Megamind

Ferrell is a gifted comedian, and his voice acting is fabulous. His hilariously affected pronunciations -- he calls Metro City "MeTROcity," as if it rhymes with "Monstrosity," and says melancholy as "meLANcholy" -- and his earnest banter with Fey's Roxanne prove early on that he's a hero trapped in a villain's body. Pitt, meanwhile, doesn't have much to do except convince viewers that his voice belongs to the kind of shiny superhero who can juggle smiling babies and reduce the women in town to tears with the merest glimpse of his dimpled grin. Not a hard job to do -- when you're Brad Pitt! Cross and Hill are amusing as sidekick and nemesis, respectively, but the all-star cast can't make up for the fact that the story falls a bit flat after Metro Man is defeated. Part of it is the boredom that Megamind feels, but another part is just slow -- even if there are plenty of laughs.

The music, for example, is a cliched playlist of rock favorites like Back in Black, Highway to Hell, and Welcome to the Jungle. All are great classics, but haven't we already heard them in plenty of other movies? Considering how original the Pharrell WIlliams soundtrack was on the similarly themed Despicable Me, these predictable (albeit instantly recognizable) choices seemed lazily selected. And that's the movie's overall problem: It's fun and funny, but it's not remarkable. It's not the kind of animated movie that will inspire Halloween costumes or repeat viewings on the family room DVD player.