What Do The Critics Say?

"Hilarious, refreshingly smart, thrilling and heartfelt. It will delightfully entertain everyone, young or old, good or evil. Pokes fun at the superhero action/comedy genre." Avi Offer NYC MOVIE GURU "Family audiences finally have something worth turning out in droves to see. This ninety six minute movie proceeds at a zippy pace and the audience's attention never wavers from the excitement up on the screen. Something worth turning out in droves to see." Keith Cohen ENTERTAINMENT SPECTRUM Full of fun and eye-popping images, "Megamind" is what they used to call in the old days of television side-splittingly funny. I urge you to see it in 3D if you can." Michael A. Smith NOLAN'S POP CULTURE REVIEW "Ferrell's voicework is spot on, Pitt gamely sends up his squeaky clean image and Fey is a joy as the conflicted heroine. Lively colours and impressive animation." David Edwards UK DAILY MIRROR "Megamind is a blast. Take your kids. Stay with them. There are plenty of laughs for everyone. Bring your asprin for the 3D headache. This one is actually worth seeing." Jenna Busch HUFFINGTON POST

"A genial animated sendup of superhero flicks that should appeal to kids around the age when they're getting a bit cynical about do-gooders in capes and tights." Colin Covert MINNEAPOLIS STAR "A lively cast and an interesting flip on the superhero concept make 'Megamind" a fun time at the movies for viewers of all ages. Downright entertaining to watch." Frank Wilkins REELTALK MOVIE REVIEWS "The action is big and mostly spectacular, the performances are all spot-on (even Hill, who once again plays himself, is well cast), and most importantly Megamind himself is actually kind of likable. The door isn’t exactly left open for a sequel." Anthony Morris THE VINE "Ferrell, Fey & Hill acquit themselves hilariously. Cross steals the movie as Minion." Joy Tipping DALLAS MORNING NEWS "Hugely enjoyable, brilliantly funny comedy with superb animation, terrific vocal performances and a witty script that's packed with great gags and a multitude of fan-pleasing superhero references. Brightly coloured animation is gorgeous throughout." Matthew Turner VIEW LONDON

The Inside Story Destiny is a funny thing. Let’s say you’re a baby on the planet Krypton, and just before the planet goes kablooey, your dad deposits you in a space module and jettisons you toward the blue-green orb called Earth. Found and raised by good-hearted farmer folk, you grow up to battle evil in all its guises: which is easy for you; because your Kryptonian powers make you super powerful among humankind. But what if you had landed with people not so good at heart? What would you have become? Okay, so now, you’re one of two kids in space, both popped in pods by your pops, both hurtling toward Earth. And just as in the tale we all know and love, everything depends on where you land: one in a palatial home with loving parents (hooray!); and one in a prison for the criminally gifted (uh-oh!). Super powers schooled in an upper-middle-class home become squarely focused on 'doing good'. But equivalent powers sharpened in lock-down are set on an entirely different trajectory. Welcome to the story of two babies who grow to become lifetime adversaries: Megamind the criminal genius and Metro Man, the charming and handsome do-gooder. In the world of superheroes, super-villains rarely get a chance to play the leading men: those roles are are typically reserved for the dashing and handsome heroes that oppose them. In the epic 3D comedy adventure "Megamind", the traditional superhero movie is upended, as the evil genius finally gets the spotlight. Megamind is a delusional, egotistical and completely inept criminal bent on taking over Metro City. When it comes to executing his ever evolving master plan, each wild attempt is a colossal failure, thanks to Megamind’s nemesis, Metro Man, the beloved white-tighted hero of the city. For director Tom McGrath (helmer of both "Madagascar" movies and voice of the beloved autocratic penguin, Skipper), given the choice, he’ll take a villain every time. "Personally, I love villains. I’ve loved them since I was a kid: Darth Vader, Captain Hook, they were so fascinating. They have the most interesting personas, costumes, gadgets and catch-phrases. Villains are the most fun." McGrath was finishing up work on another animated film when he was approached about a new project: one that had been brought to DreamWorks Animation by Ben Stiller and Stuart Cornfeld’s production company, Red Hour Films. The story revolved around a hapless super-villain who accidentally destroys his archenemy, and the subsequent lack of competition renders his life meaningless. The film was "Megamind", and McGrath was immediately taken with the project’s potential. "I heard it was about a villain who accidentally defeats his nemesis, creates a new hero to battle, and inevitably has to rise up and be the hero himself. And at the center of it was a love story. Just with that simple pitch." And his reaction? "Wow, that sounds really unique: to tell a story from the villain’s point of view." Beginning as a script penned by Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, "Megamind" takes its lead from well-known and beloved superhero stories. It asks: "What happens when the story is told from the other side?" The task the team at DreamWorks Animation had before them was to create a film about a super-villain, while making the character likable, relatable and most importantly, fun. Although originally conceived as a live-action tale while at Red Hour Films, many came to believe that "Megamind" would be better told through animation. For fans of such stories (as many on the crew were), there was a voiced concern that the project might take on a mocking, instead of reverent, attitude. But from McGrath down, respect of the genre was mandated. The relationship between Metro Man and Megamind is the classic superhero/super-villain dichotomy. The most iconic villains are a funhouse mirror image of the hero. The good guy represents the nobility, heroism and potential of the human race, while the bad guy represents its greed and lust for power. "Megamind" also plays with the provocative idea that good and evil cannot exist without each other. "The relationship between Megamind and Metro Man is symbiotic," head of story Catherine Yuh Rader ("Antz" & "Shrek 2") explained. "Megamind believes that there is a mutual respect, a sportsmanship to their battles, and that good and evil are integral to each other. Megamind regards Metro Man as the ultimate adversary, despite that fact that he loses to him every time." Sent to Earth from a dying planet on the verge of being sucked into a black hole, Megamind inadvertently lands in the Metro City prison and grows up amongst the lowest of the low. He becomes a villain, but only because he believes his destiny made it so. One of the most important attributes of a great main character is its likeability: evil or no; the audience needs to relate to him. The fact that Megamind is a blue evil genius raised in Metro City’s prison might have made that more difficult, but producer Denise Nolan Cascino disagrees, saying, "We do charge him with being the villain, but we know he isn’t really a killer at heart. He actually has a pretty high moral code." To give "Megamind" the right tone and balance (to find the likeable in the criminal), the filmmakers turned to the comedic genius of 2001 American Comedy Award winner Will Ferrell to bring the character to life. "Casting Will Ferrell was key," says Breay ("Blades of Glory"). "He has this incredible ability to play a bombastic egomaniac hell-bent on world domination in a way that makes him not only hilarious, but lovable. He shows us the vulnerability and longing that’s behind the deluded buffoon, and you can’t help but root for him." "Megamind is trying his best to be tough and evil, and he really wants to be taken seriously. But at the end of the day, no one is really that afraid of him. Maybe it’s because he’s blue," says Ferrell ("Melinda and Melinda" & "Semi-Pro"). And why is that? "It’s just not that scary a color." While Megamind landed in a prison, Metro Man found himself in a comfortable, upper middle class home. "Here’s the guy who has handsome good looks, even as a kid, and he’s given everything. Right out of the box, he can fly and has laser vision. He had it easy his whole life, while Megamind had it very hard," McGrath observes. The inverse to Megamind in many ways, Metro Man lived a privileged childhood, and he knows it. His powers developed early, "flying around the house as a toddler while holding his surrogate mother was an easy feat for the young superhero," says Rader. "Thanks to a little luck and natural abilities, his life has been effortless and easy, and everyone loves him." Metro Man is just as much a hot celebrity in Metro City as he is its savior. The people of the town look up to him, and their reliance upon his thwarting Megamind is a constant. Production designer David James notes: "He’s a little like that guy in high school, the captain of the football team and president of the student body. You’re supposed to like him." Megamind does have another interest: Roxanne Ritchi, the sassy, smart and, you guessed it, beautiful reporter always at the center of the action. A zealous journalist with a sharp tongue, Roxanne is his conatant hostage. "Our damsel in distress is much stronger than anybody else in the movie and can actually take care of herself," says McGrath. "She’s witty and sarcastic, and she’s voiced elegantly by Tina Fey." "It was fun to play with the concept of the bad guy and the heroine as a couple, as if Lex Luthor and Lois Lane realized they had more in common than they thought, and they actually had an opportunity to get together and they hit it off." Fey ("Date Night" & "The Invention Of Lying") admits: "I like her. I think she’s strong, but still warm. I like that she’s not really scared of anything. And, of course, I like all the attention: she likes all of the attention." Megamind is not the only one smitten with the beautiful Roxanne Ritchi. The reporter’s bumbling camera operator, Hal Stewart, has been harboring a crush on Roxanne for years. The designers looked to the Golden Age of comics for their inspiration for Hal/Tighten. Production designer David James ("Monsters vs Aliens") describes him as "a slacker cameraman. Hal is our version of the boy photographer sidekick: if he were consumed with envy and loathing." Young comic actor Jonah Hill ("Get Him To The Greek") who stepped behind the animated camera to play Hal notes: "I don’t think Hal’s a bad guy. He’s just acting on his emotions. He sees Roxanne every day, and maybe, he might slightly misread one of her gestures or comments. His affection is unwavering. That shows dedication in my book. It may say 'stalker' to you, but I read it differently." A villain is only as good as his lackey, and Megamind could not ask for a more loyal cohort than Minion. Charged by Megamind’s parents to look after their child, Minion has been with his super intelligent master from the very beginning. "We all fell in love with Minion," says Breay, "which was unexpected given that on the face of it he’s a lab-created fish gorillarobot abomination. A lot of that is because of David Cross’s performance. Minion is the best friend a super-villain could ever have. But he’s also the heart of the movie; the loyal voice of reason; the best friend who ultimately has to save Megamind from himself." So it isn't just about good versus evil then? "It’s all about the relationships between Megamind, Roxanne, Metro Man and Hal. So we have what you might call a love quadrangle, as opposed to the typical love triangle, and that’s what makes it interesting," McGrath revealed. The filmmakers see the relationship of Megamind and Minion as far beyond that of master and lackey. "Since they were babies, they’ve known each other and that’s one of the most solid relationships in the film," says the director. "Megamind is a dreamer, and Minion is the nuts and bolts guy: the dynamics between the characters, and the relationships that grow or fall apart. And, of course, 3D and flying superheroes don’t hurt!" The beginning designs of Megamind showed a more stereotypical alien appearance, but his look changed over the course of production. Art director Timothy J Lamb recalls: "Megamind’s initial designs were a sort of spindly, huge-headed guy. But, extreme character design needs to be balanced with what the story requires. Megamind is funny and has this romantic interest in Roxanne, so it was important to ensure that the character design fit well with all of the aspects of the story: not just the blue alien bent on wreaking havoc." Metro Man is much more than just good looks and brawn. Underneath all the muscle and super powers, a complicated character can be discerned. "When we first started animating Metro Man, we were playing up the smarmy, used-car salesman attitude," says Jason Schleifer (head of character animation). "However, we soon found that he wasn’t very compelling. Instead, we played him with more honesty, focusing on the difficult situation he finds himself in. Once we did that, Metro Man became a sincere, compelling character with a lot of muscles, who happens to wear tights." What's It All About?

In a galaxy far far away, two little babies are about to be sent into deep space in order to find a new home. Their loving parents, know that they themselves will not survive the destruction of the planet that is their home, but at least their children will, they hope, eventually find a new home. As fate would have it, they land on Earth. One finds a privileged life, the other is raised by criminals. Years later, Megamind is the most brilliant super-villain the world has ever known: and the least successful. His plans to conquer Metro City in every imaginable way, have been a colossal failure, thanks to the caped superhero known as 'Metro Man'. Until the day Megamind defeats him in the throes of one of his botched evil plans. But when the the fate of Metro City is threatened by a new villain with super powers, everyone is left to wonder: could the world’s biggest 'mind' actually be the one to save the day?

The Verdict "Those who found "Despicable Me" to their liking will be rapped to know that "Megamind" is every bit as good. Yes, it's another nod to the 'naughty but nice' theme and to the super-hero genre: in particular Superman, Loise Lane, Jimmy Olsen and Lex Luthor. For audiences, there is a nice balance here. The plot, characters, dialogue, the crazy antics and the under-dog aspect will appeal to both children and adults alike. The fact that the voice cast is both exceptional and recognizable, doesn't detract from the enjoyment fo what is unfolding on the screen. In fact I think it enhances the "Megamind" experience. It's great fun matching the voices to their characters. And "Megamind" it did get me thinking: 'What the heck has happened to the Superman franchise?" No disappointments here. 4 1/2 STARS." Who Is Playing Who?

Will Ferrell Brad Pitt Tina Fey Jonah Hill David Cross Justin Theroux Ben Stiller Jessica Schulte Tom McGrath Emily Nordwind J.K. Simmons Jack Blessing Stephen Kearin

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Megamind Metro Man Roxanne Ritchie Titan Minion Megamind's Father Bernard Megamind's Mother Lord Scott/Prison Guard Lady Scott Warden Newscaster Mayor

Directed by Tom McGrath Written by Alan Schoolcraft & Brent Simons Produced by Lara Breay & Denise Nolan Cascino Executive Producers Stuart Cornfeld & Ben Stiller Original Music by Lorne Balfe & Hans Zimmer Film Editing by Michael Andrews Production Design by David James Run Time 95 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Paramount Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 - The Movie Pages & Impact Internet Services - All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian & International Copyright, Trademark Laws & Intellectual Property Rights.