MEGAMIND teaser suggests Dreamworks never learn

MEGAMIND teaser suggests Dreamworks never learn

Mar 22

Dreamworks have released a teaser for their upcoming film Megamind.   Unfortunately, it does nothing to help their image as a second rate animation studio.  Sure, it looks nice, but it’s full of clichéd pop culture references and that horrible LA/Hollywood/Hip  sense of humour.  You know the kind where saying things like “Hit it!” and “You’re kidding, right?” are funny for some reason, I wouldn’t be surprised in the slightest if “Talk to the hand” and “You said it sister!” were in the movie somewhere.
But I digress, what’s the film about?  Well, in a way it’s Dreamworks answer to the 2005 Pixar film The Incredibles. Here’s the official plot synopsis:

When super villain MegaMind (Ferrell) defeats his archrival Metro Man (Brad Pitt), the world should be his oyster. But instead, MegaMind falls into total despair. It turns out that life without a rival is life without a point for him. So, he creates a new superhero rival, Titan (Jonah Hill). Unfortunately, the new hero wants to be a super villain, too. Caught in the middle, star reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) asks the tough questions: Who can we turn to? Who has what it takes to stand up to this menace? Who will defend the innocent? MegaMind! That’s who.

The basic idea, of centering a film around a Super Vilian who has defeated his arch nemesis is pretty cool.  Unfortunately, when it’s run through the Dreamworks Animation factory it appears to contain all of the negatives troupes associated with the company.  It’s annoying also that they continue to hire big name stars to do the voice acting purely for the fact that they can market the film on these names.  How about focusing on developing a good story guys?  Then you don’t have to depend on big name actors,  just ask Pixar!
After the release of Kung Fu Panda, I had hopes that the studio was taking a step forward and moving away from their over abundance of cheap laughs, boring pop references and horrible music choices.  Alas I was wrong, although I’ve been reading good things about How To Train Your Dragon, so there is still hope.

Last year an image made the rounds on the internet showcasing the difference between Pixar and Dreamworks.  It was biased in Pixar’s favour, but there was some truth to its hilarity:

It was somewhat of a revelation to see that facial expression plastered over every character.   Of course, I’m sure Pixar have used this expression many times, but nowhere near as abundantly.  So, I couldn’t help but chuckle when I saw how overused it was in the Megamind teaser.

I know it’s typical to praise Pixar and look down on Dreamworks.  But I think this general consensus is based on the fact that Pixar are much better storytellers at this point in time.  I hope I’m wrong about Megamind, but at this point in time I don’t want to waste my money seeing it.

Megamind hits US theatres on the 5^th of November and will probably hit Aussie shores around the same time.