He may look like a guy with a big blue lightbulb for a head. But the space alien named Megamind used to be the smartest, evilest and most well-equipped super villain the world had ever seen. Or at least he thought he was, in that big-ol’ bulby brain of his.
But then, out of the, uh, blue, he completely changed.
Megamind decided to become a hero. In so doing, he gained accolades from the cheering masses. He won the girl (otherwise known as intrepid reporter Roxanne Ritchi.) And he realized that saving the innocent was a lot more pleasant than smashing them. (And less clean up, too.)
Hey, he even earned his own fan club. Well, at least he thinks there’s a whole club. He’s really only met the middle school-attending, constantly streaming head of the club, Keiko. But this kid has, like, 500,000 followers and comprehends all that social media stuff that Megamind could never really wrap his ginormous brain around.
So, it was all good. But … then it wasn’t.
The troubles started when his minion (renamed Old Chum due to, ahem, copyright issues) went his own way. Old Chum just felt a bit underappreciated. He figured he should at least be promoted to sidekick.
Then, on top of that, Megamind’s former team of baddies, the Doom Syndicate, has escaped from prison. There’s Lady Doppler, the evil witch of weather. Pierre Pressure, the master of hypnotism. Behemoth, the burning hunk of burning rock. And Lord Nighty-Knight, the master of nightmares. (OK, that last guy is still working on a properly scary, dark name. But you get the gist.)
They’ve all come looking for Megamind, expecting him to be every bit as eeee-villle as they remember. They expect him to have completed Phase Two of his diabolically wicked masterplan.
And that is a problem.
I mean, if he tells them to leave, they’ll surely ask why. And if he tells them why, they’ll get mad. And the first thing villains do when they get mad is break things. And the first thing they’ll break is him. And he is his favorite thing in the whole world!
So, what’s a bad Megamind turned good Megamind supposed to do?!
Megamind isn’t really a bad guy, but he is a bit muddled about what to do in certain situations. He eventually comes to the right conclusions though. He admits to Old Chum, for instance, that he appreciates his friendship and organizational help, adding, “Letting you go was the greatest regret of my soon-to-be-short life.” And as Megamind begins to gather friends to his side, he envisions a way through the dangerous situation before him: through teamwork. “Bad guys look out for themselves. Heroes look out for each other,” Megamind reasons. “Together, we’ll be unstoppable.”
Young Keiko is another friend who steps in to help. She tells Megamind her story of being seen as an outcast and then getting into trouble as outcasts sometimes do. But Megamind’s heroic turn inspired her to make better choices, too. She tells him that she thought, “If a bag guy can become a hero, maybe so can a bad kid!”
Roxanne helps Megamind as well. She covers for him in front of the Syndicate of Doom, but privately encourages Megamind to admit the truth and be the hero he wants to be. She also works to find ways to aid people and use her communication and leadership skills. [Spoiler Warning] She eventually decides to run for mayor and replace the feckless politician in charge.
Nighty-Knight appears to be something of a grim, faceless entity dressed in armor who constantly talks about darkness and gloom. Later in the movie, he’s hit by a flash grenade, and the blast of light causes his dark, shadowy body to vanish temporarily.
One Syndicate of Doom member repeatedly comments on the “romantic tension” between Megamind and Roxanne. The two of them don’t, however, become romantic but remain close friends throughout the course of the movie.
There are moments of violence and peril on hand, but nothing too dark or scary. The Fish Gang gets caught in the midst of a theft, for example, and battles to run free. They hit Megamind and Old Chum with a water cannon and almost run down a mom and two kids with their fish tank. But Megamind uses a device that teleports them away to smash into the upper floors of a high-rise building.
Megamind gives Keiko a souvenir, telling her it’s “either a paperweight or a flash grenade. So, careful with that.” After escaping from prison, the Syndicate of Doom begins blasting and demolishing buildings in the city. (Megamind has his robotic minions clean up the mess and repair things in their wake.)
Megamind faces off in a dance-fight with a member of the Fish Gang. They pummel and trip one another while dancing. And then Megamind zaps the thug with a ray gun that turns him into a small cube. Megamind uses this same device to shrink a huge shark. He then “un-cubes” the fish to stop some bad guys. There are a number of lightly thumping interactions between Megamind and his former evil teammates. He gets hit and is sent smashing into walls and other objects.
Keiko tells Roxanne they can always use diplomacy when dealing with attackers. Roxanne asks her,” Did you learn diplomacy in school?” Keiko responds, “Diplomacy is the name of my bat.” The Fish Gang surrounds a helpless Old Chum (who’s actually a small fish in a robot suit) and threatens to turn him into sushi.
The fiery Behemoth is smashed by a firetruck. Lady Doppler, who shocks people with lightning blasts, is grounded and shocks herself. Nighty-Knight is hit with a flash grenade.
There’s one unfinished exclamation of “What the—?” We also hear phrases such as “Save your butts,” and, “Oh, my stars!”
None.
A running joke involving “parakeet poop” shows up several times in the story. In the same vein, Old Chum takes a job as a toilet scrubber after leaving Megamind.
The original Megamind from 2010 was a spoof on superhero clichés that was somewhat funny, without being hilarious. And its bad guy hero with a heart of, well, at least copper if not exactly gold, was kinda fun. Take those few positives and dial them back a couple notches and you have Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate.
(This so-so sequel is also serving as a launching point for the new TV show Megamind Rules!, a Peacock original series that’s releasing now, too.)
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not decrying this new Mega as villainously unwatchable. Far from it. It has some nice, relatable jokes that hit home now and again. And other than a string of running toilet gags, there’s really nothing negative here to speak of.
The movie simply comes off as the equivalent of average Saturday morning cartoon fare that kids used to faithfully watch with a bowl of cereal in hand. And that kinda makes sense with a new TV series zapping its way onto family screens.
When you then consider Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate’s encouragement for kids to work together as a team and figure out where they productively fit in life, it becomes well worth a little cartoon viewing time. Just don’t expect any joyous outbursts (or brouhaha chortles) from the gathered kiddos.
After spending more than two decades touring, directing, writing and producing for Christian theater and radio (most recently for Adventures in Odyssey, which he still contributes to), Bob joined the Plugged In staff to help us focus more heavily on video games. He is also one of our primary movie reviewers.
