MEGAMIND

The new animated film by DreamWorks will be released in cinemas on December 17, 2010, which like the previous successes “Shrek","Madagascar"and "Kung Fu Panda”Aims to amaze and entertain the viewer, with stories and characters that overturn old stereotypes. The story of the film was written by Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons, while the direction was entrusted to Tom McGrath (see Madagascar). Executive producers are Stuart Cornfeld, Ben Stiller, Lara Breay and Denise Nolan Cascino.

This time the protagonist is the supervillain Megamind, fighting with the invincible superhero Metro Man. Megamind (voiced by Roberto Pedicini) is the brilliant super-villain, characterized by a huge head and a costume with a blue cape. He tries in every way and with the most extraordinary inventions, to take over the city of Metro City, however each of his undertakings is doomed to a miserable failure, due to Metro Man, the good hero par excellence (inspired by Superman), who with his super powers and immaculate white leotard costume, defeats any unrealistic attempt by Megamind with minimal effort.
The story begins on a distant planet near extinction, as it is about to be sucked into a giant black hole. Before the catastrophe the parents of the newborn Megamind, placed him in a rocket to send him to earth, together with his inseparable minion fish, to whom they entrusted the task of protecting their child.
Megamind was not the only one to be sent to our planet, in fact even the parents of Metro Man had the same idea, so the two babies were adopted by the earthlings. While Metro Man was found by a middle-class family with sound moral principles, Megamind landed in one of the worst prisons on earth, where the most talented crime geniuses reside.
Their fate is therefore sealed: when Metro Man discovers his superpowers, he dedicates his life to the good for humanity, while Megamind immediately learns that his super intelligence must be channeled into projects aimed at the domination of humanity.
However, his creativity goes hand in hand with his naivety and his projects always end up having the same script: to kidnap the beautiful and talkative journalist Roxanne Ritchi, to make Metro Man fall into a trap. Everything ends on time with the victory of the good superhero, adored by the whole city, who feels so safe as to make Metro City cops idle and lazy.
Megamind is assisted by his faithful assistant Minion, the fish inside the bottle to which he has built a body of a robot gorilla. While Megamind taken by his lust for power tends to "build castles in the air", Minion is much more practical and in order not to contradict his master he is always ready to intervene with some stratagem, to protect his safety. Minion is also the best friend of Megamind, as he has been entrusted with the task of defending him and most of the time he manages to save him from himself.
Events change drastically when Megamind, almost by chance, manages to definitively defeat Metro Man, suddenly becoming what he had always dreamed of: the absolute master of Metro City. Initially the game is pleasant, but as time goes by Megamind realizes that he is bored without a real antagonist and almost regrets the absence of Metro Man. So he takes a DNA sample of his archenemy and transfers them to Hall Stewart, the lazy and dull cameraman of the journalist Roxanne, in order to create the superhero Titan. Things are not going well, as Hall lacks the moral virtues of Metro Man and takes advantage of his superpowers to transform into a supervillain, even more dangerous than Megamind.
Always in love with the beautiful Roxanne who rejects him, Hall vents all his frustration against mankind and so Megamind, who is also secretly in love with the beautiful journalist, just has to take the path of good in defense of Metro City.

The film is built on a classic superhero genre scheme, but places the narrative from the villain's point of view, much like super villains like Doctor Doom, Lex Luthor and Magneto.
Although born as a parody, it is not irreverent towards this genre, but respectful of its narrative canons so much that it has the ambition to contribute with a new and original product, aimed at all lovers of classic comics. Director McGrath preferred to choose 3D animation over live-action film as it is possible to seamlessly integrate stunning effects and action scenes with more intimate situations and
focus more on the character. Thanks to computer graphics, there has been a greater field of action both to give space to the spectacularity of the situations, and to take care of the expressiveness of the acting of the characters, who seem more credible than real actors. Always attracted to the roles of the villains par excellence such as Darth Vader from Star Wars and Captain Hook, director Tom McGrath enthusiastically accepted the task of directing a film, which could give full expression to the characterization of a super villain.

In the film, the subtle thread that separates good and evil, which cannot exist without one another, comes to light. In the battles between Megamind and Metro Man there is mutual respect and correctness, which makes it clear how the two antagonists are united by an identical destiny, for being the opposite of the other.
Megamind was graphically built to inspire sympathy, with an unlikely blue costume and large eyes, which, looking at them closely, express the tenderness that emerges from his vulnerability as a deluded fool.
The Metro Man character, despite having all the hero's canons, handsome, courageous, strong and of noble ideals, does not receive the spectator's sympathy, as it is clear how he achieved all his success, without the same suffering that he has characterized the childhood of Megamind.
Megamind also has feelings of love, which are linked to the journalist Roxanne Ritchi, far from defenseless, in fact her wit is such that in situations of danger, she could get away with even without the help of Metro Man. Throughout the story , with the precipitate of events, the two will be united by the same cause and will prove that they have many things in common.

Gianluigi Piludu
www.cartonionline.com