Megamind
The focus is on the super villain in this month’s new animated offering from DreamWorks. The story centres on the titular Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) who finally defeats his nemesis Metro Man only to find that life without an arch nemesis is more difficult than he could have imagined. The voice cast is basically a list of my favourite actors on the planet and features Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill and David Cross as sidekick Minion. Hopefully with this quality of cast the material will be able to parody super-heroes with a level of intelligence rather than resort to lazy clichés. The trailer is promising with nods to Richard Donner’s Superman as Megamind being sent to Earth by a dying civilisation only to end up landing in a prison rather than a farm. I’ve got big expectations for the film but it’ll have to at least match them to avoid comparison to The Incredibles.
Little Fockers
I’m a big fan of Ben Stiller but for some reason the seemingly well loved Focker series has never struck a chord with me. Still, there isn’t exactly a dearth of Christmas movies this year and this at least provides a festive choice for the family. The cast is undeniably great with support from the usual suspects – De Niro, Wilson, Danner, Polo, Hoffman, Streisand as well as Jessica Alba. It’s just a case of giving each character enough to do without bloating the story and taking away from Stiller’s story. The plot seems to fit in as the end of a trilogy with Gaylord dealing with what it means to be a father and growing old (erectile dysfunction jokes) and a seeming passing of the torch from De Niro’s patriarch to Stiller. Worryingly Hoffman only agreed to a cameo having become unhappy with the script. Hopefully Paul Weitz (American Pie) taking over from Jay Roach as director should provide a steady hand.
Gulliver’s Travels
Despite having a short trailer provided by Orange this new Jack Black vehicle has kind of flown under the radar for me. Assuming it isn’t just one long phone advert this could potentially be a fun take on Jonathan Swift’s book. Black is always charismatic and here he has Jason Segel, Emily Blunt and Amanda Peet supporting him. The team behind the film have a decent record too with involvement in Monsters vs Aliens, Shrek and Get Him to the Greek. Also the film features James Corden which based on past performances should mean it’s either going to be really good or really bad.
