After bringing a highly entertaining parody of cop films to the screen earlier this summer, Will Ferrell now brings to life the title character of a satire of the superhero film. Though this does bare resemblance to the structure of this summers just as entertaining 'Despicable Me' it takes it to the more literal level of straight up parodying the unreal popularity of the superhero flick at the moment. That being said, 'Megamind' is consistently funny from beginning to end and I can say that the kiddies will enjoy it just as much as the adults seeing as the show I went to included a good majority of both and everyone seemed to be having a great time. Ferrell, who subdued the whole man-child persona for his live-action summer flick is able to return to that in the form of an animated character which may entertain those who have never necessarily had the taste for a Ferrell movie before. I am an avid Ferrell fan though and am happy to see him choosing projects that allow his audience and style to widen as he still keeps the funny coming. From the beginning we understand that Megamind is a misguided mind. He knows no other way to get attention and utilize his skills other than to be evil. This leads to a rivalry between he and Metro City's (or Metrocity as Megamind would say) number one hero, Metro Man, who is voiced by Brad Pitt and in a surprise turn is absent for most of the film. In fact, if you are going in expecting a run of the mill back and forth between good and bad until the bad guy realizes he doesn't want to be bad anymore and that he actually yearns to be a good person you will only be half right. Of course Megamind's conscious can only take so much before he makes his revelation but what triggers this revelation is his accomplishment of defeating Metro Man, supposedly. The way in which Megamind realizes there is no reason to be evil unless you have a good guy to fight sets up his goal of creating a new hero, giving Jonah Hill's expected minor character a turn for the majors. Hill, who creepily looks like his onscreen character, plays it much the same here and though the kids won't know who he is, it is a good joke for those who do to witness Hill become this superhuman that eventually turns against convention and becomes the bad guy that forces Megamind to do good. It is a refreshing break when animated films don't follow the conventions just because they assume their target audience won't know the difference and we have been lucky this year. Though I wouldn't place 'Megamind' as high as 'Toy Story 3' or 'How to Train Your Dragon,' it is certainly close. It looks beautiful and gets the tone of a superhero film down without allowing itself to become what it is making fun of. It is clever and the delivery of the dialogue is priceless. Not only do Ferrell and Hill deserve major props for making this film appeal to more than just children and their parents, but Tina Fey and David Cross are both really great here. Especially Cross, he is so sly and subtle in his Minion (also an odd connection with 'Despicable Me') character that we cannot help but love every aspect of these bad guys. The charm of 'Megamind' is that it does in fact appeal to a broader audience than you might expect and though you probably see the end coming for what it will be it is a fun and hilarious ride. It's not an instant animated classic, but in a banner year for animated films, 'Megamind' makes the cut.
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