MegaMind Movie Review

Megamind is the most brilliant super-villain the world has ever known… and the least successful. Over the years, he has tried to conquer Metro City in every imaginable way. Each attempt has been a colossal failure, thanks to the caped superhero known as “Metro Man,” until the day Megamind actually defeats him in the throes of one of his botched evil plans. Suddenly, the fate of Metro City is threatened when a new villain arrives and chaos runs rampant, leaving everyone to wonder: Can the world’s biggest “mind” actually be the one to save the day?

A snappy script and superior voice work make this animated action-comedy much more fun than expected. Even though the premise and visual style are similar to both The Incredibles and the more-recent Despicable Me, this film has an attitude all its own.

The filmmakers cleverly get us on Megamind’s side at the outset. He’s plainly not a natural villain, but has never had a chance to show his heroic side. Pointedly, he and Metro Man had very different adoptive families that set their courses. The idea seems to be that people are good or evil by nature, and it’s only circumstances that make us see anything different. This slightly muddled message is hammered home when Megamind gives Metro Man’s powers to Roxanne’s obsessive cameraman (Hill).

The vocal cast adds spark and humour to the dialog, which is packed with amusingly surreal wordplay. The banter between Megamind and Metro Man is simply hilarious, and far more sophisticated than we usually see in an animated movie. And while the plot is somewhat predictable, it plays out with a freshness that’s able to surprise us every now and then. It also features some remarkably dark violence along the way, although the film’s chirpy tone doesn’t dwell on that.

Of course the animation is witty and detailed, with a playful use of 3D and some engagingly frenetic set pieces. The characters and settings (plus some of the jokes) look pretty much like the ones in The Incredibles, so we know what universe we’re in. And while this film can’t match that classic’s exploration both of heroism and family connections, it’ll keep a lot of people laughing for a long time to come.