MEGAMIND (A DEEP DIVE)

Introduction

Have you ever watched a movie that made you think? Or maybe you’ve watched a movie that was too close to real-life, your beliefs, or felt disturbing? I recently came across the film “Megamind.” The film follows a really smart villain named Megamind. Except, he’s always losing. When he seems to defeat his enemy Metroman, it seems as if all his purpose is gone. The movie is filled with action, comedy, romance – combines the different philosophies of the modern world, and so much more. Today I would like to dive into the movie, bringing up the different thoughts I had while watching it and what are some of the ways this film is one that we should all think about and analyze. Megamind is not just a film; it’s a movie that one can look into and see that there’s so much more underneath the surface. 

Act I

Megamind begins with your stereotypical Superman story. Yes, that’s right – Superman. On the planet we see a young blue child be sent into a pod while his parents stay on the planet that is being destroyed. However, he is met with another child from another planet. The two collide and Megamind is sent into a prison while the other boy is sent into a wealthy home. All while this plays out, Megamind (played by Will Ferrell) says “Even fate picks its favorites.” While I watched this scene play out, my mind went to the stereotypes of rich and poor. We see Metroman be raised in a rich home, becomes loved by many, and uses his powers for good. While on the other hand, Megamind is in prison becoming smart and creating things from scratch, but using his creations for evil. When he is sent to school, Metroman doesn’t even treat

Megamind in a good way. The entire school treats Megamind as an outsider and as an outcast. Because of this, Megamind comes up with the conclusion that: “Being bad is the one thing I’m good at.” He promises that he will be the baddest of everyone. From the very beginning we see how the movie promotes this view of destiny. That destiny is given to us and therefore we have to follow it. Megamind thinks he has a destiny of being evil and Metroman was to be the good guy. 

Right after the intro we are taken into the present day. There’s the villain (Megamind) the hero (Metroman) and the lover (Roxanne Richie) . We get the normal play through of a villain vs. a hero. Megamind escapes prison, kidnaps Roxanne with the help of his minion, and Megamind is ready to fight against Metroman. 

Really quick I want to talk about Metroman. Metroman has a white suit on, an accent, slicked back hair. He almost looks familiar – talks familiar. To me; he looked a lot like Elvis Presley. Even the way he speaks is like the stereotypical Elvis. 

Anyways, back to the story. We go back to Roxanne and Megamind, but unlike in the movies, Roxanne isn’t the bit scared. In fact, she has Megamind studied to the bone. She knows all of his tactics and the stuff he does. This whole thing starts to feel almost like a game. Even when Metroman talks to Megamind over the TVs, they speak to each other as if reading a script. 

In a shocking twist, Megamind defeats Metroman, having tricked him into going to the real observatory when Roxanne and Megamind are actually in a fake one. 

Megamind is left with the idea that Metroman is dead and that his weakness was copper. Everyone is in shock. Metroman is gone. Or so we think…. 

Act II

…Thus begins act II. Megamind takes control of the city and goes on a rampage throughout the town. He throws trash in the streets, causes chaos everywhere he goes, and steals anything that he can take. We see Megamind sitting at his desk, the streets dirty, and no one to be seen. Megamind is lonely, playing around with a chicken toy. He states: “Always thirsty but never satisfied.” He relates with the bird who never seems to be satisfied. Megamind then brings up that he has everything that he wants, but he feels empty. Even after getting everything he wants, he isn’t happy with what he has. He feels as if he has no purpose. Not knowing what to do, he goes to the Metroman statue to have some solitude. We see Roxanne at the exact same place. She is on one side of the statue while Megamind was on the other side. Both of them are complaining. Roxanne asks for someone to come save the city and bring Megamind to justice while Megamind complains he didn’t have any purpose now that he was gone. Seeing that the statue brings too many memories, he drops a bomb that will go off in a couple of minutes. Suddenly, Roxanne finds someone else is on the other side. When she goes to investigate, Megamind quickly disguises as the man that works at the place named Bernard. Megamind takes this persona and starts to act as him. Together Roxanne and Bernard come up with an idea to come up with a hero. After all, “Heroes aren’t born, they’re made.” They take this phrase very literally and Megamind comes up with a way to take the DNA from Metroman’s cape. Right after he has created this though, Roxanne finds the secret hideout of Megamind. This ends up making Megamind shoot the gun and the Superhero DNA is shot into Roxanne’s news partner Hal. 

As the movie progresses Megamind goes to visit Hal. Hal lives in an apartment alone, playing video games and doing nothing. Megamind takes on the persona “Space Dad” and he teaches Hal how to be a superhero. However, we see that Hal is much more violent when attacking the fake Megamind and practicing for the fight against the villain. On the other side we see Roxanne and Bernard (Megamind) are attempting to find out about Megamind and spending time together. We see them together at the park where Roxanne admits she was never a couple with Metroman. This shows that the movie is taking a turn on what the stereotypical superhero story goes. At one part Roxanne mentions how she misses when the streets were clean. In an act to make her happy, Megamind cleans the streets at night. 

After all this, Megamind hands Hal his suit and calls him Titan. Hal (Titan) admits to Space dad (Megamind) that he has feelings for a girl. He doesn’t say who it is, but Hal tells Megamind that he has feelings for a girl and doesn’t know how to get her. Megamind tells Hal that all he needs to do is save the girl. 

Right after, Minion finds out that Megamind is in love with Roxanne. Minion leaves Megamind because he sees how Megamind is turning to the good side. Minion says, “The bad guy doesn’t get the girl.” And Megamind immediately responds with, “Maybe I don’t want to be the bad guy.” All because of Roxanne, Megamind doesn’t want to be bad anymore. Finally someone cares for him and is healing his heart. He doesn’t want to be evil any longer. But the thing is, Roxanne does not want Megamind for who he really is, but for his Bernard persona. However, we know that Megamind is showing his real self but through different looks. But how long can he keep up his lie? We shall see. 

Hal wants the girl. And we see him show up with Roxanne but she doesn’t know that it is Hal. Titan takes Roxanne with him up to the tallest building. There he reveals himself as Hal. Roxanne is in shock, but not in love. Hal confesses his feelings to her, but Roxanne did not want him. Hal is angry and rushes off, leaving Roxanne on the tall building alone. (We have no idea how she gets down and there’s absolutely no way she could have gotten down on her own)

She somehow gets down from the building and arrives on time at the date she has with Bernard. They have a conversation in where Roxanne says she found out what Megamind’s plan was. She cheers a cup with Megamind and says, “To Bernard the only normal in my life.” It seems that Roxanne wants to live a normal life away from the superheroes and villains and just wants justice to come to the villain. The conversation moves to Bernard asking Roxanne what she would think if he actually looked differently. Roxanne responds with, “You don’t judge someone by their looks but by their actions.” 

It’s here when they share a kiss that Roxanne finds it's been Megamind all along. All of their previous conversation seems to fade away and Roxanne yells at him telling him how he tricked her and used her. But Megamind says he never was tricking her and he was being true to her. She runs off into the streets with rain pouring down on her. She runs into some trash cans filled with trash, revealing that all the trash Megamind had cleaned up actually was disguised and was all still there. 

“What could you possibly hope to gain?” It’s here that when she asks that question, she finds out that Megamind is in love with her. 

Megamind rushes back to his lair really upset about everything. He has a deep longing to go back to being evil. He gets ready for the fight against Titan, knowing that he could never be the hero. 

However, Hal never shows up for the fight. When Megamind goes looking for him, he finds the young hero in his apartment with stolen goods. Hal says he only agreed to be a hero to get the girl, but because she rejected him, he now wants to join Megamind in being evil. 

Hal says he saw Bernard and Roxanne kissing. Megamind gets upset that Hal never showed up and reveals that he was Space dad and Bernard. This makes Titan mad and they break out fighting. But as you watch these two fight, it seems there is no good or evil, but both of them are evil. Megamind wants to go back to his “destiny” and Titan wants revenge for Megamind stealing Roxanne from him. 

Hal grabs Megamind and Megamind tries to pull away. He says that they’ll do this all over again the next day. Except, Hal wants to kill Megamind. Megamind is surprised and sends in his fail safe which is a copper ball and it falls on Titan. Turns out, copper doesn’t stop Titan and Megamind rushes away barely escaping. 

The people of the city see Titan getting rid of Megamind and embrace him as a hero, but Titan reveals that he is a villain. It seems as if the roles for the two have switched as Megamind rushes to Roxanne for help to look for Metroman. 

Roxanne agrees and they find Metroman hiding in a secret lair underneath their old School. We find out how Metroman survived. It turns out that Metroman faked his death because he saw how they were doing the same thing every day. He had gotten tired of being a hero and decided to quit and focus on doing music. He leaves his responsibility to follow his heart. 

His excuse is that for every Yin there is a Yang and good will always rise for evil. Megamind is left with the choice to either give up or be the hero that everyone needs. 

But Megamind is not going to, and he turns himself into jail, turning himself in. All while Roxanne rushes to stop Hal. What could happen next? 

Act III

Suddenly, the game of playing hero and villain becomes real. Roxanne is kidnapped by Titan and tied up at the top of the very same building where she rejected Hal. Megamind sees the message that Hal has for him and he rushes to escape. Minion returns to Megamind and accepts the apology that he has and together they escape the prison and hurry to stop Titan from hurting Roxanne and from hurting the city. 

They show up for a fight and Megamind is injured. Just as this happens, Metroman comes and leads Hal away. Roxanne hurries to the injured Megamind and finds its Minion. Metroman is really Megamind. But Titan finds out because of the way that Megamind pronounces Metrocity by saying “Metrocity.” 

Just as it seems that Megamind is going to lose when he’s tossed up into the air with the gun retrieved from the car, Megamind quickly thinks up an idea and uses his dehydration device and falls into the water below. He comes back to his normal form and takes away the power from Titan, leaving him to be Hal once again. He says, “The thing about bad guys is they always lose.” 

Megamind won the day and when Roxanne meets up with him, he says, “I finally had a reason to win. You.” 

A crowd greets the new hero but Megamind quickly reacts in a scared way and Roxanne says, “Sorry, he’s not used to positive feedback.” 

The story comes to a close and Megamind is the new hero of Metrocity and the statue that was once Metroman is now Megamind. And he gets the girl and we get one last thing from Megamind in which he says, “Destiny is not given to us, it’s what we make it to be.” 

Conclusion

The movie is packed with so many different things. We see at the beginning how Megamind and Metroman’s villain and hero was all a game. They never treated it seriously, and neither did the people. They always knew that Metroman was going to win. This is very different from when Megamind and Titan fight. When Megamind and Titan fight it seems as if the game is no more there and the story comes to life. They’re real heroes and real villains and Titan really wanted to hurt people. 

Also, I really liked how at the beginning of the story we see how Metroman’s statue is destroyed showing that Metroman is in the past. He is no more the hero of the city. However, when Megamind saves the city and becomes the hero, we get him with his statue. I found that really interesting and hadn’t thought about it till I watched the movie recently. 

Lastly, I’ll bring up Metroman. He is basically Elvis Presley as a superhero, but with a twist. Metroman isn’t made for the superhero life and goes to the music because that is what his heart wants. This shows a romanticism view of following your own heart. But we see the consequences of that in which the entire city suffers Metroman giving up on them. 

While this movie shows a very romanticism view, we can take this movie as a Christian one. (And no it’s not because the Tabernacle made an appearance.) But because we see how good conquers evil, and how love transforms hearts. But when that love is corrupted, it’s not real. Real love, though, does not judge and accepts the person. We see that with Roxanne and Megamind. Roxanne accepts for how Megamind presents himself as Bernard, but when we see that he was doing things for evil purposes, Roxanne rejects that part of him. But she still gives him a second chance and this time when Megamind changes, it’s because he has a reason to. Love. However, there are many stereotypes. This film takes the typical villain and hero story and gives it a spin. It seems that Megamind even goes into that stereotype when he becomes the good guy. 

All in all, this movie is packed with dynamic characters and shows a romanticism view, but we see many Christian values. You can’t have everything and be happy, love wins, good always wins against evil, and so much more.