[Movie Review] Megamind
Megamind
DreamWorks Animation
Director: Tom McGrath
Starring: Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, David Cross, Jonah Hill, and Brad Pitt
Writers: Alan J. Schoolcraft, Brent Simons
Synopsis
Super-criminal Megamind (Ferrell), along with his minion Minion (Cross), has finally defeated and (seemingly) killed his lifelong rival, the super awesome hero Metro Man (Pitt), and takes over the city he's so long tried to conquer. However, he finds that with victory comes boredom, as without a hero to stand against him, he really doesn't have much going for him. After an in disguise late-night chat with Roxanne Richie (Fey), television news reporter and frequent kidnapping victim of Megamind, he comes to a solution; create his own hero to fight like the good old days. And he does so, tapping Roxanne's doofus/kinda creepy camera man Hal Stewart (Hill) to be his opposite. Too bad Hal isn't interested in sticking to the script and goes power mad with his new abilities, especially when Roxanne rejects him even with his new totally rad powers. Instead of the Metro City's newest hero, Megamind created an even more powerful villain. Now being bested by his own creation, a fledgling romance with Roxanne squashed due to image inducers and lies, and the city close to ruins, Megamind has to decide if being sticking to being the bad guy is worth it or if maybe he can be more (hint, he totally can and does).
What's Good
Presentation!
I can honestly say, of a year that brought about two CGI movies of villains who aren't so bad (this and Despicable Me), that Megamind comes out on top in terms of the better film (regardless that DM cost less and made a butt load more at the box office). At least to me. And I'm not even a Will Ferrell fan.
DreamWorks has finally figured out that a good, or at least a well received, movie doesn't have to rely on pop culture references every time a character opens their mouth or does something (see, the Shreks, Shark Tale), and keeping things inside the movies own universe makes for better writing. It was something they did well in How to Train Your Dragon and it's nice to see it continued. While admittedly there are plenty of in-jokes and winks to the audience about superheroes, villains, secret identities, and that comic booky goodness, it works because that's the basis of the movie. They don't pull out a bullhorn and shout that "Hey! You see this thing we're doing? It's an homage! Maybe even a pun-rody! Get it?!", because we already do. It's such a well known idea, the hero vs the villain, that they don't have to make obvious jokes. Instead the characters can be funny (at the right moments) and play naturally.
Ferrell is better than I thought; I feared the worse, that they got him on board and he'd basically do his standard screaming man-child act, essentially being the image of himself more than the character he's supposed to portray. Luckily, this is not the case. Megamind (no secret identity or non-villainous name) is a very much a comic book villain; he plays by unspoken rules of engagement, going into battle knowing that he will undoubtedly lose. I love that his inventions and gadgets always work correctly, there's no "but maybe this time" suspension. He fails because he practically plans on it. He's not playing to win, but to have fun at being the bad boy. And that's half the fun; he's simply playing his part in life, being the "bad" to Metro Man's "good". So when he suddenly wins, and wins big, he's really not sure what to do with himself. Is he still bad if there's no good?
Well, yes, absence doesn't mean nonexistent, but that's not really the case here. He was never bad to begin with, really; he just opposed the other side. With the good side gone, his need to be the bad ceased to be as well.
The others play well in their roles as well. Pitt, for as long as he's in the movie, definitely has the "hero" voice, and is equal parts cocky and smarmy. As he should be, there's really nothing to stop him. Fey as Roxanne is nice, very sarcastic and bored with the whole production Megamind goes through each time. I wish they'd done just a bit more with her, but I'll dive into that later. Jonah Hill... eeh, I'm gonna admit I'm getting tired of seeing/hearing him in movies. Somehow he's become "that guy" to get in your comedy movie, not playing a major character exactly but still pops up a lot to fill the dead air. And yay for him for finding a niche and all, because Hal is a part that needs a very specific voice to be the genuinely sweet/creepy he is, like if Jimmy Olsen had a near obsessive crush on Lois Lane.
Not to mention the gag of the villain lusting over the hot female hostage; Roxanne has been through the routine with Megamind so often she a) isn't afraid of him, at all, b) at one time had a hostage punch card (promotion discontinued), and c) is the only one to openly question him at all, to the point that even he can't answer her. Finally having an actual conversation with her (in disguise) Megamind finds that he relates and likes her much more than just a hostage. And she, unknowingly, finds that he's not that bad when he's not putting on the act.
Oh, the act! The stage! Megamind is very much the kid playing with his toys, singing the background music to his epic battles; only being a super genius, he actually can have his background music to his plans, and pulls out all the classic rock-metal hits to lead the charge. And this is part of his whole deal; he's not really, in the end, after the city, he's there to put on a show and look good doing it (click the link under the pic to see what I mean).
The movie itself looks good; there's no skips or dead spots of animation, the city looks real and put together, and the humans, after being a little cartoony, are convincing as they should be. And really, if at this point any of those things did or didn't happen as they should, that's just sad. While maybe having started out as a "cheap" Pixar alternative, DreamWorks does have standards, and they're not low ones. Especially now as they're (finally) starting to come into their own in the story department.
Oh, and it was made in 3D for theaters, so its 3D was actually good, no after-the-fact reimaging for a bigger money grab. Also, there are only a few times where the animators went for very obvious 3D usage (throwing shit at you for effect) and they still play well to the scene. Megamind (and Roxanne as well) both use a research and compiling method of hanging notes from strings, which looks amazing with the technique. If you saw it in 3D, or have 3D capability, it's worth it.
3-D Cat approves of this 3-D!
What's Meh
Wut.
The meh of Megamind is that, when you get down to it, it's not as original a thought as it tries to make you believe. That Despicable Me was pushed out before this proves that. The idea of a super villain not being truly bad, or turning to the side of good, has been done before, many times over in the same comics that the movie pays loving homage to.
And really, I think that's part of why this movie, while good, qualifies a bit as "meh"; it's a standard movie. Nothing wrong with that, not by far, but it plays out in obvious ways. Even without surface knowledge of superhero lore, you can easily put together yourself the plot outline, when certain things happen and what the big twist will be. It doesn't make it unenjoyable; but it does make it standard.
Amazingly, to me, Ferrell wasn't a problem to the movie. He's quirky as Megamind, but it's much, much (much) more subdued than his normal fare. As a super genius, his inability to correctly pronounce certain words, even after being corrected, gets a tad grating but for the finale it's needed. Really I had more issues with Jonah Hill and Minion. I said above, Hill has become the guy to fill dead air in comedy movies and I really wish he'd stop. He doesn't have the presence or charisma to lead a film himself, so inevitably his role becomes awkwardly never shutting up. Each time he opens his mouth, the chances of him rambling like the shy kid who talks because they can't stand silence increases 90%.
Minion gave me a bit of a puzzler, because I knew something was off about him to me but I couldn't quite put a robotic-gorilla finger on it. It's not the mish-mash of sidekick features, I actually liked the patchwork quality of his design. Maybe it's the voice? Minion sounds like a much smaller character, but I'm not sure either it was small enough or the design large enough for the juxtaposition to really fit well.
And, like in DM, it's he (the role of direct underling to the main baddie) who really pushes our hero villain to stay the course when outside influences would have them do otherwise. But he wasn't hired on; Minion's been with Megamind since near birth; why would he oppose his master's wishes to do something else when he's helped him on any whim previously? Because it wasn't "bad"?
The last nitpick I have is not so much the movie, though it had it, but directed more at DreamWorks.
Learn. To end. Your movies. Properly.
For god's sakes, what is this need you feel for everything you make to have either a music video-like montage in between the second and third acts, or to end the movie with a song-and-dance number; or both? I get that you like music, but jesus from Antz to Bee Movie there's always this section that feels more like a promotional piece inserted into the actual movie because a) you liked it so much you thought the audience would too and b) you didn't plan a proper ending. I like Michael Jackson's "Bad" too, it's probably my number three after "Smooth Criminal" and "Thriller", and while I don't think having it at the end was unnecessary (it does actually work well with the scene) what was unnecessary was the two minutes of just watching various characters dance on screen without doing anything. "I like the sound of that" would have been a perfectly good line to end it on. Hell, include a shot at the prison with the warden and guards head popping before the line, it's subtle and gives a final coda to Hal's part (but not his dancing, that was freaking creepy guys). You can even keep Minion's giant boom box-robot moonwalk; but was hiring an actual choreographer and animating the rest really worth it? Really?
Final Thoughts
I cannot, and will not, say I didn't like this movie. It was exciting, funny, honest, everything a movie should do right. Even the things I disliked aren't enough to keep me from saying you should see this movie, even it's only once from Redbox.
One thing struck me, however, that I think would have made this a much more interesting movie. After taking over the city, Megamind creates a "gun" that when fired will give the target all the powers of Metro Man; the idea being he will pick a person of good moral character who he will train to be his enemy, essentially keeping up the cat and mouse game he had with MM. Due to ill-luck (and plot), Hal ends up being the one with Metro Man essence up his nose (seriously).
But here's the rub; at one point the gun was aimed at Roxanne, but he keeps her from being shot, because he only has go at this and doesn't want to waste it. All I could think while watching this was, "Whatwhatwhat? Dude, shoot her! She'd be perfect!" Honestly, having Roxanne be imbibed with the super-super powers would have been awesome! Megamind knows her; of the whole city, she's the only one calling him out for his childish crap after he takes over. She's constantly shown she has a good heart and moral compass and all those other things he was looking for in his newest rival. She's probably going to stick to script of not actually trying to kill him. So why not let her take the hit? Because she's a she, and not a dude?
Okay, being fair, he does have feelings for her, so keeping her safe might've taken priority. Also, if she's the hero, then who would he kidnap? There is the subtext that reason he kept holding her hostage was both lingering feelings he wouldn't admit to and that he, like the rest of the city, thought that she was the girlfriend of Metro Man and as such was jealous. So it's not that I can't see why they didn't go that route.
But it still would have been a better movie! Megamind is often said to be "The Incredibles crossed with Despicable Me (since it came out first)", except that The Incredibles was a somewhat realistic take on the superhero family dynamic and DM was sugar heavy cotton candy. How better to separate yourself, and gain better notoriety than by having a superheroine as your second lead? You could even keep Hal as the new super villain, have the power shot split between he and Roxanne so that Megamind and Roxanne would have to work together to defeat him. Have Minion be more robotic and refuse to go the side of good and go on a city wide rampage, so that Megamind has to go pleading to Roxanne to help him. Have there be other super villains who would move in on Metro City if Megamind wasn't the "designated super villain" already there, forcing he and Roxanne to keep up the public performance of hero and villain in spite of their true feelings for each other. But, by god, give Roxanne the powers and move her beyond being the normal stereotype only with sass and sarcasm.
*deep breath*
My final thought; how do people with vaulted ceilings do the obsessive note hanging thing?
Recommendation: Oh yeah, it's a fun ride