I would consider myself a casual fan of superhero movies rather than a hardcore one. That said I think that this was an extremely entertaining Affectionate Parody of superhero films.
To start with the elephant in the room, I don’t think that it was in any way influenced by Despicable Me. It has a Villain Protagonist but those have been around since Christopher Marlowe at least. The fact his sidekick is named Minion doesn’t suggest that they stole it from Despicable Me. In Spy Kids, Fabulous Floop employs A. Minion (that’s the characters name Alexander Minion) In Inspector Gadget there is a support group for ex-minions. This isn’t indicative of plagiarism. As JayExci would put it “this movie had a villain protagonist, that movie had a villain protagonist and that’s a sin”.
I like how the titular supervillain begins the movie by actually killing his superheronemesis Metroman and is in an existential crisis because he has defined himself in relation to his antagonist. I think it functions as a Deconstructive Parody of supervillains whose life is defined strictly by efforts to kill the hero.
And on the subject, I think that the reason Megamind chooses not to take away the powers he gave Hal is because he looks upon him and sees This Loser is You given his Backstory. And because Megamind is Wrong Genre Savvy he thinks that Hal is the Loser Protagonist But then the film deconstructed the idea of random nerd gets powers and becomes an Unlikely Hero when the Wrong Genre Savvy Hal decides to claim Roxanne as his own because as the Hero she ‘belongs to him’ but Reality Ensues as she rejects his toxic advances due to not living in a world where Stalking is Love.
Hal becoming the supervillain known as Titan in response leads me to one of my favourite parts about the film. The Hard Truth Aesop that no not everyone is basically good. As Titan puts it “That’s what I always loved about you Roxie, you always see the good in everyone, even when it isn’t there. Well, guess what, there is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy and there is no Queen of England!” And unlike Megamind who was largely content with being a Designated Villain kidnapping for show and waiting to be defeated, Titan fully intends to kill Roxanne Ritchie. In the end, Megamind defeats Titan and saves the city becoming a Hero in so doing because just because it’s not a word where Rousseau was Right doesn’t mean it’s not a world wherein redemption exists.
There is no Queen of England
I would consider myself a casual fan of superhero movies rather than a hardcore one. That said I think that this was an extremely entertaining Affectionate Parody of superhero films.
To start with the elephant in the room, I don’t think that it was in any way influenced by Despicable Me. It has a Villain Protagonist but those have been around since Christopher Marlowe at least. The fact his sidekick is named Minion doesn’t suggest that they stole it from Despicable Me. In Spy Kids, Fabulous Floop employs A. Minion (that’s the characters name Alexander Minion) In Inspector Gadget there is a support group for ex-minions. This isn’t indicative of plagiarism. As JayExci would put it “this movie had a villain protagonist, that movie had a villain protagonist and that’s a sin”.
I like how the titular supervillain begins the movie by actually killing his superhero nemesis Metroman and is in an existential crisis because he has defined himself in relation to his antagonist. I think it functions as a Deconstructive Parody of supervillains whose life is defined strictly by efforts to kill the hero.
And on the subject, I think that the reason Megamind chooses not to take away the powers he gave Hal is because he looks upon him and sees This Loser is You given his Backstory. And because Megamind is Wrong Genre Savvy he thinks that Hal is the Loser Protagonist But then the film deconstructed the idea of random nerd gets powers and becomes an Unlikely Hero when the Wrong Genre Savvy Hal decides to claim Roxanne as his own because as the Hero she ‘belongs to him’ but Reality Ensues as she rejects his toxic advances due to not living in a world where Stalking is Love.
Hal becoming the supervillain known as Titan in response leads me to one of my favourite parts about the film. The Hard Truth Aesop that no not everyone is basically good. As Titan puts it “That’s what I always loved about you Roxie, you always see the good in everyone, even when it isn’t there. Well, guess what, there is no Easter Bunny, there is no Tooth Fairy and there is no Queen of England!” And unlike Megamind who was largely content with being a Designated Villain kidnapping for show and waiting to be defeated, Titan fully intends to kill Roxanne Ritchie. In the end, Megamind defeats Titan and saves the city becoming a Hero in so doing because just because it’s not a word where Rousseau was Right doesn’t mean it’s not a world wherein redemption exists.
Also I find the movie quite funny.