Bad guy wins in 'Megamind'

Will Ferrell provides the mustache-twirling voice in "Megamind," a farce about an alien baby who grew up to be Metroman, and the alien baby who grew up on Earth to be his nemesis - Megamind.

Brad Pitt voices Metroman, the toothy hero who bathes in applause and thwarts the hapless Megamind at every turn. Megamind is so clueless, he can’t even pronounce the name of their hometown correctly. “Metrocity” sounds like “atrocity” coming out of his big blue mouth.

Plucky TV reporter Roxanne Ritchi (Tina Fey) documents Metroman’s heroics and always figures in Megamind’s evil plans.

“Could someone stamp my Frequent Kidnapping Card?”

But what would happen if this equilibrium was shattered, if Megamind were to finally win a fight and do Metroman in? That’s the central conceit of this Dreamworks 3-D toon. How would Megamind cope?

The answer is, not very well. Once you’ve looted the city and enslaved its inhabitants, what more is there? “What’s the point of being bad if there’s no good to stop you?”

There are a few similarities to last summer’s funnier and sweeter “Despicable Me,” and even more ideas teased out of “The Incredibles.” Megamind’s plans include creating a new superhero (voiced by Jonah Hill) so that he’ll have a foil, somebody he can use to impress Roxanne by besting in battles of wits.

Like many an overly talkative cartoon, the energy flags as the funnier lines thin out after Megamind sneers, “I’m shaking in my custom-made baby sealskin boots!” Filler musical montages set to “Bad to the Bone,” “Dirty Deeds” and “Highway to Hell” don’t cover dead spots.

But the message, about “learning from your mistakes,” is kid-appropriate. And the voice casting is on the money. These funny people – and I’m including Pitt – make this cute comedy come off. Even if we, like Megamind, start to wonder “What’s the point?” after Metroman’s exit.

This story was originally published November 5, 2010 at 9:45 AM with the headline "Bad guy wins in 'Megamind'."