Movie review: MegaMind in 3D ***

MegaMind in 3D ***

Stars: Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross
Director: Tom McGrath
Rated: PG
Showing: Neptune Cinema week of Friday, November 19 - Friday 7pm; Saturday 2:30/5:30pm; Sunday 2:30pm; Monday and Tuesday 7pm; Wednesday and Thursday 6:30pm.
Runtime: 96 minutes
Animation/comedy/family

Ever imagined what would have happened had Lex Luthor ever beat Superman?

MegaMind offers one answer, turning the superhero genre on its head by letting the bad guy win for once.

Events kick off in outer space, where two alien planets are about to be sucked into a black hole.

In terror — and in a nod to Superman — a family on each world puts their baby sons in escape pods bound for earth. 

But fate puts the tots on very different paths, as one lands in the grounds of a mansion and is adopted by a loving couple, with the other drops into a prison yard to be raised by convicts.

The former grows up to be Metro Man (Brad Pitt), charming and magnanimous superhero who protects Metro City from the evil schemes of the latter, criminal mastermind MegaMind (Will Ferrell).

The supervillain’s nefarious schemes constantly end in colossal failure, as his suave nemesis foils his dastardly plans.

It seems this pattern will never end until MegaMind seemingly defeats Metro Man during a botched hostage plot involving news reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey).

With his rival out the way, MegaMind takes over Metro City — but he soon realizes he has no purpose in life if he doesn’t have an enemy to battle.

To relieve his depression, he turns Roxanne’s lonely cameraman Hal (Jonah) into a superhero, Titan — but he decides to use his new powers against Metro City as revenge for his lifetime of rejection.

MegaMind has no choice but to become an unlikely hero and end his creation’s rampage of destruction.

The movie is fast-paced and fun with an A-list cast, laughs for all ages and likeable, memorable characters.

It’s not as funny as Shrek or Toy Story and there are too few jokes for adults but the energy of the cast is infectious, particularly the madcap performance from Anchorman star Will Ferrell.

The animation is of the high quality you expect from Dreamworks, the studio behind Shrek, Kung Fu Panda and How To Train Your Dragon, and the story is entertaining enough.

The highlight is MegaMind’s piranha-like fish, Minion (David Cross), who has a lot of the best lines.

Watch if you liked: The Incredibles.