Harry is delighted that MEGAMIND touches on the essence of evil in such a deliciously good way!

I saw MEGAMIND a very long time ago now it seems. For a time I was told I had to hold my review, then when I got the ok to write it, well... it got crazy busy. That's what happens sometimes when I don't write something up immediately, but like most of the AICN staff... I am so used to writing directly and instantly for the site with the freshest and purest of enthusiasm, that when I'm told to not share... it takes a certain amount of wind out of my sails. Then today, this really large box that practically weighed nothing arrived from TECHNICOLOR. When I opened it up, it was a... well, look:

That's right, it's a headpiece so that you too could be Megamind. And as I picked it up and squeezed my abnormally enormous skull into it snuggly, I found myself thinking about the film. Pondering whether or not I should review it tonight, at last as I took that picture I was reminded of how much I loved the film. It makes you feel like that photo. Like being evil for being deliciously evil's sake. A lot of focus has been placed on the title character played by Will Ferrell, and of course the world buzzes about everything Brad Pitt does. I've even seen pieces written on how Tina Fey flips the Lois Lane persona on its ear. And don't get me wrong, Will Ferrell's MEGAMIND is brilliantly bad. Well, that might be a poor choice of phrasing, but it wouldn't be the first time. I mean that with the utmost positive enthusiasm. MEGAMIND is kind of close to the 1950's and early 1960's version of Lex Luthor. You know, back when Luthor was a forever sworn enemy of SUPERMAN because when they were both boys and Lex tried to cure Superboy of his allergic reaction to Kryptonite. And the resulting fire, when blown out resulted in Lex's hair being doused by the chemical smoke, then when Superboy blew it out, he became BALD... for life! Now, that's pretty dang silly, in many ways though, that's this movie. Brad Pitt's Metro Man was the popular alien from another planet. He was always perfect, always looked up to. He was raised in an good family, Megamind? He was raised in prison, outrageously enough. They've grown up fighting. Tina Fey's Roxanne Ritchi was the damsel in distress that Pitt's Metro Man protected, and who she was quite fond of. But when one day Megamind defeats Metro Man in a rather definitive manner... Mega no longer has a foe. This brings me to my two favorite characters of the film. Tighten (Jonah Hill) and Minion (David Cross). FIrst, we have Minion, who was given to Mega, when he was but a little blue bulbous-headed baby. Minion was, exactly that, a devoted and useful assistant for this orphan's entire life. Minion is remarkably durable and faithfully loving to Will's large head. But there's a quirky to his design, his manner. Something familiar. Then there's Tighten, and Jonah Hill really has the peach of a character. As the "warped Jimmy Olsen" of this particular Superhero story, he's kind of awesome. Tighten is a bit of a Pear shaped kinda guy. Has unruly red hair. Is a bit of an obsessive nerd geek, that dreams of banging (inferred, but never explicitly) the object of his lens. That's right, this Jimmy has the hots for his Lois. But also like those awesome 50-60 year old Superman stories with Jimmy, something happens to change Jonah's Tighten into something All-powerful... and because he's a petty and selfish lazy turd... who happens to be all powerful, he goes a bit nuts - and he's geniunely disturbing. He feels more finely motivated than pretty much any character I've encountered in the DREAMWORKS ANIMATED universe. He actually makes SYNDROME seem like a cartoon by comparison, though the whole of THE INCREDIBLES is vastly superior. That isn't to say there's much wrong with MEGAMIND, it's just ultimately I just prefer that film. That story involved me more. But ya know... this film is evil in the way that the HAUNTED MANSION or PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN rides at Disneyland are evil. You know... Vincent Price naughty. There's a glee to the evil. There is a Snidely Whiplash flair to MEGAMIND, whereas Jonah Hill's Tighten is more realistically evilly motivated. But that's what I love. More than that, I love that the romance that kicks up between Megamind and Tina Fey's Roxanne Ritchi is somewhat reasonable to me. But what I love to death is the entire last act. It goes absolutely huge with spectacle. The type of destruction and cataclysm that very few Superhero films have even aluded to. It really is quite a bit of fun. How was the 3D? Pretty spectacular... though there's no moments that literally took my breath away, like that romantic Dragon flight in HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON. That use of 3D was truly WOW-inducing. As the film ended I saw a credit that I had forgotten existed on this film, and that was that Guillermo Del Toro was a consultant upon the movie. I'd be very curious to chat with Guillermo about his suggestions and changes he might have influenced, because there seemed some pretty strong brush strokes that feel like his hand might've played a part in. I suppose, that's really what I wasn't expecting. There's a nice simple honesty to the characters, a genuine inspired bit of design, especially with Minion and Tighten. For a Studio created "Superhero" character story... I actually would love to see these characters in the comics. Just imagine a hero that had to fight his naturally dark sense of humor and tinge of residual evil in a bi-species relationship. I'd read. I suppose that's a good thing, I would like to see more of these characters. With this and HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON, this is the first year where I genuinely prefer the Dreamworks animated films to the Pixar one, and that is stunning. But I think that's just cuz the TOY STORY universe just didn't quite make me love the third one. I actually think that TOY STORY 3 is a better movie than MEGAMIND, but I have to admit, I did enjoy MEGAMIND more. Which is an odd distinction. I do think it is kind of hilarious that we have two movies opening this weekend that play with the Bad Guys. I just wish FOUR LIONS would be seen by as many as this. That really is a remarkable film.