Megamind (2010) - A Witty, Amusing One-Joke Comedy

Megamind: What if A Superhero had an Evil Twin? Or Wait, What If... He Were Ugly? Or No, What If He Walked With a Limp And Needed A Guide Dog? No, I Got A Better One....

The animated films were coming fast and furious in 2010. "Toy Story 3" came out and made a billion dollars, "Shrek Forever After" made $750 million, "Tangled" made $600 million... and then there was "Megamind" (2010), a 3D animated superhero parody directed by Tom McGrath from a script by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons for DreamWorks Animation. It didn't bomb, but it vastly under-performed. Big Chief Jeffrey Katzenberg couldn't come out fast enough to say that it wasn't going to get a sequel because its "approach and tone and idea of parody" did not play well overseas. It is not a bad film, in fact it is quite enjoyable, but it has a wise-guy sensibility that requires a certain jaded mindset to appreciate fully - or internationally.

DVD

Megamind (Will Ferrell) and Metro Man (Brad Pitt) both arrived on earth as infants. When they grew up, Metro Man took the path of virtue, while Megamind became evil. Despite constant battles between the two which Metro Man routinely wins, there remains rough parity between them, a situation which Megamind is determined to change to his advantage.

Give me five, bro!

One of Megamind's schemes to destroy his nemesis has him and his sidekick Minion (David Cross) kidnap local reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey). Using her as bait, he hopes to lure Metro Man into a trap, which is successful. Using a death ray, he kills Metro Man.

Roxanne is played by Tina Fey

Next on his agenda is to destroy the Metro Man museum, but as he goes about it, he suddenly realizes he misses not having someone to worry about. He gets the idea from Roxanne to inject someone else with Metro Man's DNA so that he has a worthy opponent again. Through an accident, Megamind injects the serum into Roxanne's cameraman, Hal (Jonah Hill). After some training in disguise by Megamind, Hal is so clueless that he mistakenly takes the name "Tighten" rather than the "Titan" Megamind suggests.

Megamind hands outstretched

Both men develop a romantic interest in Roxanne, but eventually, with nobody left to fight, Megamind loses his real relationship when Minion leaves him. Wishing to get Roxanne all to himself, Megamind looks for the serum that would return Hal to his non-superhero state, but he can't find it - it's in his invisible car which is, you know, invisible. At first it looks like another continuing battle for Megamind, but it turns out that Hal doesn't want to fight for good, he'd rather be a villain like Megamind. This horrifies Megamind, so to change his mind he reveals everything to Hal, who gets upset and fights Megamind. Unfortunately for Megamind, Hal wins and chases Megamind out of Metro City. Hal then starts doing villainous things, usurping Megamind's entire identity.

Hal is quite annoying

Roxanne doesn't like the new turn of events either, so she takes Megamind to the late Metro Man's secret lair. To their surprise, Metro Man is there, alive and well. Rather than being killed, Metro Man wanted to retire and become a musician, so he just pretended to be killed. He still has his powers, but has no more interest in fighting Hal or anyone else. He'd rather be a dilettante and play the guitar.

Megamind and Roxanne

Megamind despairs, but rather than fight Hal on the side of virtue as Roxanne suggests, he turns himself into prison. Hal, though, wants a villain to oppose, and kidnaps Roxanne and threatens to kill her if Megamind doesn't become his adversary again. Megamind decides to fight to save Roxanne, and he gets Minion back to help out. A fight ensues, and the fate of Metro City hangs in the balance.

Megamind as a baby

This plot probably looked terrific on paper, and the execution is terrific, but "Megamind" plays out its one-joke premise without any surprises. If you simply think about the initial idea "a villain needs an adversary to be villainous," the rest of the story just plays out almost automatically. The writers probably congratulated themselves during production on such an innovative twist on the superhero genre that had never been tried before, but it hasn't been done before for a reason: it's silly. Not to be mean, but your average high school comics book fan could have come up with this story line without too much trouble. What if Superman wasn't predestined to be a good guy? What if he had a twin? What if he were actually a little more like everyone else and had his own interests (does Superman even know what a hobby is?). How does Superman know he's supposed to be good, and is there some requirement for him to display that goodness? You can almost hear the gears whirring away in the screenwriters' heads: "This vision of a perfect guy without some flaw we can look down upon and feel pity for, it's so, like, 20th Century." It's another chip at ("deconstruction of") the question of whether those types of people that we automatically used to look up to are still worthy of respect (the answer invariably being no, because we no longer automatically respect any entire group). If those are the sorts of comic-book-geek questions or social attitudes that delight you, well, this film will astound and delight, otherwise, it likely won't - the latter seeming to be the general consensus. The chain of though I just described is why there will be a high likelikhood that you will say/think something along the lines of, "Will Ferrell was okay, but the story was kind of stupid" after you watch "Megamind."

"I'm so evil muahahahaha"

Another issue for many veiwers is that the film strongly resembles "Despicable Me," which came out earlier the same year and made almost twice as much money. There are unavoidable parallels with Pixar's "The Incredibles" as well. As Jeffrey Katzenberg himself helpfully pointed out, it resembles earlier DreamWorks misfires "Shark Tale" and "Monsters vs. Aliens," which also attempted to de-mystify the creaking plots and hoary cliches of the animation/superhero genres. There is nothing wrong with that intelllectually, but the conventions and cliches exist for a reason: people are comfortable with them and like them, and they become annoyed if you criticize them.

"I better switch that monitor off before she sees what I was looking at!

The good versus evil paradigm of every successful superhero film works because people want to put themselves in the shoes of the "good guy" and imagine themselves defeating the annoying "bad guys" who are always around in real life. When you fog up the whole question with abstract philosophical points about "what does it mean to be a villain, can the dialectic continue without an opposing value" and tripe like that, people lose patience. Philosophy class is one thing, a good swinging superhero is something completely different.

"Here I come, to save the day"

The film certainly is enjoyable if you want to settle in and watch the puerile plot twists. The 3-D images have a stark clarity that makes the characters stand out. Advances in the art leave old-school techniques in the dust unless you are looking for a distinctive style and a point of view - both of which "Megamind" lacks because it doesn't aim for them. If you are a true fan of animation and compare, say, "Sleeping Beauty" to "Megamind," you will be awed by the flash and sizzle of the images in "Megamind" - and probably wind up watching "Beauty" first because of its human artistry and the soul that breathes in every frame. Computers are wonderful at making images appear startling to the eye, but the mind hungers for a unique and slanted perspective on the world, not a neutral computer recreation.

The three principals

The voice cast couldn't be better. Will Ferrell is brilliant as always, playing his usual flawed-but-lovable good guy who is only imperfect because that is how he was made. His character is as three-dimensional as the animation, and you grow to care for him as your pity for his predicament grows. Brad Pitt is fine also, though he has a much smaller role that does not have enough time to grow on us. Tina Fey plays Tina Fey, with the knowing attitude and the raw intelligence which she goes to great pains to pretend to hide but purposefully doesn't, which only emphasizes it all the more in a very clever back-handed fashion. David Cross plays the usual smarter-than-his-boss sidekick that is a staple of animated films going at least back to Napoleon and Lafayette in "The Aristocats" and King John and Sir Hiss in "Robin Hood." The music by old pro Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe is competent, but nothing you likely will be whistling on the way home.

"Oh, so you like music, how interesting"

Will this pass the time, make you laugh, reach into your heart at times and tug at it whenever Will Farrell becomes frustrated with the conundrums of a superhero's life? Sure, "Megamind" is funny and sharp and clever and well-executed. However, it remains a one-joke premise about a bad guy being pointless without a good guy and vice versa, so your mind may wander after a while. Oh, and make sure you see it in 3D, the film really requires it for the full experience.

Below is the official trailer:

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Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted (2012) - A Glorious Return to Form

Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted - Still Trying to Figure Out How They Wound Up in Europe

Alex (Ben Stiller), Marty (Chris Rock), Melman (David Schwimmer) and Gloria (Jada Pinkett Smith) really need to figure out a better way to travel. In DreamWork's 3D computer-animated "Madagascar 3: Europe's Most Wanted" (2012), the fearsome foursome from the New York Central Park Zoo manage to get just about everywhere but their destination until, in fact, they do reach it and realize they didn't really want to go there after all. They do, though, finally get out of Africa, so that has to be considered progress of a sort. Eric Darnell returns to direct again (with Tom McGrath and Conrad Vernon), and Darnell and Noah Baumbach handle the writing.

Is Alex going to be happy he met her!

When last we left our intrepid castaways, they had settled in to their new surroundings in the heart of Africa after having left New York to be cast adrift on Madagascar ("Madagascar") and then stranded in Africa ("Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa"). The penguins had repaired the plane and flown it to Monte Carlo, and in this film Alex convinces Marty, Melman and Gloria that they should follow in order to get flown back to New York.

The police probably don't get too many suspects 8 feet tall.

After causing chaos in Monte Carlo, everybody gets on the plane in Monte Carlo and once again they set off for New York. Unfortunately, wouldn't you know it, the craft has engine trouble and crashes. The animals, close to being caught, find a circus train and talk themselves on board, where they can hide (sort of like "Some Like it Hot," for old movie fans). It turns out the circus is angling to get an American tour, so that turns out to be a lucky break (and which is reminiscent of a classic Dr. McCoy line to Spock in "Star Trek: The Motion Picture"). The penguins buy the circus, but the next performance in Rome is a disaster.

Frances McDormand once again plays a tenacious cop.

Setting off for London, Alex, who is falling in love with Gia the jaguar (Jessica Chastain), has a brainstorm and convinces the others to re-work the show as an animal-only lights and acrobatic show. The circus animals and the regular characters start to bond. The police officer who chased them in Rome, DuBlois (Frances McDormand), continues to pursue them and forces them to move on before they have completed rehearsals for the new show.

I thought I saw a pussy cat!

The London show turns out to be a great triumph, which enables the show to land its American tour. Returning to New York, Marty, Alex, Melman and Gloria realize that they no longer can go back in cages, but they are captured. The circus animals plan to mount a major operation to free their friends so they can be a part of the circus once again.

"We go out there, see, and we act stupid, see, and... hey, are you paying attention?"

The future of the series had been in some doubt after the lackluster second installment, but "Madagascar 3" works much better. A large part of that is due to the fact that the producers dropped the effort to turn the show into some kind of drama, and instead returned it to its comic roots. The film uses the most cartoon sound effects in any DreamWorks Animation feature, and that helps cover over the somewhat dodgy script.

"My, what big eyes you have!"

The pace also is helped by an assortment of pop songs ranging from '90s hits to "Firework" by Katy Perry. Hans Zimmer again scored the film to good effect. This film is about as cartoonish as you will see from a major studio release these days, and some may find it a bit over-the-top. On the plus side, by giving up any pretensions that they are creating "art" along the lines of "The Lion King"and so on and so forth, the creators were able to harness fully the marvelous 3D animation technology that makes the circus stunts stand out so brilliantly in this film.

Doesn't this look like fun?

It's not difficult to say that this was the most entertaining chapter in the series, but it isn't necessarily the best. You get all sorts of mind-blowing visuals that ultimately lead nowhere. In a way, this film is reminiscent of early 3D efforts that would ostentatiously have characters throwing things and jumping toward the audience simply for the cheap 3D thrill. That may excite the audience, but it also gives them little to think about later. Some of the negative attitudes displayed towards non-Americans also are a bit off-putting.

These two make all the premieres, they must have a piece of the film.

Lots and lots of people love this film, so it is doing something right. It is difficult to see where it goes from here, so the next instalment should be interesting just to see how the screenwriters wriggle out of the fact that the series no longer has anything to do with Madagascar, and the character no longer have any destination. From here on out, they are simply there, without a mission or a purpose, and that usually spells trouble for a franchise.

"Those magnificent men in their flying machines... whoops, those ZEBRAS in their ... whoops!"

Highly recommended and enjoyable, though I wouldn't place this on a part with your typical Pixar film despite the fact that it made Pixar-style money. If you watch the first film, skip the second, and then watch this one, you'll be ahead of the game. It's unclear whether there will be another entry in the series, but spin-off feature "The Penguins of Madagascar" already is set for release in 2015.

2012

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How to Train Your Dragon (2010) - Moments of Emotional Impact

How to Train Your Dragon: Raging Beasts that Just Want to be Loved

"How to Train Your Dragon" (2010) works on several levels.  It is funny, emotional, and full of action.  Dreamworks Animation hit a home run with this computer-animated film, equalling the best of Pixar of recent years.  it was nominated for two Academy Awards, for Best Achievement in Music Written for a Motion Picture, and for Best Animated Feature.

A small, awkward and clumsy young Viking living on the island of Berk, Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III (Jay Baruchel), watches his town being attacked by flying dragons and wants to help out.  However, his father, Stoick the Vast (Gerard Butler), who runs the town, is afraid that he will get hurt, and will not permit his son to risk his life in battle.

Hiccup wants to help anyway.  He is clever, so he invents a device that will capture one of the dragons.  He manages to get a mysterious Night Fury dragon, and is ready to kill it to prove himself to his father.  However, he can't bring himself to do it.  Instead, he starts talking to the creature, who he dubs "Toothless."  The dragons are not voiced by people - instead, their voices are created using sounds of various animals.

They become friends, and Hiccup learns a great deal about the dragons.  It turns out that the war between the Vikings and the dragons may not be necessary at all.  He is surprised to learn the real motivations of the dragons.  Convincing the townspeople, especially his father, to make love and not war will prove to be very difficult.

There is unavoidable violence in this film, but it should not be too much for even younger children to handle.  It is in Technicolor 3D, which adds to the flying sequences and is relatively unobtrusive.  The pacing by directors Dean DeBlois and Chris Sanders keeps things moving along nicely,  and unlike so many animated films these days, the voice actors are not such huge celebrities as to call attention to themselves (Craig Ferguson plays the village blacksmith, and he has the only recognizable voice in the cast besides Butler).  This allows you to focus on the story and the characters, rather than whether, say, Jennifer Aniston or George Clooney are making some kind of inside joke about themselves.

The story is king in this film, along with the quality of the animation, and both are superior.  Cressida Cowell wrote the book on which the film is based and approved the changes made for the film.  There is commentary about the meaning of courage, friendship, love, prejudices, war and many other things, presented in such a way as to make you think.  Of course, everything is simplified to fairly simple messages with straightforward conclusions, but it works in the context of this film.

You will come for the terrific action sequences, and leave satisfied by the humor and the story.  Very entertaining for viewers of all ages, so if you get it for your child, you may wind up watching it yourself just for fun.  A sequel is set for release in 2014.

2012

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