“Megamind” isn’t mind-blowing. But it is a fun, fast, caped crusade cartoon in a fall with too few family-minded options.
The computer-animated superhero spoof flies in large part due to the wisecracking, Bizarro World charm of its anti-heroic hero. With oversized bald pate, blue complexion, soul patch, a taste for heavy metal rock and Goth costumes, Will Ferrell voices this goofball Megamind as an understandably wicked victim of his childhood patterns. But for the purposes of story conflict, the title character is forced into a sudden identity crisis. It’s a funny premise, if not an unfamiliar one.
Today’s reformed supervillain is part of a movie trend this year of introspective megalomaniacs who experience personal growth. “Despicable Me’s“ world-dominator Gru had his heart melted by three little orphan girls. Even “Wall Street’s” Gordon Gekko became, by the end, a self-sacrificing family man in September’s sequel.
For the hapless Megamind, rehabilitation comes when he finally defeats his archrival after a lifetime of skirmishes over control of Metro City. But without good guy Metro Man (voice of Brad Pitt) as his foil, Megamind finds himself unfulfilled by his unchallenged supremacy.
He soon grasps the real source of life’s happiness — love — in the form of an appealing television reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey). But he jeopardizes the relationship when he can’t resist his own dishonest, manipulative nature.
In an attempt to continue to feel useful, he creates a new superhero out of Roxanne’s nerdy cameraman. But the power-drunk Titan (Jonah Hill) isn’t the good guy he was designed to be. So Megamind is forced to rethink badness, if he is to save Metro City and win Roxanne.
DreamWorks Animation, director Tom McGrath (“Madagascar,” “Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa”) and writers Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons deliver everything a mass audience in search of uncomplicated, comic escapism might want: flamboyantly colorful 3D animation; sprightly action and dialogue; an irreverent attitude that’s still child-friendly; and an upbeat soundtrack.
Most of all, “Megamind” boasts a distinctive, big star voice cast that serves as more than just smart marketing. Ferrell and Pitt work perfectly for their characters’ opposing personalities. A roguish Fey injects interest into her curvy damsel, who is in anything but distress. Even a secondary vocal actor, David Cross, brings “it” as Megamind’s sidekick Minion, an alien guppy-fish.
They help the inviting production compensate with polish what it may lack in freshness.
