Forgetting Sarah Marshall (2008)

Peter (Jason Segel) and Sarah (Kristen Bell) have been together for five years. Sarah is an actress, starring in a TV crime drama, playing a homicide detective. Peter - a composer - writes the music for the show.

When Sarah reveals that she has been seeing someone else for some time, Peter is understandably heartbroken.

On the advice of his step brother Brian (Bill Hader), he begins sleeping around with as many women as possible to try and find the one for him.

Rachel (Mila Kunis) and Peter (Jason Segel).

When this doesn't seem to work, he decides to go to Hawaii for a week's holiday to take his mind off of Sarah. However. When he arrives there, he finds that Sarah and her new boyfriend - singer Aldous Snow (Russell Brand) - are staying in the same hotel.

While there he befriends Rachel (Mila Kunis) who works on the front desk at the hotel and the two of them become very close.

Of course, it isn't long before Peter and Sarah try to rekindle their relationship. But things don't go quite as planned.

Sarah Marshall (Kristen Bell) and Aldous Snow (Russell Brand).

The screenplay, written by Segel, is quite clever. While a lot of the jokes are crude in nature, the similarities and contrasts between Sarah and Rachel are well-constructed and well-executed. The script follows general romantic comedy tropes, so much of the plot will not come as a surprise to many viewers.

There is not a lot of scoring in this film from composer Lyle Workman. However, there are a lot of songs, seemingly written by Peter, who is also in his spare time writing a rock opera based on the story of Dracula to be performed with puppets.

The cinematography, by Russ T. Alsobrook, is fairly standard for a film of this genre, and doesn’t feature anything particularly distinctive, or memorable, or even worth mentioning.

Brian (Bill Hader).

It should come as no surprise that the performances of the cast are well suited to this film. Apart from the leads previously mentioned, there is also a great supporting cast, including Jonah Hill as a waiter at the hotel, Paul Rudd as a surfing instructor, and Kristen Wiig as a yoga instructor.

Director Nicholas Stoller has made a reasonable enough film here, one that while I would be quite happy to watch again, is certainly not the best film I have ever seen, or even the best film I have seen in this genre.

6 out of 10.

Megamind (2010)

Metro City has long been terrorised by super-villain Megamind (Will Ferrell) and his trusty sidekick Minion (David Cross). But where there is evil, there is always good to save the day every time, in the form of hero Metro Man (Brad Pitt) who, as the film begins, is being honoured with a museum dedicated entirely to him.

Of course, Megamind cannot let this celebration go off without getting involved, and he does, kidnapping local news reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey), a plan which he knows will get Metro Man’s attention.

It does, and in trying to save Roxanne, Metro Man is killed, and it would seem that Megamind has won, and evil is victorious.

It isn’t long, however, before the shine wears off for Megamind. With no hero to fight, being bad just doesn’t seem as much fun any more.

And so, he sets about creating a new hero to battle: Roxanne’s cameraman Hal (Jonah Hill), who becomes Titan, the hero Megamind intends to fight over and over again. But Hal isn’t content with being the good guy, instead choosing to turn evil and terrorise Metro City to even greater lengths than Megamind ever did.

It is up to Megamind and Roxanne to join forces to battle Titan, and save Metro City once and for all. But convincing the rest of the city isn’t going to be easy.

This film has an amazing soundtrack (there are a lot of great things about this film, but I wanted to mention the soundtrack first). There are so many classic rock songs to enjoy: Bad to the Bone (George Thorogood), Highway to Hell and Back in Black (AC/DC), Crazy Train (Ozzy Osbourne), Mr. Blue Sky (ELO), Welcome to the Jungle (Guns n’ Roses) and Bad (Michael Jackson), to name just a few. And they all fit seamlessly into the soundtrack, complementing the score as well as the visuals and plot points along the way.

The script (by Alan Schoolcraft and Brent Simons) is incredibly clever, with plenty of fun wordplay (including a fabulous exchange between Megamind and Minion centring around the words ‘good’ and ‘bad’) and clever references to a slew of other great films that give older viewers plenty to enjoy, all under the guise of a ‘kids’ film.

The casting – as I find is generally the case with animated films – is truly inspired. Every performer brings their all to their character, and is perfectly suited to their role. Will Ferrell is great as the villain-turned-hero, with just the right touches to his voice to sound ever-so-slightly unhinged (think Mugatu from Zoolander).

There are even a few great cameos from other actors, including Ben Stiller (who was a producer on the film) and J. K. Simmons as the city’s bumbling prison warden.

With the combination of a great voice cast, and the ever-increasing technological capabilities of computer animation, characters are just as capable of moving the audience emotionally as any great performance from an actor in a live-action film. The emotions present in Roxanne’s eyes are worthy of particular mention; and with Tina Fey’s wonderfully expressive voice a part of the whole package, this character conveys even stronger emotions than most human performers.

Director Tom McGrath has created a very enjoyable film, with rich characters who have detailed internal and external conflicts, a film that still stands the test of time several years after its initial release.

But don’t just take my word for it. Go check it out for yourself.

8 out of 10.