Megamind 3D

Thousands of years ago, (not really, quite recent actually) a great battle began. A battle that has been battling on year by year with no end yet in sight. And that's a good thing, for as long as these two battlers keep on battling we will, well should, enjoy the spoils of their war.
So that sounded better before I wrote it. In a nutshell, Dreamworks and Pixar are at war with each other in trying to take your money away from you by making really, really good animated films.
Who is winning? While Pixar seems to take their time releasing films (only one per year since 2006) ensuring hit after hit after box office hit. Dreamworks, on the other hand, seem to fling out films willy nilly. This, unfortunately and statistically, leads to hits and misses. While How To Train Your Dragon was a huge success this year, the fourth and final chapter of Shrek lacked that certain je ne sais quoi that it's origin story had.
Their latest offering to the never ending battle this year is Megamind.
Tom McGrath (Madagascar 1& 2) directs the screenplay by first time feature writers Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons.
Megamind (Will Ferrell - Will Ferrell movies), uncannily like Superman, was sent to Earth by his parents as their home world was being destroyed. On a neighbouring planet that too was about to end, young Metro Man (Brad Pitt) is also put on a one way trip to our blue planet.
Both were raised in very different upbringings - Metro Man was raised in a loving home, Megamind in a men's prison alongside his companion and fish, Minion (David Cross - Arrested Development) who provides some much welcomed comic relief.
They fall into a regular routine of good vs evil, figthing mammoth battles in Metrocity (hint: doesn't rhyme with atrocity) until one day the unthinkable happens.
Something really bad happens.
Meanwhile, journalist hottie Roxane Ritchie (Tina Fey - 30 Rock) is constantly followed around by her devoted camera dude Hal (Jonah Hill - all those films he did). But when Roxie starts dating the apathetic Bernard (Ben Stiller - Fockers) Hal gets a wee bit jealous.
When Roxie gets captured by a bad dude, you'll never guess who is there to save her. Or maybe you will, it is kinda easy to work out.
Straight up, this is not one of Dreamworks' best films. The laughs were few and far between, so too are the trademark quips and witty retorts. When comparing it to HTTYD or even Pixar's masterpiece Toy Story 3, Megamind is but a shadow of something much greater.
The animation on the other hand is superb and each film that is made adds an extra level of wonderment in what these incredibly talented artists can do. It's the little things that matter like the metal studs in Megamind's jacket were brilliant; Roxie's hair blowing in the wind brought back memories of gawking at the attention to detail of Sully's blue hair in Pixar's Monsters Inc. They have come such a long way since Steamboat Willie!
Films like these are made for 3D so pay those extra few bucks and enjoy yourself.
The characters were enjoyable but overall it just didn't quite make it there for me.
While it will be interesting to see what these two studios give us next year, the one animated flick I can't frikken wait to see is Tintin. Hurry the frak up Spielberg!
Things I learnt: don't judge a book by its cover unless its not the book's cover; if you have an invisible anything, get a GPS tracker; stay hydrated.
Lovely to look at.
Six out of ten.