Megamind vs The Doom Syndicate review
By Molly Gibson
Megamind and Minion/Chum from the first movie.
To call this movie a disservice to the original would be too generous. Not only is it an insult to everything the original film was, but it can also barely be called a movie. It’s more like an extended pilot for a low-effort TV spinoff. It has it all: flat visuals, stiff writing, brand-new characters that nobody asked for and the fumbling of returning characters. The visuals are the first thing to jump out to most when seeing the trailer. Despite the original movie coming out
in 2010, the 2024 movie manages to somehow look far worse than its predecessor. The detailed dynamic lighting, colouring and entire visual identity of the original movie have been torn away, and replaced with a bland, flat look.
The downgrade is reminiscent of when big-budget films get small TV spin-off shows. The only problem is this was a feature length film that the marketing promised was a new sequel to the original. Even if it is a tie into a new TV show there’s no excuse for it to look this bad.
The only thing worse than the visuals is the writing. The dialogue is bland with a sprinkling of what middle aged writers think kids talk like these days, with such memorable quotes like “For more awesome saves, like and subscribe”, “Put another stanky groove in my pocket” and “Do I have to villainsplain everything to you?”. That’s not to mention the horrible puns that the movie tries and fails to get to work.
The entire plot is somehow both, a generic by the numbers superhero story while also being an idiot plotfeaturing a main character who’s whole thing is being smart.
The story consists of Megamind’s old superhero group The Doom Syndicate returning, thinking he’s only pretending to be a hero and instead of just fighting them, he spends 2/3 of the movie pretending he’s still a villain to them. He also becomes a selfish jerk, forgetting him and Minion’s, who’s been renamed to Chum, arc from the original movie, now treating him like garbage for the first half of the movie.
He also for some reason stops being able to function when Chum leaves, being unable to plug in a toaster despite being an incredible inventor and mastermind.
Other characters are all watered down, Chum becoming an unappreciated sidekick, Roxanne losing all her personality and becoming the mayor for some reason and the original mayor became a bumbling idiot. That’s not even mentioning the new characters.
Every new villain introduced feels horribly bland with a single gimmick each, with the exception of the Go Fish Gang who all have to share a gimmick. The new child sidekick Keiko is super annoying and feels incredibly forced just to set her up as a character in the new show.
The entire movie spits in the face of what the original film was. The original was a well-written superhero parody with memorable characters and a compelling story while the new movie is a cheap cash grab. That’s not to mention how the new movie retcons so much of the original plot, now deciding that there are other villains, that Megamind went to a villain school and had an old villain team that was never mentioned before. All of which clashes with the plot of the original.
Overall, should you watch this movie? No. I can’t think of a single person who should watch this movie. Megamind fans will hate it, non-Megamind fans will hate it. It’s not even so bad that it’s funny. 1/10, wouldn’t recommend it to anyone for any reason.