"If there's still evil, good will rise up against it"

Rating: 8/10 (28 November 2010)

An advance screening was on for this film so I decided to take a trip down to the cinema to see it. DreamWorks impressed earlier this year with How to Train Your Dragon and disappointed with the fourth Shrek film, and I was hoping this would be one of their greater films. I was watching the 3D version of this and was sure impressed with the quality despite it being better colours in 2D but that wasn't such a major deal with a picture like this.
The film opens with narration from Megamind and has him falling from a building to his death and this proves to be a significant scene later on in the film. It then reverts to the beginning of his life when he is born and how his parents sent him to Earth just as their house was disintegrating and on the way he met another infant who was also sent to Earth – Metroman. The narration continues as Megamind tells his story of being raised by hardened convicts by learning the good from the bad and how his in his childhood, was bullied by the likes of a young Metroman and many others. The only friend he had really was his companion Minion. Megamind had then realised that if being bad and causing enough trouble to be bullied was his biggest quality, then that is what was going to be the life for him – a villain, the worst he could be.
It then takes us to Metroman Day (another significant scene as you see later) in which draws a large crowd and jealous of all the attention, Megamind attempts to disrupt it in a way. His invasion exacerbates the rivalry when he reveals that he has kidnapped news reporter Roxanne Ritchi. An attempt to destroy Metroman ensues when the "details" of where Megamind and the trapped Roxanne are, are revealed by Roxanne. This confrontation results in another battle between the two and later in the film Roxanne's cameraman Hal evolves into a superhero after an accident with Megamind and an ingredient. Hal takes up the name Titan.
The characterisation is well done despite one downside. Will Ferrell did a marvellous job as Megamind and the Ferrell style of showing a lot of enthusiasm when speaking without going over the top can be noticed. The dialogue used was great too. The downside mentioned was the character Metroman voiced by Brad Pitt. A very good actor, not showing much here, it seems he was hardly trying. Tina Fey was good in her role of voicing Roxanne Ritchi and Jonah Hill was well suited to the role of Hal because he very much looked like him and his characteristics such as wanting the girl throughout the film (a nod to his character Seth in Superbad) were similar. The sound effects in the film were well done and the songs used in the film involved popular much-loved names such as Michael Jackson and AC/DC.
Going back to the beginning, it appears DreamWorks have shot back up with this film after Shrek which dropped from the standard of How to Train Your Dragon. 2010 is nearly over and it's been a good year for animation films, especially in 3D in which animation excels over real world pictures at the process. Toy Story 3 amazed, How to Train Your Dragon impressed, Despicable Me was wonderful in my opinion, and Megamind adds to the list of great 2010 animated films. A fantastic film for the kids to watch as the comedy elements are more suited for them but a great story for the whole audience. Even if you're just an avid Will Ferrell fan like me. Worth watching and highly recommended in 3D because of the magnificent rendering. A solid 8/10 from me.