Awhile back, the Wife had purchased Megamind. It’s a Dreamworks computer animated movie. We figured it would be a good movie for the kids; however, because it’s rated PG we figured we ought to do our diligence and screen it ahead of time.
I’ll say upfront that I was unaware of the casting prior to watching it. Had I been aware of it, I would in all likelihood have been more averse to watching it at all. Having seen it now, don’t, if you’re not a Will Ferrell or a Tina Fey fan, let the casting affect your decision to watch it. I found the movie entertaining and never once suspected they were in it. So from my standpoint, their brand of humor does not detract from the movie one bit.
As to the more pertinent matter of whether I’d let the kids watch it, the Wife and I both agreed that the kids were a bit young for it still. At their age, they like things black and white. They want the good guy to be good, all the time; and they want to root against the bad guy the whole time. Just as importantly, the good guy beats the bad guy, maybe not initially, but definitely at the end.
The problem here is that Megamind starts out as a bad guy who defeats the good guy. Then, he gets bored because he doesn’t have anyone to oppose him so he concocts a plan to create a new good guy to oppose him. Unfortunately for Megamind, his plan doesn’t work out and the new good guy ends up as the new bad guy and the old bad guy becomes the new good guy. And gets the girl. Despite the fact that he’s blue. All over. With a big noodle.
So the whole ‘black-white’ thing is shot by virtue of the story itself. Despite that, I might still have let them watch it just for the silly site gags and amusing banter. But what ended up pushing it to the “No” vote was the rather intense portrayal of the creation of the new bad guy. I won’t go into details, but I think for a 5 year old, the scenes involving the new good guy becoming the new bad guy are scary. It’s one thing for there to be a bad guy. It’s quite another to have a child watch someone who’s supposed to be a good guy suddenly go bad in front of their eyes.
That isn’t to say the transformation isn’t well done. It is- and that’s probably why it’s just a little too much for a 5 year old. Or, at least our 5 year old at any rate. I think the boy would be fine watching it, but he’s also got almost 2 years on her. So perhaps around 7 or so is a floor of sorts.
Unfortunately around here, we “can’t have one without the other.” So they’ll both have to wait a couple years before we’ll let them watch it.