It's hard to imagine anyone not being utterly enthralled by the timeless charms and dazzling animation prowess of the new Dreamworks animated film MEGAMIND. Though it comes at a time when this whole superhero genre is beginning to feel a bit overcrowded, the script is funny, the vocalizations are spot-on and the visuals so spectacular that MEGAMIND turns out to be one of the best family films of the year.
Mixing antic, ingenious humor with action-adventure stuff, MEGAMIND aims to do for villains what Pixar's THE INCREDIBLES did for superheroes. "I was born to be a super-villain" the Smurfish Megamind (voiced by Will Farrel) opens as he describes his origins rocketing from an exploding planet Superman-style along with another baby who lands in a warm loving home while Megamind lands in a prison yard to be raised by cons. Megamind grows up to be the most brilliant super-villain the world has ever known . . . but the least successful. Over the years, he tries to conquer Metro City in every imaginable way, each attempt, a major failure thanks to his fellow traveler who has grown up to be the white-caped superhero known as "Metro Man"(Brad Pitt). One day Megamind surprisingly defeats Metro Man 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 if Megamind can actually turn into a hero. Star TV reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) is the Lois Lane in this "Superman"-styled universe, covering Metro Man's heroic feats while fending off the advances of her dweeby cameraman, Hal (Jonah Hill), who turns into the villainous Titan (or, as he spells it: 'Tighten')
]]>MEGAMIND has that rare quality of feeling modern and classic at the same time; it's not bogged down with pop-culture references like so many kids films (the SHREK franchise for example). The lively characters and clever identity-changing guarantee there's never a dull moment, and director Tom McGrath keeps the action in check without going overboard. There are explosions, there is civic destruction, there are scary bits, but there are also such emotions as despair, confidence, joy, envy, and affection. MEGAMIND rides a poppy retro sensibility that should trigger parental nostalgia as well as entertain the youngsters who don't care so much about stylistic, or comic book, influences. Best of all, MEGAMIND sells its 3-D in ways you wouldn't call sophisticated or witty but you certainly notice it. And now and then I like it like that no matter how dubious this second coming of 3-D is starting to stink. Compared with the restrained sophistication of Pixar's approach to the technology, and in sharp contrast to such murky, hacky live-action conversion jobs as CLASH OF THE TITANS and THE LAST AIRBENDER here is a product, turned out by the pros at Dreamworks, determined to give cheeseball 3-D blatancy a good name and I must confess that the process gets one of its better deployments this time around. The visual style is so shiny and colorful to begin with that the inevitable loss of nearly 30% of the screen brightness as the result of donning the glasses has less of an impact here than in other recent films of its type.
No review of MEGAMIND would be complete without mentioning the men and women who lend their voices to their cartoon alter-egos. Will Farrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, David Cross and Jonah Hill are perfection and the characters were obviously designed around their established personas. MEGAMIND doesn't quite have the depth to operate on Pixar's level but, to be fair, nothing does. It does exude skill, heart and energy, a combination hard to beat in animation or live action. MEGAMIND isn't just finefamily entertainment, it's superior family entertainment and is highly recommended.
