Running Header: MEGAMIND, and Making Magnificent Movies

MEGAMIND, and Making Magnificent Movies

Lindsey S Kuzich
Madonna University

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MEGAMIND, and Making Magnificent Movies
A lot of movies nowadays are very boring for me. They follow similar plots like Girl
meets guy. They cannot stand each other. They find common ground and bond. Something stops
them from being together. They overcome it in the final stretch and live happily ever after.
Movies also have all of their characters follow archetypes, making them unrelatable. The humor
is often very lowbrow and childish. But one semi-recent movie stands out to me among all this
trash: Megamind.
On first glance, it looks like any other bare boned childish movie, being animated and
produced by DreamWorks Studios. The main character is voiced by Will Ferrell, who is known
for playing in lowbrow movies like Blade Runner, Anchorman, and Step Brothers. Shortly into
this movie, I realized it was different. Megamind has more to offer its audience. Megamind has
an unpredictable plot, a unique message, and non-stereotypical characters.
Megamind is an animated movie from Dreamworks Studios. The story is of a blue, big
headed alien. He is a super genius super villain, arch nemesis to Metro Man. Both Megamind
and Metro Man are aliens, sent to earth as babies from dying planets. Ever since childhood they
have been mortal enemies
Most movies are not considered great because of a boring plot or because they have no
message behind them. A lot of coming of age movies are extremely painful for me to watch
because sure, the main character is learning some important lesson about honesty or the value of
family but the way they portray these lessons are predictable. Each character is nothing more
than an archetype, and I can figure out the enemy, conflict, climax, and the resolution relatively
early in the movie. For example, in a coming of age movie it is easy to determine who the love
interest by finding the most attractive person of the opposite sex. They will be morally be
uncomfortable with some action the antagonist does. If such a person cannot be found, then it is

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the closest friend to the protagonist (as long as they are still the opposite gender). That does not
make me intrigued or make me care about the lessons the main character will learn. So, to be a
great movie the plot has to be unpredictable.
Not only is unpredictability important, but having meaning is important, too. I have seen
a couple movies where the plot was always changing. I might have enjoyed them, but there were
not great movies, at the most they were entertaining. All media has a message, and neglecting to
put that message into your movie, no matter how intriguing it might be, leaves the movie
incomplete. So, to make a great movie it must be both unpredictable and have a message.
Dreamworks accomplishes its unpredictability predicament by not following traditional
plot themes. Most movies follow certain tracks. Events occur in specific patterns, especially hero
stories.
Within the first ten minutes of the movie, Megamind manages to kill Metro Man, the
hero of Metro City. He burns him in his most evil weapon yet, a laser powered by the sun. In any
other movie the hero would kill or defeat the evil of the movie at the end. Instead, the hero lost
and evil triumphs, and the character who would normally be our main character is dead. The
audience has no clue where the plot will go now, so they have to watch to figure it out. This is
our first taste of unpredictability in this movie.
After Megamind killed Metro Man, he had no purpose in his life, he got bored of ruling
Metro City and having everything he wanted, so he created a new hero, Titan, out of a normal
citizen and Metro Mans DNA. Now we have our villainous main character creating a force to
contend him. Evil creating good does not usually happen in movies either. This example of
unpredictability is actually an example of conflicting archetypes. Usually the villain is a static
character and is defeated by the protagonist. That does not happen in this movie.

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MEGAMIND, and Making Magnificent Movies
After facing rejection from his crush, Roxanne Richie, Titan turned his back on good and
became a villain. Usually we never see this side of a plot. Sure, some villains might have that
backstory, but they are never portrayed as good if they have this backstory. The writers are
keeping us riveted as they keep these unusual plot twists coming.
After Titan took over Metro City, Megamind goes to Metro Mans lair to try and find a
weakness that will defeat Titan. There he discovers Metro Man, still alive. He was tired of being
a hero and faked his death, watching Megamind run rampant through the city and Titan destroy
it. Never has the hero been portrayed like this, lazy and self-serving. This is certainly something
the audience could not predict.
Finally, Megamind, the original ultimate evil for the entire town, saves it from Titan. He
becomes the hero. I cannot think of any movies that focus on the stereotypic villain and have him
become the hero figure. Megamind has the character to reflect on himself and change his
behavior from one of self-serving singlemindedness to one that will fight and sacrifice for the
greater good. He creates competition that ends up being as destructive as he once was, and stands
up to stop him instead of joining him. That summarizes what made this plot so unpredictable.
Megamind is much more than an entertaining movie that challenges the predictable
Hollywood patterns within movies. It also contains many intriguing ideals and messages for the
audience. We are left to ponder not only the nature versus nurture paradigm and the limitations
of technology, but also some Christian ideals like how doing bad (sinning) is unfulfilling and the
murderous, self-fulfilling nature of man. Though undoubtedly, the biggest message of Megamind
is that our lives are controlled by our decisions, not our fate.
The nature versus nurture paradigm is tackled by Dreamworks in Megamind. In the
beginning of the movie, two super human infants are sent to Earth, both destined to be great. One

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lands in the ideal upbringing, the upper class, and the other lands in a prison yard. From here our
super beings are raised to become good and evil, respectively. At the beginning of the movie,
they reflect that. By the end, though, their roles have shifted with our original villain now the
hero and our original hero now a spectator.
Megamind has a lot of big elaborate schemes, all involving evil technology. Modern
society is so smitten with technology that its remarkable that Dreamworks can point out how
technology is not infallible, it has its limitations. Something that Megamind found out while
attempting to fight Metro Man. He almost did not defeat Metro Man because he did not take into
account loading time for his giant laser.
Megamind shows us how unsatisfying doing evil is. At first he enjoys running rampant,
looting the streets of Metro City, but all too quickly he is in a slump. There is nothing to
stimulate him nor any goal to achieve. It is not until he starts to repair the city for the attention of
a girl that he feels excited again.
Metro Man depicts how self-fulfilling man is when he explains to Megamind that he left
being a hero to try his hand at being a musician.
The fact that the story did not end when the infants capsule landed in the prison shows
us that the writers at Dreamworks wanted us to explore our own lives and decisions and realize
that we can rise above our circumstances and choose our own destinies. We are not defined by
our current situation as Megamind was not by his prison yard upbringing. When all hope seemed
lost, Megamind risked everything, deciding to become the hero of Metro City.
Megamind is a great movie. It offers the audience deeper meaning and ideas to explore. It
intrigues and engages the viewer with its unpredictability and keeps them riveted to the plot. This
movie is truly unique.