Grade: B
There are some movies that live and die by their marketing, and I thought from the first trailer that “Megamind” was one such film: absolute garbage in every sense of the word, who’s lack of actual quality the studio would compensate for in unrelenting marketing to still try and squeeze a profit.
Instead, I was truly surprised that the film Paramount marketed so simply in the trailers as nothing more than a “Ferrell v. Pitt” superhero movie made for kids did not, in fact, exist. The film that audiences were lead to believe existed was in fact nothing more than an amalgamation of swift editing from the first ten minutes of the film. The real “Megamind” is more thoughtful and creative than the AC/DC-laden marketing ever communicated.
You would think that “Megamind” is about a standard battle between good and evil, with Will Ferrell playing the wacky titular bad guy Megamind to Brad Pitt’s dashing Metro Man. But don’t let that stop you; the film quickly shifts gears and becomes a meditation on everything from predetermination in life to the merits of being a true hero, and at points it dabbles in the existential. Yes, that’s right, a film with a hero sporting a big blue brain falls somewhat in line with the likes of Albert Camus.
The character of Megamind is an unusual find in “kids” fare: a compelling, well-rounded character, whose earnest efforts to be bad really reflect on how much he cares about whatever it is he does. Accompanied by his best friend/cohort Minion, voiced with pitch-perfect precision by David Cross, Megamind’s exploits address ideas and depths that most kids movies fail to ever explore.
One of the problems with a lot of Dreamworks films is that they tend to skew towards the lowest common denominator of humor, catering to kids at the expense of adult interest and patience. The first “Shrek” broke with this stereotype somewhat, built on morals more adult and worldly than the usual “happily ever after” oft seen in films. For anyone who suffered through “Shrek the Third” though, Dreamworks lost sight of what made the first film not only entertaining but what made the film worth watching for anyone other than the child audience. Last year’s “Monsters vs. Aliens,” while a fun little satire, was for the most part a showcase for an army of celebrity voices that ended up being far, far less than the sum of its parts and is today little more than a nonentity.
What’s different with “Megamind,” and not just from other Dreamworks films, is that it works completely and totally as a film strictly for older audiences. I laughed during the film, but I never found myself curled over in the aisles. Rather, I found myself questioning along with Megamind a lot of the issues he posited about what it is to have a purpose in life or to not have one. Metro Man is a self-involved tool, but he helps people; does that give him the right to treat the lesser citizens of the city with the rudeness he does? It seems like a stretch to hear about it out of context, but “Megamind” is oddly rewarding in that way; it gives you something real to think about, beyond merely wondering what it is that will happen next.
There is one part of “Megamind” that I feel I must call special attention to, and that would be directly on Tina Fey’s Roxanne Ritchi, Metro City’s female reporter extraordinaire. I’ve seen a lot of films that depict journalists in a pretty lame manner, but Roxanne Ritchi really pushes the boundaries of good taste for the profession. She cries on air, she speaks solely in hyperbole, she’s constantly involved with the story and, above all, we’re expected to buy her as a fair, good person who’s empowered because she’s a girl reporter. For anyone at the Walter Cronkite School, Ritchi will probably insult your taste in good reporting in a manner of moments, and her two-dimensionality sticks out only because of how interesting everyone else in the movie ends up being.
“Megamind” is a solid film through and through. It’s by no means perfect, and features its fair share of jokes that fall flat. But for a film that demonstrates as good a balance of maturity and fun as “Megamind” does, and makes for as enjoyable an experience for most any audience, you can’t help but be won over by film’s end. Megamind the man may have a big brain but “Megamind” the film has the bigger heart to make the experience well worth it for all.
Contact the critic at vburnton@asu.edu
