Directed by Tom McGrath. Voices of Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey, Jonah Hill, David Cross PG cert, gen release, 95 min

IF ANY ONE area of popular culture has been subverted to the point of extinction (not to say tedium), it is the arena of the superhero. By the time Kick Assstaggered into unwelcome view earlier this year – on the heels of The Incredibles, Watchmenand Mystery Men– the form had already become so savagely ridiculed that it could barely stand up straight in its tights. Come to think of it, didn't the BatmanTV series travel these roads half-a-century ago?

So, it comes as a surprise to see DreamWorks Animation generate so many laughs in their latest 3D comedy.

Making one of many nods to Superman, Megamindbegins with two alien creatures, facing doom

at home, being dispatched to the supposed haven that is Earth. One lands in a decent household and grows up to become the hammer- jawed, heavily quiffed Metro Man, defender of Metro City. The other crashes into a prison for the “criminally gifted” and, raised to be evil, develops into the huge- headed, comically demonic Megamind.

A pattern emerges whereby, every now and then, Megamind will kidnap Roxanne Ritchi, an ace reporter, and, an eternal victim of hope over experience, fail to prevent Metro Man from achieving a rescue. Eventually the bad guy defeats the good. But life just seems so empty without him.

There are few jokes here we haven’t heard before. The routines are, however, delivered with such verve and panache that the film proves hard to resist.

Particular kudos must go to Will Ferrell who, voicing Megamind, has great fun mispronouncing words and phrases in ingeniously malevolent fashions. (Mega City is, for example, spoken to rhyme with “audacity”.) The animation, nodding towards 1950s futurism throughout has a fluid beauty and, for once, the voluminous 3D actually enhances the shiny, primary-hued images.

Most interestingly, Megaminddoes actually appear to have something to say. In the second half, with Metro Man apparently deceased, the bored Megamind makes a superhero of a relatively ordinary, no more than usually frustrated slacker.

Now named Tighten (another good verbal gag), the resulting caped crusader goes on to demonstrate that everyday human pettiness is more frightening than the grandiose supernatural evils imagined by comics writers.

Heck, maybe there is still some mileage in the super-satire.