Megamind

Megamind is a 2010 American computer-animated superhero comedy film directed by Tom McGrath and produced by DreamWorks Animation and Pacific Data Images and distributed by Paramount Pictures. It features the voices of Will Ferrell, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and Brad Pitt.

Plot
Though he is the most-brilliant supervillain the world has known, Megamind (Will Ferrell) is the least-successful. Thwarted time and again by heroic Metro Man (Brad Pitt), Megamind is more surprised than anyone when he actually manages to defeat his longtime enemy. But without Metro Man, Megamind has no purpose in life, so he creates a new opponent, who quickly decides that it's more fun to be a bad guy than a hero.

Why It's Got A Mind Of Its Own

 * 1) The animation is crisp and smooth for the time (although given how the film was made in 2010, it's pretty much to be expected from animated movies of that year).
 * 2) Excellent voice acting, shout-out to Will Ferrell as Megamind who possibly has one of the best voice roles in and Dreamworks film (and taking how many amazing roles actors have had in Dreamworks movies and the tremendous amount of incredible vocal performances that have also been found in their movies, that's really saying a lot). Other cast also includes Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross, and Brad Pitt.
 * 3) A shockingly mature story with incredibly layered and complex characters for a family film, as it explores the Nature vs. Nurture element and the question of whether bad behavior is inherited or acquired. To really put this into perspective, nothing is ever revealed about where Megamind or Metroman came from, or the inhabitants of said worlds. But the way they were both nurtured affected who they became as they grew up. Megamind was taught that crime was good and police were bad growing up, but his nature was still good at heart. But being rejected for his differences caused him to doubt himself and give in to how he was nurtured. He never really aspired to be a villain, but society never really gave him a choice and always rejected him without ever giving him a single opportunity for him to actually show them who he really is and what he really aspires to be. And therefore, he grew into a villain because that was the only thing society painted him out to be, and all of that rubbed of on him to the point that he changed himself into becoming what they thought of him. Later, he gains a soft spot for Roxanne, but when she finds out the truth that he was simply posing as the museum curator, she rejects him. This causes him to go back to the villainy that defied him for all his life, as he's convinced that being bad was simply in his nature.
 * 4) * The same also goes for Metroman. While he's praised as the city's hero, it's clear that all he really cares about is the fame and acclaim he gets for his heroic deeds, in spite of him generally coming off as polite and affable towards the citizens of Metro City (but even then, he doesn't really view them as much more than random citizens, as demonstrated when he responds to a citizen shouting that he loved him with "And I love you too, random citizen!"). This is because, unlike Megamind who landed in prison, he arrived into the custody of a loving family where he ended up being spoiled and starting only acting heroically for the sake of the notoriety that comes with it from a young age. Resulting in all of that said notoriety and praise he earned from achieving heroic deeds going to his head and molding him into being incredibly arrogant and conceited. The societal pressure eventually proves too much for him to live up to and he ends up faking his death, allowing Megamind and later Tighten to take over the city. And it's also never outright stated if his decisions were justified or not, and instead, the film leaves the audience to decide which one is true. As he doesn't return in the climax to save the day and return to heroism, as that was Megamind disguising himself to pretend to be him.
 * 5) ** It's also worth noting that while most media with villain protagonists portray the heroes that oppose said protagonist as completely egocentric douchebags, this movie doesn't go the route. It does follow the trope partially, but it still shows the story from the side of said hero and makes them more complex.
 * 6) Hal/Tighten and Roxanne are also surprisingly well-written characters.
 * 7) * Hal basically represents what would happen if an obsessive crush who feels they're entitled to their love interest ended up getting powers. As at first, he showed little to no concern about actually protecting Metro City and the only thing he genuinely seemed to care about was gaining Roxanne's affections. And when he sees her kissing Bernard/Megamind, he turns into a straight-up villain and takes over the city.
 * 8) * Roxanne is a very well-written love interest character for Megamind, as she's more lively and strong-willed than the typical movie Damsel-In-Distress character, along with the huge role she plays in Megamind's character development and transition from a criminal mastermind to the new hero of Metro City.
 * 9) Funny moments like Roxanne's request to have her "frequent kidnap victim card" stamped, Megamind (in disguise as Space Dad) giving Hal his superhero suit, Megamind and Roxanne are investigating the school, Roxanne blowing a dangling spider into Megamind's eye and Minion trying to help by punching him in the face and stomping on his head, and Tighten ripping the door off the invisible car with Megamind hiding by grabbing onto it, only for Tighten to notice Megamind on it through the door window (when it became visible).
 * 10) It averts the cliche of the main characters getting into a fight and one of them departing only for them to return in the climax by having Megamind pretend to be Metroman when facing off against Tighten. While this event isn't exactly "bad", it's still pretty cliched and can arguably make the film's story as a whole all the more predictable. But here, it at first seems like Metroman changed his mind about giving up heroism and came back to save the city from and help Roxanne defeat Tighten. But then it's revealed that it was actually Megamind all along using a holographic disguise to take the form of Metroman.
 * 11) The emotional moments are impactful and downright tearjerking, like when Roxanne finds out Megamind had been lying to her the entire time (made all the more heartbreaking when you realize that Roxanne's influence had genuinely been helping Megamind become a better person and have more faith in himself to become what he truly desires to be rather than what society wanted him to be) and when Megamind turned himself in to prison due to his inability to see himself as anything other than a villain when he's left alone to stop Tighten, believing it was out of the question because villainy was the only thing he felt that he could do in his life.
 * 12) A funny running gag where Megamind mispronounces some words, most notable example is when he mispronounces "hello" as "holo" during the scenes where Megamind answer the phone.
 * 13) A catchy soundtrack featuring by Hans Zimmer and Lorne Balfe (his latter first DreamWorks film) with contains copyrighted songs during montages like "Mr. Blue Sky" by Electric Light Orchestra and "I'm Bad" by the late Michael Jackson and each song fits into it's scene. Especially considering how most of them fit the "villain song" mold (like the aforementioned "I'm Bad", but also songs like "Highway to Hell" by AC/DC, and "Bad To The Bone" by George Thorogood & The Destroyers).
 * 14) The movie is peppered with cool references to various comics, politics, and films with plenty of humor.
 * 15) This is the first straight-up DreamWorks anti-hero movie. While it can be argued that this genre has already been done before in the studio's features with Shrek and Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, this movie is easily the most obvious example of it when it comes to the DreamWorks movie catalogue. Not to mention how it turned out to be one of the (if not the) only films of this sort from the studio to play said genre absolutely straight. As it wasn't a trend that they repeated very much after this film. Which makes this film stand out the DreamWorks film catalogue (make no mistake, many of DreamWorks' features are outstanding, but this one just has its own traits that make it unique, something that not just all DreamWorks movies have, but also every animated feature in the catalogue of their respective studios).
 * 16) The mid-credits scene is pretty funny. As it shows that the real Bernard is rehydrated when Minion puts the suit that held his dehydrated form into the laundry. Minion offers to help him forget all the troubles he has been through, and knocks him out with a Forget Me Stick. It also resolves the question what actually happened to Bernard (yes, it wasn't exactly a "major question" in the film, but it was pretty cool to see it resolved after the movie ends with it being showcased in the middle of the credits).

Bad Qualities

 * 1) While having Megamind return from prison to stop Tighten in disguise of Metroman was a nice subversion of the "heroes breakup only for them to get together again" cliche, it can be seen as a waste of potential, as it could've been used to highlight his desire to move on by showing him do one last act of heroism before leaving for good so that Megamind can take over the role as the new hero.
 * 2) The designs for the human characters, while not straight-up uncanny, aren't nearly as stylized as the aliens like Megamind, Metroman, and Minion.
 * 3) The opening scene showing Megamind falling is a little confusing because later on it happens different than established.
 * 4) The marketing underplayed the romance subplot.

Reception
Megamind received generally positive reviews, praising its strong visuals and the cast's performances, but criticizing its unoriginality. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives a score of 73% based on 179 reviews and an average rating of 6.65/10. The site's consensus states the film "It regurgitates plot points from earlier animated efforts, and isn't quite as funny as it should be, but a top-shelf voice cast and strong visuals help make Megamind a pleasant, if unspectacular, diversion." On Metacritic the film has a weighted average score of 63 out of 100, based on reviews from 33 critics. Audiences polled by Cinemascore gave Megamind a grade of "A−" on a scale from A+ to F.

As time has passed for the decade, this film has received better reception, and people have begun to realize how creative and subversive the movie really is, something they couldn't see before since this movie was released shortly after Despicable Me.

Box Office
Megamind opened to $12.5 million on opening day, and earned $46 million over the three-day weekend, taking the No. 1 spot and averaged $11,668 from around 7,300 screens at 3,944 theaters. The opening was a bit higher than fellow DreamWorks Animation film How to Train Your Dragon, which earned $43.7 million back in March 2010. It was the fifth-highest opening for an animated feature in 2010. In its second weekend, it repeated at No. 1 and dropped 37% to $29.1 million for a $7,374 average from 3,949 theaters, and bringing its 10-day cumulative total to $88.8 million. On its third weekend, it fell 45% to $16 million and finished second to Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1, averaging $4,237 from 3,779 theaters. Over Thanksgiving weekend, it held well with just a 22% drop to $12.6 million and slid to third place behind Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – Part 1 and Tangled (it earned $17,304,307 over the five-day Thanksgiving period). Following Thanksgiving, the film fell a sharp 61% in its fifth weekend to $4.9 million and finished in sixth place.

Trivia

 * The film's plot was based on the premise: "What if Lex Luthor defeated Superman?"
 * Metro Man's appearance and costume was based on Elvis Presley.
 * It was suggested that Ben Stiller would be cast as Megamind, and later Robert Downey Jr. but Will Ferrell was ultimately given the role, due to "scheduling conflicts" for Downey, while Stiller ends up being cameo instead.
 * It was supposed to be released in Japan on March 12, 2011, but because of the earthquake and tsunami a day before, the Japanese release was cancelled.
 * Several internet memes have been spawned from this movie, such as the penis music and "And I Love You Random Citizen!" and the snotty boy/tighten glow up memes as well as "No Bitches?".
 * The opening of the film, where Megamind is falling to his apparent death, was del Toro's idea.
 * There was a movie theatre misscreening incident, where a theatre unexpectedly played Saw 3D instead of Megamind.

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