by Donald Lind

Created on: January 22, 2011

“An evil genius turns the superhero genre inside out”

“Megamind,” the new animated superhero comedy from DreamWorks, explores one universal truth about superhero lore.  That is, that a hero is only as good as his villain.  And, of course, since “Megamind” is about the villain, the flip side is just as true.

No matter how powerful a super being is; despite all of their wondrous abilities and heroic/horrific feats, if they did not have their equal and opposite adversary, their very existence would mean nothing.  The dance of the hero and villain is an eternal, unbreakable symbiotic relationship; one cannot function in the world without another.  “Megamind,” for all of its colorful visuals, breathtaking action scenes and sly humor, is one of the few superhero movies to make this the main issue.

The other astonishing feat the film makes is making Will Ferrell, for once, 100 percent tolerable in a role.

This has been a good year for Ferrell, acting wise.  He wasn’t entirely annoying in “The Other Guys,” and here, he’s genuinely funny and entertaining.  And he doesn’t even resort to his worn out man-child schtick.  He does a great job, credibly voicing a bumbling, but still delightfully evil genius.

Ferrell provides the voice of the star, a blue-skinned alien with an enormous cranium.  He’s sent to Earth by his parents before his planet is destroyed.  The poor thing doesn’t even get the tearful “destined for great things” goodbye speech.  And on his journey, he’s cut off by a smug alien, also on his way to Earth.  The latter finds a home with a well-to-do human family and all the best stuff; our blue skinned “hero” crashes into a prison yard and is raised by hardened convicts.  And thus began their lifelong rivalry.

The smug baby grew up to become Metro Man (Brad Pitt), defender of Metro City, while the blue skin became the scheming genius villain humbly known as Megamind, forever out to ruin Metro Man and take over Metro City (or “Metrocity,” one of the many terms he accidentally on purpose mangles).  Megamind at the beginning of the film breaks out of prison (for like, the thousandth time) and seeks to destroy Metro Man once and for all during the hero’s statue dedication.  Part of his plan, as always, involves the kidnapping of Metro Man’s love interest -

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