Category Archives: Fantasy

When I first saw the trailer for “Megamind” – DreamWorks Animation’s latest comedy-action adventure – I thought it looked like a shameless ripoff of “The Incredibles.” Both deal with superheroes, and the movies even use similar styles of animation. That being said, the premise – two superpowered beings, Megamind and Metroman, choosing opposite sides and engaging in a never-ending series of showdowns – looked amusing enough. All in all, though, I didn’t think it looked that good.

Fortunately, I was mistaken. “Megamind” is an entertaining, family-friendly adventure, that also has a few good things to say about good, evil, and human nature.

The film opens with a brief prologue: two super-powered infants are launched from exploding planets and fall to earth (a la Superman). One falls into the care of a wealthy family, while the other lands in a prison. Their lives take very different courses from that point on. The pampered infant grows up to be superhero Metroman (voiced by Brad Pitt) who makes a career out of doing good deeds. On the other hand, his counterpart Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) emerges as his supervillain nemesis. Suffering from blue skin and a lightbulb-shaped head, he’s comfortable being demonized by the inhabitants of Metro City. The two quickly fall into a “comfortable” arrangement – Megamind kidnaps the pretty reporter Roxanne (voiced by Tina Fey) and Metroman subsequently saves her.

That is, until one of Megamind’s plans actually works – killing Metroman.

Megamind – although stunned at the inadvertent success of his plot – quickly takes over Metro City, wreaking havoc for the sheer fun of it. However, he quickly becomes discontented with his life of villainy. Hoping to regain some sense of purpose, he decides to create a new superhero nemesis for himself. Unfortunately, his designated recipient of superpowers turns out to be anything but a hero.

On the surface, “Megamind” seems like little more than a slickly produced, well-made animated feature. The voice acting is strong, and the film employs 3D effectively. But there are a few elements here that elevate “Megamind” above other DreamWorks endeavors.

For starters, this film is squeaky-clean. There are a few moments of mild violence (as one might expect given the subject matter) but practically nothing that would put the movie off-limits for viewers of any age. (This is a refreshing change from the innuendo found in earlier DreamWorks movies…e.g. the Shrek series.) It manages to be funny without being crass – a seeming challenge, but one that modern animation studios (Pixar et al.) are effectively overcoming.

Second, some of the messages in “Megamind” resonate on a Biblical level. Megamind’s initial despair over his lack of purpose is consistent with a Christian view of sin – it may be briefly pleasurable, but it fails to satisfy in the long run. The movie also highlights (in several ways that I won’t go into for fear of spoilers) the fact that all humans are basically self-serving and villainous at heart. These sinful actions may ultimately lead to a meaningless outcome, but people pursue them nonetheless – concerned only with the joys of the moment. Although the animators probably weren’t intending to convey a spiritual message, some of the predominant themes in “Megamind” are backed up in Scripture.

Third, the film shines on a technical level. As previously noted, the animation and voice acting are top-notch. A strong soundtrack, including selections from Michael Jackson, AC/DC, and Guns N’ Roses – is integrated with perfect comic timing. I found myself enjoying it not just as an illustration of spiritual concepts, but as a good movie in its own right. Even the most jaded viewer will probably be entertained.

So, should you see it?

This isn’t a movie made for adults – it’s a kids’ film at heart – but as family entertainment, it succeeds marvelously, and even includes some surprisingly deep messages. Recommended for families looking for a well-made, clean movie that provides substance for good discussions.

VERDICT: 7.5/10
Not the best animated movie ever made, but a surprisingly substantial film. A “family-friendly” movie that manages to entertain kids and adults alike.

Normalized Score: 4.6

I like most of the movies I see (which is why I almost never rank anything below a 5 on a scale of 1-10). Generally, I try to pick movies that are both culturally influential and well-made. Unfortunately, “Jonah Hex” is an exception to this rule. You’ve probably never heard of this movie – a Western-with-a-touch-of-the-supernatural. Apparently it was originally a graphic novel…which I can only hope is better than the awful film that bears its name.

The eponymous hero, Jonah Hex (Josh Brolin), is a horrifically scarred bounty hunter with a vendetta: the villainous Quentin Turnbull (a tragically underused John Malkovich), infuriated by Hex’s betrayal of his Confederate division during the Civil War, has killed his family. Near death, Jonah is rescued by the Crow Indians and bestowed with some sort of supernatural power to briefly reanimate the dead.

This all takes place within the first five minutes of the film. No further explanation whatsoever is given for Jonah’s bizarre powers.

A few years later, the presumed-dead Turnbull reappears with a new scheme: constructing a massive weapon allegedly developed by Eli Whitney. Yes, the inventor of the cotton gin himself…I’m sure he’s rolling over in his grave (no pun intended). The U.S. government promptly shows up at Jonah’s door, offering him a full pardon in return for his elimination of Turnbull. Predictably, Jonah sets off on a revenge odyssey that involves causing innumerable explosions and leaving a long trail of bodies behind him. But what action movie would be complete without a female lead? Enter Lilah (played with all the emotion of a brick wall by Megan Fox), a hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold who seems to be Jonah’s longtime lover.

I could spend hours enumerating the problems with this film…but I’ll try to be fairly succinct: this movie is a purposeless train wreck, with a plot that feels like it was written by a fourth-grader.

The storyline is just as confusing as you might expect. Zero time is spent on character development or emotional depth – this movie concentrates exclusively on burning down buildings and gunning down legions of supporting characters. Oh, and did I mention the explosions? Trains, boats, cities, buildings, living people, dead people, and undead people all get the dynamite treatment. I stopped counting after the fourth building was destroyed within the first twenty minutes.

There are also plenty of ridiculously over-the-top moments. I occasionally like stupid action-junkie movies, but this was too much even for me. Not only does Jonah ride a horse fitted with saddle-mounted Gatling guns, he also proceeds to utilize repeating crossbow-pistols that fire exploding arrows (I’m not making this up). Turnbull’s mystery weapon is ludicrously overpowered, utilizing technology that looks like it was cribbed from Star Wars. This movie is supposed to take place in the 1800s, after all.

But the weirdness doesn’t stop there. In a bizarre arena fight scene, a “snake man” with inhumanly large jaws and acidic spittle shows up for about two minutes with no explanation whatsoever. Twenty minutes later, an apparently injured Jonah is taken in by Native Americans who perform some kind of bizarre ritual involving a live crow flying out from Jonah’s throat. The final battle is an incoherent mishmash of violent hand-to-hand combat intercut with dream-sequence images, accompanied by a pounding heavy metal score. The movie is a constant stream of “what just happened?” sequences that defy all logic.

The acting is on par with the rest of the film – which is to say, pretty bad. Jonah Hex displays no personality whatsoever, instead relying on a series of tired revenge-film quips that add nothing to the movie. Quentin Turnbull, his arch-nemesis, is vaguely unthreatening – for most of the movie, he seems grumpy rather than murderous. And plenty has already been said about Megan Fox’s acting, so I’ll refrain from going into further detail.

And that brings up another, graver problem with “Jonah Hex”: the total and perverse objectification of the character Lilah. It’s one thing to have a strong female lead – it’s quite another to introduce a character whose sole purpose is to sexualize the tone of the movie. From the beginning of the film until its conclusion, Lilah’s wardrobe is limited to a very low-cut corset and stockings that leave most of her leg exposed. No time is ever spent investing in her character or exploring her intrinsic worth as a human being – she’s just there to show a lot of skin and titillate the young-male demographic that this film targets.

But perhaps most disturbingly of all is the way that the film appears to take twisted pleasure in throwing her into violent situations. Lilah is repeatedly slapped, leered at, beaten, and attacked with knives. And this isn’t some form of social commentary about the abuse of women – it’s seemingly included to appeal to the worst elements of the audience. This sexualization of the violence in “Jonah Hex” is highly inappropriate and fundamentally demeaning to women.

Worldview elements are murky at best. Native American mysticism is liberally sprinkled throughout the film, and the dead souls Jonah contacts are apparently suffering in hell. There isn’t a single ray of spiritual hope anywhere in the movie, which is a real tragedy. A film like this has the potential to explore significant issues…but “Jonah Hex” prefers to rely on a mashup of pop-spirituality and occultism.

So, should you see it?

In a word, no. It’s a total waste of time with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. After seeing a movie like “Toy Story 3” – which had strong characters and a meaningful story – a film like “Jonah Hex” just looks even more like the mindlessness that it is.

VERDICT: 1.5/10
One point for the semi-intriguing premise. Half a point because some of the explosions were reasonably entertaining. That’s it.

Normalized Score: 0.0