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Forget superheroes. This year has been a big year for supervillains—especially the animated ones. Not that long ago, Steve Carell voiced villain Gru in the hilarious animated adventure-comedy, Despicable Me. And now yet another funnyman, Will Ferrell, enters supervillaindom as Megamind.
Ever since he was just eight days old, Megamind has had nothing but bad breaks. Instead of landing his tiny spaceship in the lap of luxury, he landed in a prison for the criminally gifted. Instead of earning his peers’ adoration, his well-intentioned inventions were mocked. Eventually, he decided to give up on trying to be a hero—and he decided to become a bad guy instead.
Now, after years of failure, the brilliant but bumbling villain has finally managed to defeat his lifelong enemy, Metro Man (Brad Pitt). But his celebration is short-lived, and he soon realizes that life is pretty dull—so he decides to create a new hero to fight. When he accidentally infuses nerdy cameraman Hal (Jonah Hill) will hero DNA, though, Megamind finds that there’s more to a hero than his DNA and a fancy costume.
Megamind offers a new twist on the same old superhero/supervillain rivalry—and, really, it’s a pretty clever idea. But, unfortunately for Dreamworks, Universal’s Despicable Me beat Megamind in the whole animated supervillain movie race by just a few months, making the whole idea seem slightly old hat. After all, we’ve seen a bumbling supervillain get a conscience before. We’ve seen him turn a little soft when he falls in love (this time, though, it’s with a pretty reporter instead of a trio of orphan girls). In fact, we’ve seen it done really well. And, as a result, Megamind ends up stuck in Despicable Me’s shadow—just like Megamind himself has spent his life in Metro Man’s shadow.
Still, Ferrell gives his super-evil character a different vibe—one that’s entirely, undeniably Will Ferrell. In fact, Megamind acts exactly as you’d expect Will Ferrell to act if he ever decided to become a supervillain. He’s wacky and completely over-the-top. He’s childlike and awkward and totally immature. And, on occasion, he’s just slightly idiotic. Depending on whether or not you love Will Ferrell’s schtick, it could be either a good thing or a bad thing. Yet, either way, you’ll have to admit that there’s something strangely lovable about him, too.
Hill’s Hal, on the other hand, is more obnoxious than lovable. Even as an animated character, Hill is typecast as the lazy, sarcastic slacker—and although the act fits relatively well with the character, both the act and the character get old a little too quickly.
While it may not have the same heart or hilarity (not to mention the originality) of Despicable Me, though, Megamind is still a fairly entertaining blend of kids’ movie, superhero adventure, and slacker comedy—all crisply animated and underscored by a surprising heavy-metal soundtrack. Ferrell’s fans will love seeing him play a big blue animated alien—and their kids will enjoy the wacky characters and the non-stop action.
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