Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate and all episodes of its companion series, Megamind Rules!, are now streaming on Peacock.
By Zachary Greenberg
2010’s Megamind was one of the best and funniest animated films of all time. After 14 years of waiting, a sequel film titled Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate has just been released on Peacock, along with a new series, Megamind Rules!. Unfortunately, the sequel pales in comparison to the dynamic and awesome first film.
In the words of Megamind, the difference between the first film and the second film can be summed up in his response to Titan during their climactic battle: “Presentation!” Megamind is portrayed as an idiot—he doesn’t know how to plug in a toaster, take care of himself without Minion (now known as Chum for some reason), or even recognize a phone beside a device with a calculator. He spends the first 40 minutes with absolutely no plans.
While the first film set up an unlikely romance between the anti-hero Megamind and Roxanne (who was originally the girlfriend of the superhero Metro Man), all of the love interest tension between him and Roxanne is gone instead of built upon. They have zero chemistry or interest in one another, which is completely different from what the first film was setting up, and it’s only a few days later.
The animation is clearly much worse; the city looks like it was built by a teenager in Minecraft. The dialogue is outrageously bad—not in a good way, as one might expect from Megamind where “bad” is often interpreted as “good.” It feels like the show was written for five-year-olds. For example, the villains fight over who Megamind left in charge of the Doom Syndicate after tricking them to wait in prison for years for some sort of “signal” once he eventually took over Metro City. Then, once the Doom Syndicate decides it’s time to escape, they do so in five seconds. Why didn’t the creators just say they were waiting for Metro Man to be out of the picture because he was too powerful and now they’re seizing their opportunity? It makes no sense that they were such goofballs that they would spend years in a jail cell that they could have easily broken out of because they were waiting for some magical signal.
The original Megamind is a gem of a film. It’s complex, absolutely hysterical, and fast-paced, with the stakes feeling real. When Megamind realizes that he created an unstoppable monster in Titan, whose only weakness of copper turned out to be a sham by Metro Man, it created some very real high stakes with thousands of lives at risk.
This sequel was a joke and one of the worst films I’ve seen. Maybe I’m not the intended audience, and perhaps it’s meant for children under the age of six. However, it’s evident that they’re relying solely on nostalgia and attempting to appeal to teenagers and young adults who grew up with Megamind. Yet, the movie fails to create a remotely satisfying experience for what should have been its target audience. At the end of the day, the film is so slow-paced and boring that I doubt even children would find it entertaining. The cops don’t fire any bullets at the villains as they break out of prison and wreak havoc on the city; they merely say “freeze” before succumbing to hypnosis by the Mime Pierre Pressure.
I will say the positives are that some of the jokes are funny, and the voice actors seem to be trying, at least. If you’re simply interested in more content featuring your favorite former supervillain turned hero, well, you’ve got it. It just might not be what you had hoped for.
After finishing the trailer on YouTube and seeing how bad it looked, I came across a comment that said, “I can’t wait for a new trailer that just has Megamind saying he tricked us and then shows an actual trailer.”
Unfortunately, the real Megamind, voiced by Will Ferrell, who had charisma and was brilliantly evil yet so likable, won’t be coming to save this film.
I give Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate an F.
TV and City 