"Megamind"

So... DreamWorks. Well, I'll start off by saying that not a whole lot of their work is that original. And it rarely ever takes that many risks with its stories (with the sole exception of the rather excellent How To Train Your Dragon from earlier this year). So naturally, we all tend to think of them as being very much the same.

So when the latest movie comes up, what do you expect? We get more of the same, seeing as how it works for all of us.

But is that an entirely bad thing? Well, let's bring the subject to today's movie:

Megamind

Megamind (Will Ferrell) is an evil supergenius with a Kryptonian origin story, which also holds true for his rival, Metroman (Brad Pitt). After Megamind's lates scheme to defeat Metroman goes horribly right, however, Megamind finds that being evil without a hero to fight him is boring. So he resolves to do something about it, while wooing reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) as another person and dealing with her cameraman Hal (Jonah Hill).

Okay, so right of the bat, we get the feeling that not a whole lot about this movie is going to be original. We've all seen Superman origins play out, we've seen something very similar to this somewhere before, we know the main character's gonna get the girl at the end, we know it's all gonna have a happy ending...

...but that's besides the point when one constantly gets the feeling that the unoriginality of the whole enterpise is part of the punchline. This movie basically takes all the superhero tropes it can and milks them for all they are worth. The result isn't always successful, but it manages to distract from the fact that nothing is really that original in this movie.

And the studio is also clearly having a lot of fun with playing with such a premise. Will Ferrell and Tina Fey both have a ball with this movie, and it's especially obvious in some of the bigger action set-pieces, in which there's comedy thrown all over the place. As well, it looks really great in the end anyhow, as all the action set-pieces are a joy to watch, even if some of it isn't all that rememberable.

Despite the fact that Megamind isn't all that original, it succeeds thanks to the fact that it plays with almost every bit about it that's unoriginal. It may not be entirely memorable, but it's perfectly harmless entertainment, and you may even have quite a bit of fun with it while you're in the theater.

2.5/4

If you want to go see it, go see it. If you don't want to go see it, don't.

This is Herr Wozzeck Reviews. I'll see you guys next time.