'MegaMind'
(Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, et al / NR / 87 mins)
Overview: Megamind is the most brilliant supervillain the world has ever known. And the least successful. Over the years, he has tried to conquer Metro City in every imaginable way. Each attempt, a colossal failure thanks to the caped superhero known as "Metro Man," an invincible hero until the day Megamind actually kills him in the thr s of one of his botched evil plans. Suddenly, Megamind has no purpose. A supervillain without a superhero. He realizes that achieving his life's ambition is the worst thing that ever happened to him. Megamind decides that the only way out of his rut is to create a new hero opponent called "Titan," who promises to be bigger, better and stronger than Metro Man ever was. Pretty quickly Titan starts to think it's much more fun to be a villain than a good guy. Except Titan d sn't just want to rule the world, he wants to destroy it!
Verdict: This latest DreamWorks CGI animation effort practically ticks off the boxes when it comes to the “DreamWorks formula” that has served it so well at the box office when it comes to the likes of the Shrek movies, How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda, etc.
a.) All-star voice cast? Yup.
b.) Post-modern reworking of genre conventions? Yup. (Apparently the story grew from the notion of “what would happen if Lex Luthor defeated Superman?”)
c.) Standard “character design”? Yup.
d.) “Hip” pop cultural references? Yup.
e.) Is it in 3D? Of course.
f.) Is it CG? Natch.
To be honest Megamind seems to be a cross between Pixar’s The Incredibles (but without the depth) and DreamWorks’ own Monsters vs. Aliens, but the odds are your six year old won’t care!