MEGAMIND (3D)

MEGAMIND (3D)
rated PG

art--->**
heart->1/2
mind-->*
fun--->*1/2

Superhero vs. Supervillain. A timeless struggle, one with an expected conclusion: the good guy wins; the bad guy loses. But what If the supervillain won? What would happen if there were only evil and no good at all?

It’s odd that entertainment aimed squarely at children would embrace this idea. But with MEGAMIND, the deconstruction of the superhero has fully arrived in mainstream popular culture. (I wrote “fully” not “finally” because it started in last year’s WATCHMEN and continued with this summer’s KICK-ASS.)

With this in mind, let me put myself in the intended audience’s perspective. I am being taught the following:

The “Hero” (Metroman) is a smug, prideful, brown-nosing, arrogant, elitist snob who always wins, and prefers narcissism to sacrifice.

The “Villain” (Megamind) is a depressed, marginalized alien who can’t succeed at anything he does, feels sorry for himself, so we should empathize, and possibly identify with him.

When the “villain” finally destroys the “hero,” everyone is shocked, including Megamind. He can’t believe his luck. Now he can be as evil as he wants and do anything he feels like, with no one to stop him! Thankfully, the filmmakers decide to show that his life has now become dull and purposeless. (BTW, this idea was touched on years ago in the now classic Superman II.) So he decides to create a new hero, who winds up being not quite what he was hoping for.

Like most DreamWorks animation releases, there is a permeating sense of detached, jaded smugness to MEGAMIND that ruins our chances of finding an emotional connection to the characters (the exception being the excellent HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON). It’s like you’re watching a Hollywood agent’s visual commentary about the movie instead of the actual movie itself.

Brad Pitt phones it in as Metroman, and Will Ferrel is somewhat amusing as Megamind, who does invoke sympathy after a while. Tina Fey is a great casting choice for the Lois Lane character, but she seems like she would be better suited for a live-action feature, one with lots of subdued banter over champagne glasses. David Cross is fine as Minion, albeit in a much less subversive performance than I expected. Jonah Hill is his usual overly talky slacker self.

So let me get this straight. We don’t like the superhero, we don’t really like the villain, we’re ambivalent toward the girl… the replacement hero is a selfish oaf… Umm, who do we like, exactly? Oh yeah, the fish guy. He’s funny. Kind of.

The 3D aspect is serviceable, giving good depth for the skyscrapers and enhancing the brief flying scenes (can’t wait to see how the Superman reboot utilizes this technology). But there’s nothing really notable about the way MEGAMIND uses it.

Plus, there are so many “that’s perfect!” song choices in MEGAMIND, you can almost read them off of the legal department’s cost sheet: Bad To The Bone? check. Welcome To The Jungle? check. Crazy Train? check. But that just reinforces the feeling that this is a product, not a movie.

Still, the thing I noticed more than anything is how the audience, mostly kids and parents, wasn’t laughing very much. The usual slapstick stuff got giggles, and there were some clever sight gags and “easter eggs,” but most of the time you could hear a pin drop. Not good for a supposed comedy.

I seriously don’t know who the audience is for this movie. I suppose it’s for children, but considering it’s mainly about a bad guy’s existential musings on his role in the superhero/villain archetype, I’m not so sure.

The final lessons being taught are:

Good Guys are bad and Bad Guys can be good,
but only if they’re bored with being bad.

There’s no one to believe in anymore;
and worse than that, there is nothing,
not even an ideal to believe in either.

In conclusion, the movie wasn’t all that funny, the 3D wasn’t really impressive, the characters weren’t exactly appealing, and the storyline was unoriginal and kind of depressing. Other than having paid to see it, my only other regret is to have to tell you to…

AVOID AT ALL COSTS

(and go see Toy Story 3 instead.)