megamind and Roxanne. The montage that shows their growing relationship and the training of Titan didn’t work. We could have enjoyed some great character moments between Megamind and Roxanne but they were ineffectively played against some silly training scenes involving Titan. The end of the film also has no satisfying romantic payoff unlike in “How to Train Your Dragon”. Roxanne had some strong feelings for Megamind when he was disguised as Bernard but at the end of the film, the two characters feel less romantically involved than I was hoping for. There was no payoff for the line about not judging people on their outward appearance like in “Shrek”

That wasn’t the only story problem where something was set up to pay off at the climax. A climax works when seemingly insignificant events throughout the film come to mean all the difference at the end. The trailer before the film’s release spoiled the fact that the death ray did not destroy Metro Man so that was a big mistake. You knew that Metro Man was not dead throughout the whole film and so it was no surprise when he showed back up. The use of Megamind’s watch that changes his appearance becomes a worn-out story device by time the film ends. It worked great at the start of the film as Megamind escapes the prison but it took on such an importance to the whole story that its use in the climax was not as dramatic or surprising as it could have been. If the watch were only used at the start and at the end of the film, the story would have been so much better. The whole film did have some funny stuff such as the battle of words between Megamind and Metro Man at the start of the film ending with Roxanne’s funny line. I also like the joke about the frequent kidnapping card or something like that. I was impressed with “Space Dad”. It is a very funny Marlin Brando joke because “Space Dad” sounds like “The Godfather” but looks like Jor-El. The “No You Can’t” signs are extremely funny but dated. They won’t be as funny in 30 years time. The climatic battle wasn’t too bad when you look at it positively.

The characters in the film are better than its story but it was the cast that made the characters appealing. Will Ferrell was as funny as I expected he would be in this movie but I would have like Megamind better if Robert Downey Jr. played him. The best performances in this film go to Tina Fey and David Cross. Both of them played their characters very well and they were very funny. I felt that Jonah Hill was great as Hal but terrible as Titan. I know that the phrase “A hero is only good as its villain” is overused but it is true. There was entertaining chemistry between Metro Man and Megamind but the intended drama between Megamind and Titan failed hands down. I did not feel any threat from Titan. Brad Pitt’s performance fit Metro Man nicely but the role and persona of Metro Man was not clearly defined in the film. Is he an antagonist or a good guy (he is quite antagonistic as a child)? Is he supposed to be liked or disliked? He is not evil but he is a quitter at the same time. He refuses to help Megamind and Roxanne but at the end of the film, he is proud of Megamind. The filmmakers should have had Metro Man team up with Megamind at the climax or something. One might ask what makes “The Incredibles” better than “Megamind”. My answer to that is not only was the story better in that Pixar film and but mostly the characters were more realistic. The Parr family is made of people and not cartoon characters. Bob and Helen are parents first and superheroes second. Real-life parents can relate to them as a result and kids can relate to Violet and Dash. The characters in “Megamind” are too stereotypical even though there is an attempt to spoof stereotypes. The story and characters were better in “The Incredibles” because a lot of work was put into that film from all those who were working on it.

“Megamind” is a classic Dreamworks “miss” as opposed to a hit. The film is full of expected Dreamworks characteristics and it is less entertaining in 2D. The story was designed to be touching and relatable but the writers failed to do all the work necessary to fully achieve that quality. I agree with Betsy Sharkey of the LA Times when she said: “Just as Megamind struggles to find his center, at times, so does the film”. The film is full of overused story elements from “Superman” and in terms of design, it resembles “The Incredbles” too much. It is funny and entertaining but not worth owning. Let us hope that “How to Train Your Dragon” is a wake up call for Dreamworks and that they don’t get carried away with the success of that film like they did with the Shrek franchise.

2.5 Stars