One step above bad animated flicks like Ice Age, Despicable Me and Madagascar, Megamind doesn’t quite reach the heights of How to Train Your Dragon, Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs and the Pixar greats.
When a far away galaxy was destroyed, two sets of alien parents placed their newborn babies in escape pods and shot them to Earth. One, known as Metro Man, became the Superman-esque super hero that Metro City always needed, the other, known as Megamind, was forced to sit on the sidelines. Metro Man held all the super powers while Megmind was brilliant. Knowing that he would never be as good a superhero as Metro Man, Megamind turned in the other direction – super villain.
Plan after brilliant plan, Megamind’s attempts at defeating Metro Man and taking over Metro City always backfired – until now. With Metro Man out of the picture, Megamind finds himself in blue-chin-deep in hot water as a new threat is unleashed on Metro City. The villain that the city once loathed is forced to become the hero that they never wanted.
Megamind is like a mix of The Incredibles and Superman – not a plot point happens in Megamind that didn’t take place in those two first. The majority of the attempts at humor in the first half of Megamind fall flat on their face. It isn’t until the second half of the movie that it truly becomes funny and entertaining. Making it through that first half is the hard part.
Coming from the same studio that brought us Kung Fu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon, you would expect more from Megamind. Pixar raises the bar each year, and until now, it seemed like Dreamworks animation was keeping up. But Megamind is a step in the wrong direction. Even with that said, Dreamworks is the closest animation studio to meeting Pixar expectations.
It has been nearly two months since an animated family film opened in theaters, so Megamind is sure to make a box office killing. If only the money it is going to make reflected the quality of Megamind.
Photo credit: Paramount Pictures
