Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate 2024

After having a Black Friday deal for Peacock and extending it for an extra year, the latest updated offer was just a little bit too much for how little time I spend watching anything on Peacock so I decided that I should watch this movie that’s been sitting on my watchlist for this site before my subscription runs out. I had not heard anything good about this movie even though I absolutely love the original. But pretty much everything that makes the original so interesting and fun is gone and replaced with what seems to be a pilot movie for a TV series aimed at pre-teens that feels like a similar quality as the cheap animated knock off movies that you find in the bargain DVD bin. All of the voice cast has been replaced with cheap alternatives and the story feels incredibly dumbed down compared to the first movie. It just felt entirely uninspired.

The sequel takes place just a couple days after the events of the first movie so Megamind is the newfound hero of Metro City but before he can start finding his way as a hero, his old gang breaks out of prison and joins him to complete phase two of their old plan. The Doom Syndicate is Lady Doppler who is basically Storm except she gets her weather terms mixed up occasionally, Pierre Pressure who is dressed like a mime except there is only one time when he does anything mime related. Instead, he has hypnotism powers which at one point he hypnotizes a guard to believe he’s in an invisible box. There’s Behemoth who is a big lava monster who has a few other powers like the ability to turn into gravel so that Doppler can blow him through an air vent yet that is never used again. And finally there’s Lord Nighty Knight who used to be called Fright Night but thought this was a scarier name (Even though in a flashback he still has the same NK logo on his costume). The villains all think that they were told personally by Megamind that they were supposed to be the new leader which is a running joke that ends up being the trick that ultimately defeats them in a pretty lazy scheme.

The other notable changes are that Minion has had his name changed to Chum which is actually a pretty smart choice, both for calling back to the Adam West Batman series where he would often call Robin “Old chum” meaning friend, but also for the shark bait definition which is pointed out by the first batch of small time criminals that Megamind faces before catching the interest of the Doom Syndicate. There’s also a new middle school character slash influencer named Keiko who is president of the Megamind fan club and also has a vlog or social media account with over half a million followers. Roxanne Ritchie is also here having her own existential crisis over not really wanting to be an investigative reporter anymore for whatever reason. Something that felt tacked on and irrelevant to most of the plot up until the end when she literally immediately becomes mayor after they ultimately defeat the villains.

None of the voice actors returned for this sequel and that’s a real shame because everyone really helped make that first movie what it was. No offense to the new voice of Megamind, but he just doesn’t have the same rhythm as Will Ferrell. And while they kept some of his mispronunciations like how he says Metro City like it rhymes with velocity and school as shool, they never had the same oomph as they did when Ferrell was delivering them. Similarly with Roxanne and Minion slash Chum. The direction of the voice work also felt more akin to a series that was aimed for airing on Disney Jr. Something along the lines of the Spidey and his Amazing Friends where every line is delivered slightly over the top without any hint of subtlety. There was an overall message about teamwork and helping each other out but that also felt like it was a hamfisted moral that was included to make the kids programming qualify as edutainment.

There’s not a whole lot else to say about this movie. The budget was also clearly dialed down which really did a disservice to Megamind as a character. Something that he had in spades in the first movie was his theatricality. There’s nothing anywhere near his entrance of dozens of brain bots creating a giant image of his own head allowing him to come out of his own giant mouth. The only thing coming anywhere near referencing that was when he was hiding out in a closet full of Megamind mannequins displaying various capes. It was so disappointing to watch this pale imitation of a movie that was so innovative and original with little to no indication that this was developed for a much younger audience which may or may not be the actual case. Until next time, this has been Bubbawheat for Flights, Tights, and Movie Nights.