Megamind - 2010

Every now and then I run across the rare and random movie that, the entire duration I watch it, I think to myself the following:

"SH*T!"

"Dammit!"

"SH****T!!"

This isn't because I don't like it and I'm bemoaning the money or the time I'll never get back.

It's because the premise is so original or smart that I wish I had been talented enough or smart enough to come up with it myself - and execute it as brilliantly.

Some examples:

Pleasantville
Galaxy Quest
Monsters, Inc.

And now... Megamind.

It starts off with two alien babies being sent from their exploding planets to find a new home - and a new destiny - on Earth. Typical superhero stuff, only these two babies were meant to sort of be the yin to each other's yang pretty much from the time that they are born.

It's told from the point of view of the blue-hued Megamind, voiced by Will Ferrell. He learns pretty early on that if he's not good enough to be as good as Metro Man (Brad Pitt), then he'd be really good at being bad.

Thus a villain was born, albeit a rather hapless one. Along with his minion, named, uh, Minion (David Cross), he found his life's purpose. All was going along pretty much like clockwork until he finally succeeded at getting rid of the good guy.

Megamind makes the startling discovery that without a hero to fight his life has lost all its meaning. Even kidnapping his favorite target Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) doesn't hold the same appeal as it once did.

That is until their paths cross thanks to the fortuitous introduction of Bernard (Ben Stiller), and through this temporary window of normalcy he finds out what he really wants most.

With the help of Hal, the neer do well camera guy voiced by Jonah Hill, Megamind finds himself in a rather unusual predicament that tests his sense of his own destiny.

Megamind follows the trend of animated movies often outsmarting their live-action comedy counterparts. The screenplay, in addition to being a unique take on the whole superhero origin thing, is smart and very tightly written. This is especially impressive given it was screenwriters Alan Schoolcraft's and Brent Simons' first screenwriting credit.

Director Tom McGrath has a few more credits in the successful Madagascar franchise, but unlike Madagascar Megamind wasn't geared more to smaller children. It felt more like a gift for the older kids, including 40-somethings like myself. Character arcs took the place of slapstick, and no running joke was done for the sake of the joke itself. Any straggling questions left by the end of the movie were answered.

The music also Rocks. The movie features such bands as AC/DC, Ozzy Osbourne, George Thorogood and Guns N' Roses.

Yeah. I said Guns N' Roses.

I have a theory that animated movies have to work a little harder to be taken seriously... and in doing so either succeed brilliantly (Toy Story, Up, Shrek, etc) or fade away as "just another kids' movie". They've got more work to do to keep everyone in the audience rapt with attention, from the young to the old.

Megamind does this so well it makes it look effortless, which makes it a great movie for all ages.

Acting - 5
Writing - 5
Directing - 5
Overall - 5

Dammit.