Megamind review

Poor Megamind. As a little blue baby (with a big blue head), he arrived on earth à la Superman, but his spaceship landed in a prison, where he ended up being raised by the tattooed inmates.

Meanwhile, another being (this one blond and handsome), also crashed on this planet but beside a mansion, thus growing up in the lap of luxury. Fastforward a couple of decades, and – because he has grown up in the shadow of his fellow super-powered extra terrestrial – Megamind (voiced by Ferrell) has become an evil sort-of genius, while the blond boy is now his do-gooder nemesis, the muscular Metro Man (Pitt).

The two battle above the skies of Metro City on a regular basis, with Megamind often kidnapping local reporter Roxanne (Fey) along the way only for Metro Man to free her every time. That is, until Megamind accidentally manages to do away with his foe once and for all, only to discover that life is pretty boring without a hero around to challenge him. What’s a bad guy to do without a good guy to play with?

While this is reminiscent of The Incredibles and Despicable Me, Megamind has its own charms and considerable wit. Ferrell sounds like he’s really enjoying being bad, and he’s got some terrific vocal backup – as well as Fey and Pitt, Jonah Hill voices Titan, the hero Megamind creates when he is bored, while Arrested Development’s David Cross is hysterical as Megamind’s sidekick, Minion, a robot whose head is actually a fish in a bowl.

And while younger children may have found Despicable Me’s Gru just a little too creepy, here they will fall in love with the hilarious and bizarrely cuddly Megamind (“Ah! My giant blue head!”) just as much as grown-ups will.