I'm afraid Megamind does not save the day.

Rating: Null/10 (29 September 2011)

Now it is time for DreamWorks to have a stab at a cartoon hero, and after Pixar's brilliant The Incredibles this film can only be doomed to failure. I am pleased to announce that although nowhere near as good as The Incredibles it is still half decent.
Megamind is an alien, sent down to Earth as a baby due to his planet being destroyed. Along with Megamind another baby is sent down to Earth from an opposing planet. Megamind lands in a prison, being raised by criminals and the other baby lives the life of luxury in a manor house. As they grow up they become rivals with Megamind adopting the villain persona and the other adopting the hero, Metro Man.
The two battle out with Metro Man always coming out on top, until Megamind finally succeeds in killing him. After this he then realises that life is no good without a hero to fight, so decides to create one for his own, Titan. Although Titan doesn't work out according to plan and due to jealousy becomes evil, leaving Megamind to become the hero and save the day.
The story does work and there are several hints to outside influences such as Superman, the vulnerable reporter, and Frankenstein, the creation of a monster. The film is very much a super hero in reverse and at times does employ the tired tactics but seeing as this is a children's film at heart, it was never going to go any deeper. The premise is good and, although recently Despicable Me took a similar premise, seems original but I think a lot of that is done through the voice work provided by the actors.
Ferrell is very good as the voice of Megamind, delivering his typical comedic role which I'm sure most was ad-libbed. Jonah Hill is fantastic as Titan, really bringing the character out into a three dimensional world and Fey is fine as the reporter, Roxanne Ritchie but the star of them all is David Cross playing Megamind's sidekick Minion. The character has some of the best lines and considering he is a fish in a helmet attached to a robot, his facial expressions are brilliant.
The film employs a lot of comedy but unfortunately I never really found myself in hysterics. Many of the gags used have been played in the trailer and others were more aimed at kids. Considering other brilliant animated films like Shrek also appealed to adults perhaps a superhero film could have done to. This film does not live up to its predecessors from DreamWorks and Pixar, so if you are going to the cinema to see another Toy Story than you will be disappointed. I know you shouldn't judge movies on others but with so many fantastic animated films out there than we can't help but. The problem with this movie is it doesn't live up to the hype of any other animated film at this time, which is a shame due to the great cast. It just feels like something is missing from this film as I could only connect towards the end. The end scenes are great but the ones leading up to it just seem a little dull at times and it's hard to empathise with Megamind until the end, so he will never be a remembered cartoon character like Shrek. There you go comparing again.
The film is worth a watch for some light hearted entertainment and I think kids would love it but for me it was just a mediocre cartoon alongside some brilliant animated films.