Megamind (PG)

Voices of: Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey

The set-up of DreamWorks' latest comedy animation is the best thing in it: two alien superbeings fall to earth, one lands on his feet at a happy family hearth, the other fetches up in prison where he learns some very artful dodges.

In adulthood they become the villainous Megamind (voiced by Will Ferrell) and the preening hero Metro Man (Brad Pitt), rivals in the fight for control of Metro City and for the heart of a TV reporter named Roxanne (Tina Fey). You may hear echoes of previous superpower digimations, both the great (The Incredibles) and the not-so (Despicable Me), as the plot spins its conundrum: What happens to a supervillain when he vanquishes his superhero rival? Answer – he loses his purpose in life. So Megamind creates another from the unlikely DNA of Hal (Jonah Hill), a schlubby cameraman who takes to his new powers with disastrous effect. The turnarounds of good and evil, the sudden morphings and faked disappearances lend Megamind the air of something overworked, and possibly too clever for its own good. Yet before the visual slapstick locks into overdrive it's also pretty funny, and the romance takes a pleasingly unexpected direction.