Megamind is an animated film based on a simple concept: What if the supervillain wins?

It's not an original concept; I've seen it done before, in various ways. But how is it handled here?

Really, really well.

Megamind (voiced by Will Farrell) is a blue alien, sent to Earth as an infant in a Superman kind of way. He seems destined for greatness but his potential future is interrupted by a second pod -- this one, from another world entirely, carrying the infant who would become Metro Man (Brad Pitt), who actually has Superman's powers. So what's left for Megamind, who lands in a prison and is raised by criminals? Villainy, of course. And he has the intellect to make a first-rate supervillain -- but when he actually beats his arch nemesis and takes over the world, what's he supposed to do now? He's bored, and he realizes (belatedly) that his lifetime foe was also the closest thing he had to a friend. (Not counting his minion, named Minion, a toothy sentient fish voiced by David Cross.)

Maybe, he decides, it's time to create a new adversary.

If Megamind is a Lex Luthor/Brainiac type and Metro Man is Superman, sort of ... where's Lois Lane? Right here: Intrepid TV reporter Roxanne Ritchie (Tina Fey) was always getting kidnapped by one and saved by the other. Where does she fit in a world where her hero is gone? And what about her besotted cameraman Hal (Jonah Hill), who suddenly finds a way (he thinks) to make all his dreams come true? And what will Megamind do when the world is suddenly threatened by a threat that's not him -- and there's no one left to save it?

This is a fun movie. The animation is great, the action is enjoyable and the humor is infectious. It's also surprisingly poignant at times -- all in all, it tells a really good story, and you'll be laughing throughout. My 7-year-old kids loved it, and so did my wife and I.

But hey, am I the only person who thought the protagonist looks a bit like a blue Neil Patrick Harris?