Megamind DOESN'T Rule - Renegade Animation #141
In this episode, Captain Kaye and the Animation Guru discuss the Peacock original movie Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate, the TV series Megamind Rules, and the messy current state of DreamWorks Animation.
What’s going on, everyone? This is your Captain speaking, alongside my co-host, the Animation Guru. These are the episodes we don’t like to do, but it’s important to have honest discussions about the state of the animation industry. Specifically, we have to talk about the unfortunate situation that DreamWorks Animation is currently in. To make a long story short, DreamWorks has been laying off over 700 in house animators as a result of their decision to start outsourcing projects to other animation studios. Please tune into the podcast to hear the full discussion.
Megamind vs the Doom Syndicate/Megamind Rules!
Here is a perfect example of a DreamWorks project that was done by another studio, aside from already being led by DreamWorks Animation Television in lieu of the film division. I’m trying not to make too many excuses for the quality of the “movie,” because I understand that this was not given the same amount of time, money, and other resources that the original movie had. That being said, it’s still just bad. By no means is it the worst movie of all time, but it’s about as bad as many of Disney’s direct to video sequels. As it turns out, not only does continuing Megamind’s story remove all the bite of the superhero satire, but the TV quality animation robs the characters of their amazing facial expressions and movements. If it wasn’t for this platform, I probably would not have gone out of my way to watch this.
“While I can excuse the production of this film, knowing it was never going to be on the level of any of DreamWorks' theatrical films, the movie still isn't very good. It doesn't capture the appeal of Megamind by making it a generic silly comedy. It also represents the worst part of DreamWorks during a time when they are gutting their own studio to save a few dollars. The crew and the cast do what they can, but there is no saving this terrible waste of time and talent.“ -The Animation Guru
That’ll do it for this episode! Thank you all for joining us! We have provided resources for those who wish to support the victims of the Israel-Hamas war: https://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/, https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org/, https://itch.io/b/2120/games-for-gaza, https://www.instagram.com/palestineredcrescent/, https://buildpalestine.com/2021/05/15/trusted-organizations-to-donate-to-palestine/, https://www.npr.org/2023/10/13/1205235922/help-israel-gaza-humanitarian-organizations.
