Surprisingly Cute

Rating: 7/10 (7 February 2011)

I really really really hate Will Ferrell. Usually just the fact that he is in a movie is enough to turn me off from the film as a whole.
It's a good thing I didn't actually know he was in this when I bought the ticket.
All in all, I was expecting to kill an hour and half with a light-hearted "kid's movie", which would have been fine, but instead I got a well made comedy for all ages.
A good family movie, has multiple levels of humor, simple sight gags for the kids, snappy banter and one-liners for teenagers, and maybe not "sophisticated", but more nuanced jokes for adults; things that a kid would miss. This film uses different characters and their interactions to make that work.
For the very young, the highlight of the film will be the interactions between Megamind (Ferrell) and his sidekick Minion (David Cross) as well as Megamind's frequent mispronunciations of common words; "School" is "Shoool", "Spider" is "Speeee-yder", and "Metro City" is made to rhyme with "attrocity". Teenagers will likely find the awkward humor of Hal/Tighten (Jonah Hill) their own cup of tea, largely as satirical reflection of the modern, (sub)urban teenager's view of the world. And adults are more likely to see the most humor in the way the plot is both an homage and gentle parody of comic book staples like the bad guy always losing, and their seemingly endless supply of elaborate weapons and traps (they come from a surplus store in Romania), as well as the developing love story between the Lois Lane-esque Roxanne Ritchi (Tima Fey) and Megamind, turning the romantic element of many classic superheroes on its head.
The CGI, while not quite Pixar quality is good and crisp. The soundtrack is a fantastic mix of the best of classic rock (Ozzy Osbourne and AC/DC always make a movie better). The jokes fly quickly without becoming obnoxious, and it is one of the really few movies marketed toward kids, but actually equally (if not more so) enjoyable to adults