Megamind (2010)

Directed by Tom McGrath. Starring (voice) Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, Brad Pitt, J. K. Simmons, Ben Stiller. [PG]

Megamind (Ferrell), a blue-skinned alien orphan who was raised to be evil, has finally defeated his life-long nemesis, the hero of Metro City known as Metro Man (Pitt); afterward, the absence of a rival leaves him feeling unchallenged and bored, so he hatches a plan to create a new hero to battle while developing a romantic attachment to Lois Lane-esque news reporter, Roxanne Ritchie (Fey). Bright, energetic and witty animated superhero comedy has a number of clever and funny jokes—dig Megamind’s Obama-style slogan sheets that read: “No You Can’t”—but suffers from derivative ideas and bad timing, released less than six months after Despicable Me, which shares several very similar elements, from premise to plot points; this rehabilitated supervillain is even helped by a talking fish called Minion (in a suit that pays tribute to Robot Monster). The computer animation is smooth and the visuals have a lustrous quality, but the character design creates some peculiar (and unbecoming) facial proportions for some of the players. Ferrell does a very funny riff on a Marlon Brando-esque Jor-El while speaking with Marlon Brando’s Godfather speech lisp.

70/100