Brad Pitt's Voice Work Excellent, but Overall Just Satisfactory

Rating: 6/10 (7 November 2010)

The posters and previews did not really attract me to watch this movie. However my sons made me see it with them, so I did. I am wary about Dreamworks animation projects. I was just hoping that it would be a pleasant surprise, like "How to Train Your Dragon" or "Kung Fu Panda" were before this.
It all starts with a Superman scenario when two babies were sent via rockets to Earth, when their planets were destroyed. One was raised in the lap of luxury and grew up to be the superhero, Metro Man. The other was raised in a prison, ostracized all his life for his big head and blue color, and grew up to be the super-villain, Megamind. As fate would have it, they became arch-nemeses. One day, one of Megamind's hare-brained schemes to destroy Metro Man actually succeeds. However, after he experiences his "success," he finds his life empty without someone to fight against.
Regarding the artwork, the characters (with no exception) were really very unattractive and unappealing, as they were drawn. I see this as a problem with all Dreamworks projects like "Dragon", "Monsters Vs. Aliens", and "Shark's Tale". The character Hal/Titan is the worst and most annoying of all. Their Metro City backdrops and special animated effects though were very well-done.
As for the voices, the best one belonged to Brad Pitt as Metro Man. It was noble yet cheesy, very on point. Will Ferrell sounded like he had a good time with Megamind, but it was just OK. Tina Fey's voice as the feisty reporter Roxanne did not really reflect her funny personality. These two could have been done just as good by any other voice talent.
Overall, this movie was satisfactory, not spectacular. As you can deduce from the short synopsis, this movie is not exactly for kids. There were stretches in the middle when my kids were restless. The success of the jokes were erratic. The script was surprisingly quite adult in its analysis of good and evil, even contemplative at times. I appreciated this and I liked the twists and turns that the story took. I am not sure though if the kids actually got what the movie was really all about behind the silly action sequences.