Megamind

The supervillain Megamind finally conquers his nemesis, the hero Metro Man... but finds his life pointless without a hero to fight.

Directed by Tom McGrath

Written by Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simons

Starring the voice talents of:  Will Ferrell, Jonah Hill, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, David Cross, Justin Theroux, Ben Stiller, Jessica Schulte, Tom McGrath, Emily Nordwind, J. K. Simmons etc.

Rating PG for action and mild language.




Reminsicent of early Superman, Megamind is sent hurtling through space by his parents to escape the destruction of his planet.  Only in this twist, Metroman is also sent away by his parents and ends up landing in the lap of luxury on Earth.  Metroman is everything that Megamind is not and so Megamind gives up trying to be good and turns his rather large brain towards evil instead.  Although, one can't help but feel right from the get go that Megamind is not really evil at heart.

While I enjoyed this movie, I didn't think it was the greatest I'd seen in a while.  I felt the themes, especially the one of unrequited love, were a bit too mature for kids.  Granted my kids are under 8 and I have yet to learn what they will be interested in or are even capable of understanding at that age. I did appreciate the humour and as always loved Will Ferrell in his role as Megamind.  I was a bit disappointed not to hear more lines from Brad Pitt, mainly I think because it intrigued me that he was appearing in this type of film. 

Some of the dialogue was genuinely funny but even so both my husband and I started to drift off somewhere in the middle.  Granted, that could merely be due to the busy lives we lead or too much supper or maybe this movie is better seen in 3D in the Theatre than at home.  Still, given that the biggest issues of the film was the action, we felt okay with allowing our children to watch this film.  

Parental Concerns: 

Sex and Nudity:  Roxanne and Megamind (disguised as a different man) kiss.


Violence & Gore Comical violence; lots of fighting between Megamind and Superhero.

Profanity:  2 uses of freaking, 2 religious exclamations, Highway to Hell (song) played in background.

Alcohol/Drugs/Smoking Roxanne and Megamind (disguised as a different man) drink champagne

Frightening/Intense Scenes : A Character is thought to be killed and a skeleton is shown.

Titan declares that there is no Easter Bunny and there is no Tooth Fairy, which may upset younger viewers.

 

Our children did enjoy watching this film but like I said, I thought it was just okay.  While the movie was upbeat and well animated, the following day I had two sick kids at home and neither of them wanted to watch it again.  Hmm.

So what have you seen lately?

Despicable Me

When a criminal mastermind uses a trio of orphan girls as pawns for a grand scheme, he finds himself profoundly changed by the growing love between them.

Written by Ken Daurio (screenplay), Sergio Pablos (story) and Cinco Paul (screenplay)
Directed by Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud

Starring the voice talents of:  Steve Carrell, Jason Segel, Julie Andrews, Russell Brand, Will Arnet, Kristen Wiig, Miranda Cosgove, Dana Gaier, Elsie Fisher, Jemaine Clement, Pierre Coffin, Chris Renaud etc.

Rating:  PG for rude humour and mild action

 
I had been really looking forwad to the release of this DVD and have to say that I got a real kick out of it. I especially appreciated the dark humour brought to this film as much as I enjoyed the sweet comedy of the orphans and slapstick zaniness of the minions.  I love Steve Carrell's take on the Gru character and can't help but try to mimic his accent around the house. Julie Andrew's plays her part so well, that I had to re think the entire movie through to figure out what character she played.  Once I knew she was in it, it wasn't hard to figure out she played Gru's mother but the fact that I missed it the first time around was something since I'm usually dead on picking out voices. 

The theme while certainly not a new one is reminiscent of the old Spy vs. Spy comics.  It also plays on the old standard theme of bad guy turns good.  Still, there is so much going on in this film, twists and turns of the plot, that it keeps even the adults interested right to the end.  Your heart warms to the plight of the three little orphans and can easily sympathize with Gru and his desire to be successful even it is at being bad. 

Having said all that, lets discuss the parental concerns. The rating for this movie is PG.  Now given the level of violence in the old Bugs Bunny and Road Runner shows not to mention many more contemporary kids shows to date, I can't help but feel it's somewhat over rated.  I did allow my children (7, 5 and 3.5) to watch this film and can't say I regret doing so. 

I did talk to one mom who said she didn't like the movie very much because what stood out to her was all the lying the characters did to one another and I have to say that is a valid point. Gru tells a lot of lies to adopt the orphans, lies to the girls and lies to his helper.  Even Dr. Nefarious lies to get the girls sent back to the orphanage. 

So those that are more desirous of sheltering their children should be aware of the following concerns:

Violence and Gore:  Mild slapstick humor throughout. A lot of the gags are derived from the unusual and dangerous surroundings that they are now living in. IE, a child steps into an iron maiden which then closes on her. What looks to be blood is seen leaking from inside and the other girls are horrified.  When the iron maiden is re-opened it turns out her juice box was pierced and leaking.

Profanity:  Very mild language; "fart", "butt", etc.

Frightening/Intense Scenes: 

There is a chase scene near the end of the film. Girls lives are endangered. 

Adoption or Group Homes are portrayed in a negative light.  Children are forced to sell cookies for the orphanage and those that fail are put in the box of shame.  Maybe somewhat disconcerting to children about to enter into foster care system.  But not a new theme by any means. 

Sex and Nudity:   Minions draw a picture of Gru sitting on a toilet.  At one point the Minions are sitting on a photocopier taking copies of their butts.

As always, if you have concerns about a movie, my best recommendation to you is to pre-screen it before showing it to your children.  Time and time again we've been glad we did.

What have you watched lately?

Alice in Wonderland

19-year-old Alice returns to the magical world from her childhood adventure, where she reunites with her old friends and learns of her true destiny: to end the Red Queen's reign of terror.

Starring:  Mia Wasikowska, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Anne Hathaway, Crispin Glover, Matt Lucas, Stephen Fry, Alan Rickman, etc.

Rating:  PG

This was a difficult movie to review.  While I enjoyed the film, my husband did not.  But then I have rather bizarre tastes and the quirky nature and fantasized nature of the film rather suit those. 

Not having read any further Alice stories other than the original Alice in Wonderland, I did find myself rather lost at first and had to try and stop trying to figure it all out and just enjoy the film.  I did not overly care for the Alice character.  While I like women to be strong, I found her just to be a tad too odd.  For instance, she attended a garden party without proper undergarments and was extremely socially naive despite the fact that this had been her home all her life. 

I didn't expect to like the Mad Hatter character as it seemed quite scary and odd in the previews but as usual Johnny Depp did an excellent job. Not only was it well done but he made it fit the storyline.  It doesn't take a genius to see that there was more to his nonsensical sayings than mere silliness. 

Helena Bonham Carter, an actress whom I admire quite a bit for her range in talent, did a great job playing the queen.  Kind of made me think of Cate Blanchett's portrayal of Queen Elizabeth. 

Like I said I enjoyed the fantastical part of the movie.  My only real criticism of the film is the rating.  The film is rated pg for "fantasy action/violence involving scary images and situations and for a caterpillar smoking". 

I really have to argue with their terminology.  If this had been an animated film like Ice Age, then okay... it fits.  But this is NOT an animated film.  Yes, much of it is filmed in front of the so called blue screen (it's green, why do they call it blue?) but still, everything is depicted as realistic as possible.

The violence starts with a very scary beast chasing Alice and the animals.  Alice gets attacked and wounded, a mouse actually stabs the beast and removes one of it's eyes.  The Queen of Hearts has a moat around her castle filled with the heads of her decapitated victims.  They look pale and stone like without blood but it is still a grizzly scene especially as Alice using them as a stepping stone to get to the castle and her foot even slips and falls into the mouth of one of the heads.  Do you not think that is a trifle grizzly for an 8 year old?  The White Queen practices witch craft using stumps of fingers and horse urine to make a potion.  In the end, Alice has to fight a large dragon like creature, she cuts off it's tongue and then beheads it in a grizzly move that mimics a scene from LOTR where the Nazgul's beast gets it's head sliced off. 

I realize that children are watching more and more violent shows these days. For example, a customer told me the other day that her 5 year old had watched Avatar and that it's his favourite film. ?!?! Alrighty then. 

Still, my recommendation for this film is PG 13 - Minimum.