I have to say YES for that question...well, at least up till first half of the movie. Megamind is Dreamworks' latest animated movie, and since the Shrek series have been totally running out of ideas, they have been trying to establish new ideas (Kungfu Panda and How to Train Your Dragon were the successful ones, while the rest either they are mediocre, or just decent). Enter Megamind (Will Ferrell), which follows the story of a blue big headed alien, who has been destined to be evil minded since he was a kid, a contradiction with its fellow alien, Metroman (Brad Pitt), who happens to be the famous superhero, guardian of Metro City. Thanks to his genius and determination, the rivalry between good and evil has been the headlines for some time, with the blue side always be the loser one. But then, things change dramatically, when finally he defeats Metroman in the early part of the film, he realizes that without any 'good side', his life has become....meaningless.
The positive thing about Megamind, is that they are trying to be better than Pixar, since I've seen Dreamworks has been trying that. In short, Megamind is a good family movie, brings out positive message to kids, and it's fun, that's all. Sometimes, a good and fun kids' movie, is just a good and fun kids' move, and that's all it needs to be. It's a good thing they don't try to over-complicate things, and with just a plot twist in the middle, it has already delivered some refreshing story afterwards.
Actually, the 1st half of the movie has been summarized just by watching the trailer. In short, it was kinda lame, bit boring, and the lines were not that funny (kinda crispy). 1st half of the movie just justified my opinion, that I dislike Will Ferrell even more. I slept in some parts, and usually, it means the movie was very bad (reminds me of Monster and Aliens). Thankfully, the 2nd half of the movie was able to rescue the earlier horrendous plot (which I won't spoil anything). In my opinion, with a little rewrite, and perhaps some better lines, Megamind can still go far ahead compared to the current version. What I felt is that it has too few characters to show, the city is a bit lifeless, and some of the scenes are quite predictable, but hey, it's a kid's movie after all.
Most of the time, I always feel quite skeptical toward animation movie which uses lots of A-list actors, and this one doesn't escape from that treatment. But luckily, they are the reason what is stopping Megamind from crashing. They are funny, and they deliver their jokes and one-liners convincingly. While Ferrel is already used to this kind of role, Brad Pitt is a surprise addition (he did a pretty good job though), Tina Fey as Roxanne, the journalist and love interest, has the best performance, while Jonah Hill, is being...well...Jonah Hill. It's quite rare to see these A-list actors can somehow bring all their characters with their own textures without the need to let us know something like, "Hey, this is the voice of a famous actor" or whatsoever. The funniest moment comes when Ferrell tried to impersonate a very famous 'Godfather', damn, it he did it smoothly.
The animation was okay, perhaps not a top notch quality, but the final battle scene really pushed up the 3D and make use of it extensively. Somehow the 3D can blend it to the story line without making any distraction. My only complaint is that it takes time for us to get used to see Megamind as a likeable character, since I felt his animation is a bit underwhelming (well, I can't imagine kids want to buy the doll and give him a hug)
In the end, Megamind has the humor, heart, story, some originality and awesomeness. It delivers what it has to deliver, which is entertaining. Although I was very annoyed in the beginning, the end result pays well. I thought it's just another superhero movie, but turns out it's more than that. When it's funny, it's brings lots of laughters, but when it's serious, it shows the heart, so I guess it's a good balance after all. It may have some similarities with Despicable Me, which centers on an arch-villain who sees the error of his ways. Overall, Megamind is snappy good fun.
My Rating : 7.5/10
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