Overall Rating: Score: 8.2/10
Grade: A-
Family-Friendliness Scale: Level 4 (Great)
Kids ages 7+
In this superhero comedy, MegaMind (voiced by Will Ferrell) has been battling Metro Man (voiced by Brad Pitt) and kidnapping Roxanne Ritchi (voiced by Tina Fey) for years. But suddenly, the most unexpected thing happens, the villain WINS! He decides to cause mischief in the streets and do damage on the town. And then, another unexpected thing happens, he gets so BORED, and he wants to create a new hero to battle against. Little does he know, his creation will soon become his enemy and MegaMind will have to stand up, for the first time, as a....hero???
Positive Notes
The film is filled with positive messages about not judging a book by its' cover (judge them by their actions), accepting oneself for who they are as well as morals on bravery, finding the hero inside and self-sacrifice. The animation sparkles with a few 3-D pop-outs, and realistic-looking cities, backgrounds and human characters. The voice cast is top-shelf, with Ferrell, Pitt, Tina Fey, and Ben Stiller (uncredited) being the main stand-outs.
The biggest positive note I can say about MegaMind is that it is one of the most unpredictable movies I have ever seen. There is always something new that you don't expect, and my mind was blown by the time it finally reached the end sequence. Kudos to the writing team for making a great script.
Negative Notes
Some scenes of mildly intense superhero-style action violence. Characters fall from various heights, are knocked out and slapped. Buildings are damaged a few times (one is thrown at the main characters), and there are also a few explosions. Some of this may be too intense for younger children. There's no real foul language, as the dialogue gets no stronger than a couple misuses of God's name, and a couple interjections each of "crap" and "freaking".
In terms of technical problems, the movie's story does go off on a few rabbit trails, as we go back and forth between MegaMind's evil life and his disguises, and due to that, we really don't get to know much about Roxanne, Hal, or Minion.
Conclusion
As far as cinema is concerned, superheroes is certainly not a new concept. Animation tried it before with The Incredibles and Marvel comics has been having hit after hit. So its really not a big surprise that DreamWorks aimed for a similar level of success with this "superhero" flick.
The strange thing about MegaMind is that its' major plot point mirrors Despicable Me. I'm sure they didn't intend to copy that film's bad guy-to-good guy background, but it seems as if this situation in terms of a bad guy winning, it makes it seem more distant from that movie, and more on the original side. And that's not easy to do if you're releasing in the same year as another comparable film.
I was a bit concerned about whether or not DreamWorks would take the gross-out route with this one. And thankfully, with good-natured laughs, I actually prefer this movie over Despicable Me. The story is unpredictable, it has great animation, and the voice actors give lots of oomph and pizzazz to their characters. The scene where Roxanne mocks MegaMind's torture weapons is memorable and hilarious, and the movie takes the time to wink at past superhero movies and action flicks as well. The movie is also fairly clean, as the only minor problem would be that the superhero-style action and mayhem might be too overwhelming for younger ones.
Comparing other animated movies I had seen in years past though, MegaMind was a pleasant surprise. A fun and clever ride that will entertain most ages.
