Dreamworks’ MegaMind in IMAX 3D

How long has it been since Shrek 4? Like Tyler Perry and Disney, Dreamworks knows how it makes its money by releasing two-three films in one year. This is its most advertised film but it can also be lucked out from receiving an Oscar nomination for Best Animated Feature since, let’s be honest, we know that Disney/Pixar is taking home with the gold after claiming the title of Best Animated Feature OF ALL TIME. That film’s definitely going to be tough to match. MegaMind, featuring Will Ferrell as the titular blue-headed villain and Brad Pitt as Metro City’s Metro Man, which opens this Friday is a lot of fun than I originally thought it would be. Like Despicable Me, the film amps up its wow factor in bits and pieces from seeing Hal Stewart (Jonah Hill), camera man for news reporter and frequent damsel-in-distress Roxanna Ritchi (Tina Fey) turn evil to the final battle that ends with what is the norm of all CG films: a dance number. If you have seen the commercials, you’ve seen most of the film but in case you haven’t: MegaMind and Metro Man both came from neighbor planets being sucked into a black hole sent to Earth who live out two different lives: MegaMind gets sent to a state penitentiary after being bumped by Metro Man’s ship as babies with Metro Man living in a rich family.

Fast forward a few years and we find that Mega Mind is having trouble fitting in at school with him making the decision of being the villain. Metro Man, fast forward about a good 20 years or so, becomes the pointy-chinned, Superman hair carrying stud who later dies from one of Mega Mind’s schemes with the assistance of his partner Minion (David Cross). Cut to Mega Mind taking over the city and later regretting his plan of killing him. Without good to battle evil, what does evil do? Rather than creating a mind-controlled slave army, Mega Mind decides to create a pill with Metro Man’s DNA that accidentally ends up in Hal Stewart’s nose turning the loser whose attempt to win Ms. Ritchi with a bouncy house and dip fails when compared to Mega Mind’s switcheroo to being a the librarian of the Metro Man Museum, falling in love with Ms. Ritchi while training Hal to handle his powers and becoming the city’s newest hero in the process. Like Despicable Me, the film, at once thought to never hold my interest, grabbed me with one character in particular, Hal, mirroring the look of his voice actor along with making me think of being the illegitimate son of Disney/Pixar’s The Incredibles’ Syndrome. 

            With the advance screening I attended, the theater still had a few seats open to the public. For a film that had made it to the Guinness Book of Records for the Largest Gathering of Superheroes, that’s a bit of a disappointment. With my screening being on IMAX 3D, I can see why there weren’t a lot of people there. Some may have been turned off by the 3D aspect which has been one of the factors that have led to 3D films making less than most studios predict that they should. The film looks great in 3D although when tilting your head left or right, you lose the effect. The film delivered tons of laughs and awws from the audience but I grew tired of them after the first 10 minutes and the final 10 minutes even with a scene where the audience think a character’s going to die but lives. For a film that receives three out of four stars, it can be forgettable. As a guy mentioned while leaving the theater, he was mixed saying that it could had done more to appeal to both audiences. The problem is that he never fully explained what went wrong in the film. On Friday, more people will give their view on this film and it will be clear whether or not this is worth your money. To me, it was worth the price of admission if you have a free pass.