Megamind - Movie No. 15

Megamind

Director: Tom McGrath
Starring: Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill and Brad Pitt
Year: 2010
Watched: 15/1/11

What the fudge is it?

Will Farrell voices a big blue super villain called Megamind. Megamind has been locked in battle against Metro Man for years. After he finally beats the handsome superhero (pitt) he finds himself will less to do than an unemployed dol rat. With no sign on days to occupy him Megamind becomes bored and creates his own hero to fight against.

What I thought...

I am very skeptical about 3D animation. Could be because i am a nerd that teaches a load of animation or maybe it is that i feel animation not something to be treated like the silly dumb kid that can only make fart jokes. 3D Animation is just another type of film. I don't think we should look down on animation or complain if it is nominated for best film. Look at anything made by pixar or studio ghibli and you will see a collection of films that are miles better, gripping, acted and moving than a lot of the live action films in cinemas today. So i sit down to watch animated films with the same view as i approach a film full of living breathing humans. I do get worried because of the shite that is produced......the skreks of the world have me worried every time a new animation comes along without the name of pixar attached to it.


There are some good gags and the animation is great with some lovely lighting effects. In fact the film has all the polish and shine we expect from animation today. Only a few things are missing..... character depth, decent music and a heart.

With Mega Mind we get a Shrek like approach to the super hero movies as seems to be the fashion these days (kickass etc). By Shrek like approach i mean its played down very dumb and basically spelt out in plain English to us. Megamind is a big blue super villain who has been battling against Metroman for years. When he finally defeats him what the fudge will he do next? With Metro man gone Megamind becomes bored and wants someone to do battle with. Cue Hal Stewart (Jonah Hill) a slobby loser who has no luck with the ladies. Mega mind decides to give him super powers and train him to be his new nemesis. How does he train him? By posing as a Marlon Brandoesque character from superman. The Jor-El gag is one of the best in the movie, the character animation and voice acting for the little tubby superdad is great. Again though it is a cheap joke.

As i said above i had a right little chuckle to loads of bits in the film, but they were cheap gags. I thought Farrells voice acting didn't suit the animation, a lot of it sounded too ad lib which unless done brilliantly just doesn't work for animation. The difference between this and a pixar film is the gags feel well placed in a pixar movie and everything comes together nicely. Timing, character animation, voice acting it all needs to punch at the same time. Mega mind feels a little messed up in parts. It almost feels like Farrell just said what he wanted and some poor animator just did his best with it. Jonah Hills character for me worked much better....the facial movements and nervous body gestures fitted the voice acting and i really enjoyed all his characters parts.

There is a nice underlying theme which The Dark Knight addressed of whether superheroes would exist without villains and how they need each other to survive. The point although very good is never explored and i cant help but thinking if a bunch of brain dead writers and animators had spent more time on this than writing set pieces to fit AC/DC to we would have had a better film. Now i love a bit of old AC/DC but lets not just chuck them into any film because we can....why do animated films need musical numbers to survive? And i don't mean the fantastic Disney style musical numbers i mean taking a pre existing hit and just beating the little CGI fuckers of characters into singing it. Shrek I'm looking at you ya big dumb sell out ogre!!

So a film about the need for superheroes and villain and questioning do we need one without the other. This has been done far better before in the Incredibles. I adore the incredible and anyone who thinks it was so so i urge you to sit down and watch it again. Fantastic animation, good story and plenty of nods of the hat (not ripping off) of classics.



Overall

Meh. Some funny part with some nice animation but like most 3D animation these days it relies on mimicking pop culture instead or referencing it. Voice acting is very dodgy in places. You will chuckle but most likely not re-watch it as much as anything from the pixar/disney collection.

2/5