Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate Review: Iconic Supervillain Film Hits Rock Bottom
Copyright © Peacock, DreamWorks Animation Television
Title: Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate
Director: Eric Fogel
Release Date: March 1, 2024
A sequel to Megamind was one of the unexpected ideas on the bucket list of animated films this year. Scrapping the idea of going the theatrical route, this one chose to go straight to streaming, possibly due to budget cuts recently. Today's movie is Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate, the sequel to the underrated movie Megamind, which did not do well as DreamWorks wanted. Instead of even getting a mixed reception, the film has gotten mass criticism from both critics and audiences alike. They felt that this film was inferior to its predecessor because of its animation, story, and disrespect to the original. Agreeably, because the makers did not get the real DreamWorks Animation involved in the project, Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate shows evil disrespect to what its predecessor accomplished to become a good guy.
Summary
Megamind's former villain team, the Doom Syndicate, returns to do more destruction. In order to stop them from sending Metro City to the moon, Megamind (Keith Ferguson) teams up with his trusty friends, Roxanne (Laura Post) and Keiko (Maya Aoki Tuttle), to accomplish the mission.
Reasons
Unlike what made the original awesome, Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate unfortunately misfired with its lackluster story, flanderized and stupid characters, and lazy animation. Yes, you can say that Kung Fu Panda did somewhat overstay its welcome but what about Megamind? This is the franchise that wanted quantity over quality more than that other franchise did. Its story does not connect to the original properly because the story shows to be AI-generated and unoriginal. Who needed to see another movie where the protagonist fights against a team they used to be allies with? Also, thanks to the AI-generated story, this makes the film disrespect the original as many times as it could. Most of that has to do with the characters, especially Megamind himself, due to the flanderization that was taken in. Instead of being funny and responsible like in the original film, he was dumbed down to being a selfish and arrogant superhero. As for the others, Minion turned into a punching bag as well as Roxanne having no purpose in the movie. The new characters, like the Doom Syndicate themselves and Keiko, are just as annoying. They are just generic character tropes and that is just all. Oh, and do not forget that the animation has been downgraded big time. Yes, this is made to be a TV movie but that is not an excuse. Megamind is an iconic franchise which means the sequel would have played in theaters. No smooth movements or pleasing visuals appear here. We could have gotten DreamWorks Animation themselves to animate it instead of the television subdivision.
Other things Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate misfired with are the irritating script, juvenile humor, and annoying voice-replacing. Its script has chunks of bad one-liners and stupid references as possible. Why? To appeal to the younger demographic only! Speaking of that detail, the humor is full of unfunny poop jokes, bad puns, and terrible slapstick. If a movie has unnecessary toilet humor, then that is a stupid taste in jokes. There are also a handful of bad puns and slapstick that try to be as "funny" as possible. Like, how can this franchise even appeal to adults anymore? Not only was DreamWorks Animation not involved but the original voice actors were not involved in reprising their roles. Yes, Keith Ferguson was a bad choice for Megamind himself. Compared to Ferrell, his voice now sounds bland and tasteless. This counts as another point of extreme disrespect to the predecessor.
Although this is a terrible sequel, Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate has only one good point. The voice acting for the new characters is fine. Most notably, Emily Tunon does a good job as Lady Doppler, because of the bold villain tone she pulled off.
Conclusion
Thanks to most of the team for the franchise not being involved in making this, Megamind vs. the Doom Syndicate is an evil supervillain that is destroying the original Megamind's reputation. Again, this is meant to be a TV movie. However, this is not an excuse because the franchise is iconic for DreamWorks fans alike. Next time, bring us the REAL sequel instead of a dumbed-down special. If you liked the original very well, just pretend that this sequel does not exist, even if Saving Bikini Bottom: The Sandy Cheeks Movie was somewhat worse.
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