Tired of the Megamind marketing blitz that’s been saturating the TV airwaves and Internet digital bits for the better part of the last eight months? Me too. From partnering on Justin Bieber concerts to sponsoring the baseball World Series, it’s been nothing short of staggering to imagine how much money Dreamworks has spent on promoting this thing. However, what’s even more astonishing is that in spite of all the money spent, they still weren’t able to get across the idea that Megamind is actually quite different from most other recent films it so closely resembles at first glance.

The trailers and advertising spots give the impression that Megamind is just another coattail hopper, looking to ride the wave of motion pictures (both animated and live-action) that center around masked avengers or caped crusaders. But Megamind is actually a bit different. It tells the story from the villain’s viewpoint. Not a totally unique idea, as others have done it – Despicable Me most recently comes to mind -- but regardless, it’s difficult to create an effective super-villain, while also making the character likeable. The film also kicks around the idea that good and evil can’t exist without each other. By effectively pulling off these ideas with Megamind, the filmmakers have created a clever little send-up to super-hero films that’s downright entertaining to watch.

A lot of the fun also comes from the colorful cast of characters voiced by a star-studded stable of popular actors. The titular anti-hero is voiced by Will Ferrell, who speaks with that stereotypical robotic Marvin the Martian delivery. But he also adds a goofy Shakespearian inflection while also randomly mispronouncing basic words. Funny stuff. He’s a blue extraterrestrial who, like his archenemy Metro Man (Brad Pitt), gets packed into a capsule by his parents as an infant and jettisoned towards earth as their home planet begins to disintegrate into a massive black hole.

Playing on the familiar nature vs. nurture debate, the story finds additional lift by exploring what would happen if one of the infants were to land in the lap of luxury and the other in a bad place. As expected, Metro Man ends up with good-hearted farmer folk, and Megamind lands in a prison for the criminally gifted. Naturally, super powers honed in an upper-class home become focused on doing good, while equivalent powers polished behind bars go in an entirely different direction. Nobility, and heroism vs. greed and lust for power… let the best man win.

Pitt’s Metro Man, built like a caped Dudley Do-Right, is blessed with handsome good looks and everything a hero would need: super strength, laser vision, and the ability to fly. He’s a true hero in MetroCity, which he protects from the evil-doings of his bumbling archenemy. But when he’s finally defeated by his adversary and sent to an early super-hero “retirement,” Megamind is left to wonder if a villain can be a villain without an enemy. Now free to run rampant through the streets of MetroCity, Megamind realizes that mischievousness without a thwart is a lot less interesting… if not entirely impossible. “The crime business is now just a bit too easy,” he thinks, so he hatches a scheme to create a new hero who will be even more formidable than the previous one. But naturally, that plan also goes awry when TV reporter, Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) and her cameraman (Jonah Hill), are caught in the crossfire. With no Metro Man to save the day, it’s up to Megamind himself to eventually realize that not all villains are cold-hearted.

Director Tom McGrath plus writers Alan J. Schoolcraft and Brent Simon deserve credit for keeping the film light and fun by remembering that characters -- even villains -- must always be endearing and loveable to the audience. We like to root for the bad guy. Pixar has mastered the concept, now DreamWorks successfully follows suit.

While it’s not a perfect film by any means -- a lack of catchy musical numbers and a questionable shift of focus in the film’s latter half knock Megamind down a few pegs -- the lively cast and interesting flip on the superhero concept make it a fun time at the movies for viewers of all ages.

(Released by Dreamworks and rated “PG” for action and some language.)

Review also posted at www.franksreelreviews.com.