Igor (2008) User Reviews

Worthwhile comedy-horror fun

[dfranzen70 · 7/10 · 1 March 2009]

In this animated comedy adventure, John Cusack plays the titular character, a sweet, intelligent lab assistant to an evil mad scientist who creates life, much to the chagrin of the mad-scientist community, in the, uh, person of a giantess named Eve. Although it's completely computer animated, the movie recalls such stop-motion-animation fare as The Nightmare before Christmas and the recent Coraline, not to mention the old Universal monster classics, whose old clichés get tweaked a few times.

Igor (it's both his name and his profession) works for Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese), who's desperately trying to make an evil invention to enter into the Evil Scientists Fair. See, King Malbert (Jay Leno) believes that the town can prosper only through these evil inventions, what with the farming community destroyed by climate change. Meanwhile, Igor - our Igor - is much smarter than he lets on, as Igors are stereotypically supposed to be dumb, slurring oafs good only for fetching things and pulling switches. Igor, in fact, has already made two inventions - a snide, suicidal-yet-immortal rabbit (Steve Buscemi), and a dumb robot with a brain (Sean Hayes).

Circumstances lead Igor to try to make his own evil entry - the creation of life itself, something the real evil scientists have never been able to accomplish. The result: Eva, a giant, giant, giantess who's... well, not evil. This is because her Evil Bone must be activated, see; to do so, Igor even takes her to get brainwashed, but instead of horror images Eva somehow watches an episode of Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton, so when she emerges she's a struggling actress who's on her way to a big audition.

Personally, I found this movie a whole lot of fun, probably because a) I love the old monster movies that are just skewered here and b) I love animated movies, too. John Cusack, one of my all-time favorites (I've seen more than thirty of his films) is great as the not-quite-evil lab assistant, and the animation is top notch, with wonderfully realized backgrounds that recall those old monster movies quite well. Steve Buscemi is an absolute hoot as Scamper, easily stealing every scene he's in - he gets all the great lines, but it's Buscemi's comic timing that make them come alive. So to speak. There's also a contextually perfect soundtrack, including a bouncy tune by Louis Prima called "The Bigger the Figure." Molly Shannon, who voices Eva, also delivers a fun, appealing performance.

A very cute twist on the classic tale

[Dragoneyed363 · 7/10 · 2 March 2009]

What I found in Igor was nothing more than pure fun and entertainment. I was delighted every second while viewing it by how interesting and enjoyable it actually ended up being. Though the movie itself isn't the best movie of all time, it tries as hard as possible to be memorable, and even though it was a bit bland and mediocre around the edges, the movie doesn't fail at just having a good time. The character of Igor for me was absolutely unable to hate, and all the other characters are so intriguing as well that they make the film unable to look away from. While this movie did get boring at times, it is just so cute and it has a lot of humorous and sweet scenes. It still of course isn't a masterpiece, but it's a film that anybody in the right mood could have a decent time with and I recommend it if you can appreciate if for what it is.

Twisted fun (more fun than most kid's movies), and just a little coco-nutty!

[madmaxmedia · 7/10 · 21 September 2008]

I took my daughters (7 and 3) to see this movie today, knowing absolutely nothing other than seeing about 5 seconds of a TV commercial. I am normally relatively picky about what my kids see, but decided to join a friend who was going anyway. Plus my daughter loves Tim Burton, and this was at least stylistically similar.

I thought this movie had a cool twisted sense of humor, and much more original than the typical warmed over rehashes we normally get from a lower-budget CGI flick. And guess what- not a single fart joke! That alone means it meets my very low expectations for what passes as children's entertainment these days. Unofortunately, I think it is a little too off- kilter for most, thus the small marketing budget as well.

A nice little take on the classic Shelley Frankenstein tale. Not sure why the accusations of Nightmare Before Christmas rip-off, Frankenstein was obviously the source material for this story. Which is a very good thing in my opinion. Me and my daughters liked it a lot.

Not wonderful, not terrible, kinda fun

[Hack_Writer_77 · 6/10 · 20 September 2008]

King Malbert (Jay Leno) rules the world of mad scientists with flashy clothes and dark storm clouds. As such, the mad scientists all clamor for the honor of winning the royally-sponsored "Science Fair". Each scientist has their own right arm, an Igor, with optional Lorre-esquire manner. When one scientist's efforts leave nothing but his actual right arm, however, his Igor (John Cusack) sees a chance at greatness, in activating his own monster. But is he too good to be evil? This one's a sleeper in every sense, which is kind of a good thing. Although it's a grand year for animation, with ambitious offerings from many studios, sometimes you look for something a little simpler. Igor excels at that. There are just a few things that keep it out of the "great" category, so let's point those out first. Technically, there are a few instances when the lip-sync is off, probably due to shuttling, as noted below. A noticeable number of the jokes (and a couple of songs) have the feel of being recycled from other animated films, which is never good. This being an animated comedy, that naturally hampers the story a bit. Although pop culture references (a recurring complaint on various message boards) are kept to a bare minimum, the ones used...well, grate on the nerves a bit.

The good parts: the film is beautiful to look at, in a "Tim Burton" fashion. The tight animation is well-serviced in digital; a feat in itself, since the credits reveal that this thing was literally made around the world. Visuals of the environment are consistently stunning. The stylized design does help to endear you to the characters, who themselves are a parade of great ideas, with voice talent that shows some thought. Examples include Igor's pals: the surly Scamper (Steve Buscemi), a reanimated roadkill rabbit, with the tire track to prove it, and Brian (Sean Hayes), a disembodied brain in a machine, named by way of dyslexia. There's also invisible talk show host Carl Cristall (voiced most appropriately by Arsenio Hall) and the villain's girlfriend, a shallow, multi-personality fashion plate called Jaclyn Heidi (well-voiced by Jennifer Coolidge). Even the James Lipton cameo is oddly appropriate.

So, in short, what works really works, and what doesn't really doesn't. It will likely be a welcome dollar peep once Halloween is closer.

A fun animation set in a land of evil scientists and their Igors

[Tweekums · 7/10 · 20 December 2019]

The nation of Malaria was once sunny and had a prosperous agricultural economy; then the weather changed. The sun never shines and it is always raining. The king decided on a rather different economy... the scientists of Malaria would invent evil devices and the world would pay for them not to be used. Of course every evil scientist needs a hunch-backed assistant named Igor.

Our story is centred on the Igor who works for the less than competent Doctor Glickenstein. This Igor dreams of becoming an evil scientist in his own right and has already has already has had some (secret) success having created Scamper, an immortal but suicidal rabbit and Brain, a talking brain in a jar. An incident leaves him free to try to come up with a truly evil creation for the upcoming Evil Science Fair. He creates a creature, later named Eve, much like a female version of the one created by Dr Frankenstein... there is just one problem; she isn't evil. Meanwhile Dr Schadenfreude is hoping to steal Eve and win himself.

I rather enjoyed this animation, it may not be up there with the works of Disney, Pixar or Ghibli but it is a lot of fun and doesn't take itself too seriously. Our protagonist, voiced by John Cusack, is a good lead and his sidekicks Scamper and Brain are rather fun. The story doesn't go anywhere too surprising but that isn't a problem; films aimed at younger viewers can't be too convoluted. There are some scares but these are all child-friendly and never last long. There are quite a few laughs to be had; most provided by the sidekicks. The character design is fun, although some viewers may wonder if one female character needs to show off so much cleavage! The voice cast, which includes several well-known actors with distinctive voices does a fine job bringing the characters to life. Overall I'd say that while this will never be considered a classic it is rather fun and well worth watching if you are an animation fan looking for something a little, but not too dark.

'It's better to be a good nobody, than an evil somebody'

[Chrysanthepop · 5 November 2010]

It's a shame that this little film did not receive the deserved acclaim. Anthony Leondis's 'Igor' may not tell a story that is completely original but it's a nice and fun adaptation of Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'. It has all the ingredients of an amusing adventurous animation film. The atmosphere and colour created by the vivacious animation draws the viewer and the colourful characters keep one involved. The actors that include Steve Buscemi, John Cusack, Molly Shannon, Sean Hayes, John Cleese and Jennifer Coolidge, behind the voices of the characters do a remarkable job. Coolidge is particularly hilarious with her weirdly funny accent as Heidi. Writer Chris McKenna does a very good job in adapting the story and making it lighter in order for it to appeal to children as well. However, I must add that the film is targeted at the young adult audience than children because many of the jokes are for 'grown-ups'. That does not mean that children will have less fun. Even though McKenna has made some big changes from the original, the heart of the story pretty remains the same even though this one ends on a more positive note with a different message. However, perhaps as a result, the story sometimes lacked in depth and a few little things remained unexplored. Yet, this flaw is very minor and doesn't ruin 'Igor' from being wholesome family entertainment.

A Nice Treat, But Somehow Lacking

[gavin6942 · 5/10 · 22 September 2014]

Animated fable about a cliché hunchbacked evil scientist's assistant (John Cusack) who aspires to become a scientist himself, much to the displeasure of the rest of the evil science community.

"Igor" is the first animated feature film produced by Exodus Film Group and the French CGI animation studio, Sparx*. Work was split between the studio's Paris and Vietnam facilities, and despite a large array of celebrity voices, the film ended up becoming rather obscure. While not a smashing success, the film did earn a small profit. (This would also likely be the last film from Sparx*, as they were acquired by Virtuos shortly after.)

Rotten Tomatoes writes, "With an animation style that apes Tim Burton, and a slew of cultural references that aren't clear enough to reach the crowds, Igor's patched together antics make it hard to see who the film is trying to please." This sums it up very nicely. The animation is clearly Burton-inspired (the king looks an awful lot like Halloween's mayor), and much of it was hit and miss. Fun, yes, but never a home run. Trying to pinpoint where it went wrong is difficult, though... something just feels off.

Good Fun

[miami92 · 7/10 · 10 November 2008]

I absolutely loved John Cusack and Sean Hayes performances in this film. The digital animation was splendid. Great to hear Arsenio in the film. Jennifer Coolidge caught my attention. Her performance was colorful and was executed masterfully. I do feel the film is directed at adults and older children, even though younger children will love the visual surroundings in this animated film. They may not understand much of the actual banter in the film, but the characters are definitely out there and really easy to mesh with.

In conclusion, I think although this film is not the best film I have seen, it does draw in the audience with the brilliant performances by the cast, and the sheer genius of the animation.

stichy at best

[justin_of_the_dead · 5/10 · 19 September 2008]

Igor flip the channel. I'll start off by saying i really wanted to like this movie. I've been looking forward to it for more than 2 months now and I was completely blown away by it's lack of humor and uninspired script. I'm a big fan of John Cusack and he does a good job with the voice acting but honestly there's no shining light to this film. It's the biggest disappointment of the year for me and i strongly suggest anyone hoping to see a fun movie to look elsewhere. It was long, tedious and felt stitched together. The movie isn't funny and may be too complicated for the younguns and is too childish and uninspired for adults. If you like horror comedy with a playful twist i suggest you simply go out and buy Nightmare before Christmas instead. I hope this could help, i wish i would've read a similar review beforehand.

Pleasant and Entertaining

[view_and_review · 7/10 · 2 November 2021]

"Igor" will evoke thoughts of "Monsters Inc." Everyone in the city of Malaria is led to believe that evil is their only viable means of economic stability. The rest of the world pays them to not release their evil creations. Igor (voiced by John Cusack) desires to be an evil scientist, but in Malaria all Igors are relegated to being evil scientist assistants. All of that changes when Igor's master, Dr. Glickenstein (voiced by John Cleese), is killed by his own hubris. Igor finally has the chance to show all of Malaria that Igors can be more than just assistants.

None of the themes of this movie are new, but the movie works. John Cusack's voice has always been somniferous to me and that doesn't change in this movie, but Cusack's monotone, emotionless voice doesn't significantly harm the production. "Igor" is pleasant, entertaining, and humorous. I wouldn't run out to buy the DVD, but I'd watch it if it were on.

Failed attempt at multi-generational film-making and film-making in general

[Simon_Says_Movies · 3/10 · 23 October 2008]

A staple of any family oriented animated film, past, present and I'm certain continuing into the future, is that it must appeal to both old and young alike. This can represent any sort of balance of splendid animation that stimulate the senses, pop culture references that give the adults a guffaw and of course generally competent film-making. Not only does Igor fail spectacularly at reaching a broad audience spectrum but fails at almost every other tier of film-making at the same time. To be blunt, I am a sucker for animated films. Looking over my archive of films viewed in the past, animated features are the one genre of movie that continues to be of a solid calibre. There are obvious missteps, such as with films like as Madagascar, but with the creative minds associated with studios like Pixar, Disney and the finally blossoming Dreamworks, who pump out a few flicks each a year, achieving widespread failure is difficult. Not only did I essentially hate Igor, but it is one of, if not the worst animated film I have witnessed. In its attempt to appeal to the masses, Igor plays it dark and sinister and boasts a similar vibe to the Gil Kenan faux pas Monster House and as such will not find an audience with children. At the other end of the table, director Anthony Leondis effort to insert inside jokes and mature humour falters complimentary to the former, as none of these jests are particularly insightful nor funny and results in a mediocre experience all round. In summation, we have a film that kids will not understand, and that adults will simply find to be a poor movie. I was continually surprised by the macabre and depressing components of Igor, and would most likely make even Tim Burton squirm. Even a simple plot summary reveals the bleakness and sometimes unnerving subject matter that it evident here. In the cloud consumed land of Malaria, evil reigns. The black-hearted King Malbert (Jay Leno) encourages widespread acts of evil and malice over the entire kingdom. In this dark place, the scientific community are represented by half-dozen or so prestigious, but mad scientists. Looming on the horizon however, is the yearly evil science fair in which the most brilliant minds compete to create the most evil invention imaginable. Malaria is land of quirky and eccentric creatures, bizarre architecture, as well as being a place where "Igor" is no longer a name, but a verb. Every mad scientist has their own "Igor", which essentially pertains to their hideous appearance and servant-like place in society who exist solely to "pull the switch". In this specific Igor's (John Cusack) castle, it is the hunchbacked sidekick that is the true brains behind the operation, so to speak. His master Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese) continues to falter and does not heed the advice of his subordinate or that of Igor's creations including a robot named Brain (Sean Hayes) although labelled with permanent marker incorrectly, much to his chagrin, as "Brian" and Scamper (Steve Buscemi) a suicidal reanimated rabbit. (Yes, you heard me; he continually and morbidly commits suicide throughout the film. Oh, and did I mention his is immortal?) After a disastrous failed experiment Glickenstein is killed, and Igor excitedly takes the reigns to ensure victory over his invention stealing nemesis Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) and floozy sidekick Jaclyn (Jennifer Coolidge). His dream is to create a life of pure evil, and in true Frankenstein fashion, he constructs a large and hideous monster named Eva. (Derived from a mispronounced "evil", but also eerily similar to the name of WALL·E's love interest, Eve in summers vastly superior film) The one small problem…Eva is not eva enough, and thus is useless for his competition. Yet after befriending the creature, he is torn between achieving the respect of colleges, and finding what may be love. With elements of violent death, suicidal rabbits, betrayal and general emphasis on evil, such a macabre take on the popular "Hang in there" poster, featuring the cat clinging to a clothes line, which this time round features a dead cat dangling from a noose. At the conclusion there is the essential moral teaching about being who you want to be and thus forth, but the ride is not a fun one to be on. Despite the lean running time the storyline seems fragmented and meanders wildly at times. Scene stealing moments by Buscemi can't save the failed multi-generational gimmick and mediocre voice work from the remaining cast; this is not prime family entertainment and like its protagonist, will end up being an outcast itself.

Well, I Liked It

[ccthemovieman-1 · 9/10 · 22 February 2009]

I don't know why this movie doesn't get more positive recognition; I thought it was terrific, and I've seen most the feature-length animated films of the past several years. This holds it own against most of them.

For an animated film, it has exactly what you want: fantastic colors and colorful characters -most of them very funny and entertaining to view and hear - and a good story with some interesting twists to it. The artwork in this film is just amazing, especially on Blu-Ray. (I've discovered that's how to watch these new animated movies - in high-def, because most of them look awesome. This film certainly is no exception.) There were many times I just wanted the freeze-frame the picture and take in all the wild artwork. I might do that on a second viewing.

Also no surprise is Steve Buscemi, who always gets humorous roles in these animated films and makes everyone laugh. He usually plays a rat, too. I mentioned that to a friend and he said, "That's because he looks like one in real life." I wouldn't go that far, but I understand where he's coming from.

Actually, all the leading voices - Buscemi, John Cusack, Molly Shannon, Sean Hayes, John Cleese, Jay Leno and more were all great. I'll give a special nod to the voice that cracked me up more than all the others, the one of "Hedi," done by Jennifer Coolidge. She was hilarious!

If you enjoy the famous Frankstein monster story, or wild characters in a monster-lab-type setting, you should enjoy this parody. It's an underrated film and looks super on DVD.

Better than I expected

[dcordova-65217 · 7/10 · 13 September 2019]

I laughed so much. The snarkyness was fantastic. I loved the casting. Very under rated. I actually don't think it's good for kids under 10 or 11. A bit too much bullying going on and the dialogue was a bit advanced for kids.

Don't Waste Your Money

[brc1974 · 1/10 · 19 September 2008]

This is one of the worst movies I have ever seen. My kids were so excited to see this movie and it was such a flop. Halfway through the movie several people were leaving. My family does not get to go to the theater very often to watch movies and it really ticks me off to spend my hard earned money on something like this. The whole movie had a dreary feel to it. At one point a rabbit gnaws off is foot....that is about what you feel like doing by the end of the movie. I think my 8year old could come up with a better movie than this. There was really no funny parts whatsoever in this movie. Do not waste your time seeing this terrible piece of crap they call a movie.

A solid film with great animation, quirky characters, wonderful voice work and good writing

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 7 March 2012]

There will be some who love Igor, and some who don't. I liked it, I have seen better animated films, but I have seen worse as well. The plot, despite a very intriguing concept, is rather formulaic and the film drags at times, but a lot compensates for any misgivings. There may be some who'd think Igor is too dark, I can understand, but I happened to like the dark tone the film sometimes had, it reminded me a little bit of the Gothic charm you'd find in a Tim Burton film. The animation is absolutely great, very bold and colourful while keeping to Igor's overall atmosphere, and the characters are quirky with an endearing protagonist and Scamper is very funny and devious. I also liked the ghoulish jokes and gags, and the film is smartly written generally. The vocal cast I can't fault either, John Cusack and John Cleese are both very likable, Molly Shannon like her character is very sweet-natured and Jennifer Coolidge's Heidi is hilarious, but Steve Buscemi as Scamper steals the show. Overall, a good film, not a great one but I don't consider it bad either. 7/10 Bethany Cox

Good fun, but it wasn't exactly what I was expecting

[Smells_Like_Cheese · 6/10 · 27 September 2008]

Naturally most fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas who saw this trailer were interested in seeing Igor, it was the dark humor we craved around Halloween, not the typical safe humor used in most children's movies. I couldn't wait to see Igor, we have an awesome cast and what seems like a great story that was made for entertainment. So I saw this opening day with great hopes, but I left the theater a little disappointed, while it's a cute movie and is fun to watch at times, this was technically a failure when it comes to what I was expecting. I thought this was going to be funny and just a delight to watch, but it turned out to be predictable, the animation was mediocre and the humor at times was a little off key with the story. I'm not saying this movie was a total disaster, it's cute, it's worth the look, but like I said, the story doesn't add a special touch to make Igor stand out against other animated films.

Igor is... well, and Igor, he's been trained specially for this job to serve a master who doesn't have the screws tightened quite right in his head. Igor doesn't want to be an assistant, he wants to be an inventor, and after one of his master's inventions kills him, Igor sees an opportunity to create the most evil invention of all and finally be respected as an inventor, with the help of his two friends/practice inventions, he creates Eva, a female Frankenstein type of monster who's not exactly monstrous. After trying to brain wash her, she gets the wrong message and wants to become an actress, Igor figures a way for her act evil and win the competition, but realizes that maybe having a heart of gold isn't so bad. But he still has one more problem, another inventor who is trying to take over will do anything to get ahold of Eva and rule the city.

This movie is worth the look, I'd just say if you're going to go to the theater for it, I'd recommend a matinée, it's fun for your kids and I will say that there are some fun laughs and despite the story's predictability, it's still enjoyable. You really enjoy the comic relief from the two friends that Igor has, a cat who is immortal and a brain who isn't the smartest tool in the box, but they had great chemistry and gave the scenes some relief on the humor. I did like the movie, but it just didn't stand out to me, seeing it once was enough, I was really pulling for this movie, we need a new fun Halloween movie, but unfortunately Igor doesn't cut the cake.

6/10

Underwhelming and Not For Small Children

[QCJLo · 4/10 · 20 September 2008]

Igor is a movie which attempts to be witty and bring a dark animated comedy to children. Tim Burton did this successfully in Nightmare Before Christmas. Anthony Leondis and Chris McKenna failed miserably.

Although the drab look of the world they created was fitting, it never quite felt convincing. For example, in the world of Malaria (the world in which Igor lives), there is a king. However, it never felt that this king ruled over very much because the audience was never allowed to see the beauty (or lack of beauty) of Malaria. Most of the movie feels as though it was shot in the basement of Igor's house! Finally, there was never enough compelling characters to carry this movie. Beyond Igor and his pals, you just didn't care what happened to anyone else.

As for small children, they should be forewarned that with a dark comedy comes some very questionable topics. One common one (without giving anything away) is the trivializing of suicide. Although nothing bloody was shown, many forms of death and torture were alluded to. I have a 6 year old daughter and a 13 year old son. I prefer that my daughter not hear about such things, albeit even in a joking manner.

So if the material is not suitable for small children and teenagers would rather spend their time in a more entertaining theater and adults won't find this feature engrossing... that leaves kids 8-11 who MIGHT enjoy the 90 minutes of footage.

Save your $12 per ticket and take the family out to dinner. You're sure to stomach what's served to you there over Igor!

may have significant relevance to the modern world

[geoffgee · 7/10 · 12 December 2008]

I may be wildly mistaken in this, but since I saw Igor, I can't help thinking of the movie's premise in terms of its being an allegory of the (deliberately created) distortions that shape how people are nowadays sometimes persuaded to view the world. The film's portrayal of the pursuit of evil as if it were a virtue (arguably) mirrors the way a significant sector of modern society chooses to vaunt such negative qualities as oppression and the deliberate instilment of fear.

Maybe that was why I didn't particularly enjoy the film (although to be fair maybe the fact that I was the only person watching the screening I went to wasn't conducive to an enjoyable experience either!) I went expecting to spend a couple of hours of escapism from what the media sometimes persuades me is an all-too-brutish humanity - instead I found myself being rather uncomfortably reminded of man's inhumanity to both his own kind and many of the planet's other inhabitants.

Having said that I think the film is very well made, has numerous moments of wit and humour and is extremely imaginatively illustrated.

Some comments have described Igor as a purely children's' film. No one seems to have drawn any parallels with our present world (the film's dark clouds may be metaphores for psychologically created gloom). I just wanted to suggest that there may be more of relevance in Igor than meets the eye.

Seriously flawed

[marcusdean118 · 3/10 · 27 October 2008]

A great voice cast is wasted here. The jokes were not funny. What is an animation without a few laughs? I couldn't count the number of punch lines that went down with silence in the theatre, and this was one packed with kids! The idea is not too bad if not heavily influenced by other work. Cleese is not in it much, but he wasn't particularly funny when he was in it. To waste Cleese is a sin, but to waste Cleese, Izzard and Buscemi is something else.

The animation is annoying as we have seen so much better from Pixar. If this film had been given to Brad Bird, we would have seen a better and more successful movie. With this version i was only left with the question. Would this of ever been made without Tim Burton?

A Nutshell Review: Igor

[DICK STEEL · 7/10 · 12 December 2008]

With a barrage of ultra cute characters ruling animated worlds these days, one wonders if macabre characters would appeal if not coming from the creatively dark mind of Tim Burton. With wonderful animation flicks like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride being tentpoles for animation touching on darker themes and realms (as with festival darlings such as Fear(S) of the Dark), Igor would find itself in good company, and it lives up in certain terms to belong.

Voiced by the excellent John Cusack, Igor is a typical hunchback and because of his physical disability and rights (or lack thereof) in the land of Malaria, Igors in general have a single career path, and that is slave to the scientists of the land. Yearning to be one of the greatest scientists one day despite societal perception and prejudice, opportunity arises when his master kicks the bucket, and he seizes the opportunity to do what the scientific community cannot do - create life.

Of course in order to clinch the yearly accolade of scientist of the year, the creation must have a mean killing/horrific streak, but Igor's creation of Eva (Molly Shannon) is actually that of a kind soul with an addiction for the theatre and the arts. Not very suited to scaring and beating up opponents. So in a tussle between the actual being and her intended role comes an unlikely romantic story that somehow managed to touch the hearts, resembling how in relationships one tend to change the other subconsciously (or consciously for some), and vice versa.

Adversary comes in the form of scam scientist Dr Schadenfreude (Eddie Lizard) and his chameleon wife Jacklyn (Jennifer Coolidge) who scheme to steal Eva away from Igor and fulfill her intended evil purpose, and it's up to Igor and his crazy creations and sidekicks Scamper (Steve Buscemi) and Brian/Brain (Sean Hayes) to save the day. Some of the best lines were reserved for the banter between Scamper and Brain, and I thought these two characters actually lift the movie when it fell prey to the tried and tested story formula, providing some genuinely funny moments when you least expected.

The animation here really challenged the notion of having everything aesthetically pleasing. Here, the filmmakers went for god-awful ugly, but yet having the magical effect of making it appealing. As a reminder not to judge a book by its cover, one can often feel repulsed by the lack of proportions in Eve's build, but what she lacks for on the outside, gets immensely compensated by the good on the inside. And it is this cheery disposition in spite of a gruff exterior, that exudes throughout the movie as well.

With a surprisingly star-studded supporting voice cast with the likes of Christian Slater, Jay Leno, John Cleese and even Arsenio Hall, Igor may not have scaled new heights in animation techniques nor with its fairy-tale story, but for what it lacked it made it up for with plenty of heart. And I guess for an animated story, that will always be premium and will always matter.

Disappointing animated fare; rent "Mad Monster Party".

[george.schmidt · 5/10 · 30 September 2008]

IGOR (2008) ** (Voices of: John Cusack, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, Sean Hayes, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Jay Leno, John Cleese, Arsenio Hall, Christian Slater) Disappointing animated fare attempting to do what SHREK did for storybook characters this tries for classic horror characters ; to wit: the titular hunchbacked assistant to mad scientists (a game Cusack) decides to create his own 'evil' monstrosity and the end result is a gi-normous patchwork gentle giantess named Eva (Shannon also a good sport) who is far from being what he wanted her to be. The look of the film cribs liberally from Tim Burton's "The Nightmare Before Christmas" and its awful puns fall like bricks thanks to a logy screenplay by Chris McKenna. Best suitable for the wee ones ; for everyone else rent "Mad Monster Party". (Dir: Anthony Leondis)

I really liked this movie.

[itshappybunny71 · 10/10 · 3 March 2009]

I really loved this movie. The music, which happened to be one of my favorite types of music, was cheerful, compared to what I expected to hear in the movie. Igor looks as cute and adorable as a puppy with those big eyed. Brain and Scamper remind me of Billy and Mandy from The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, with Brain being dumb and cheerful like Billy and Scamper being smarter and grumpy like Mandy. As for Eva, I think she is very pretty for someone who looks like a giant rag doll. I love how Igor changed from wanting to be an evil scientist to a nice person. Also, this movie reminded me of Wall-E. Both Wall-E and Eva had feelings for someone (Eve and Igor), who didn't seem to have those same feelings. At some point, both Wall-E and Eva have been changed so that they don't love, and both Eve and Igor showed how they really feel. And of course, I have noticed that the couples from both movies (Wall-E/Eve, Igor/Eva) have the girl being taller than the guy, which is something I rarely see.

Ease up a little

[jsmith-348 · 6/10 · 20 September 2008]

Give us a break, will ya? No one expects a movie like this to equal "WALL-E" or "The Iron Giant"! Granted, it rips off "Nightmare Before Christmas" unabashedly (was anyone else as bugged as I by the shameless similarity between Malaria's King Malbert and "Nightmare's" Mayor?); and it has some pretty flat writing in spots. But there are good jokes ("Jaclyn/Heidi"; a "Yes Master's Degree") -- and you gotta love Eva, with the way she riffs on the Frankenstein tradition. Instead of misfit who can't figure out how to act right in a normal world, she's a maladjusted do-gooder in a kingdom of darkness. And that Louis Prima soundtrack -- some songs sounding like they were written just for this movie!

I sat through it with a handful of families, and the kids sure liked it a lot. My guess is, it'll become one of those mid-level films like "PageMaster" or "Surf's Up" that some kids watch again and again.

Not great; but by no means the disaster it's made out to be in other reviews here. . . .

humor was lame, horrible for children

[dremond82 · 1/10 · 1 May 2009]

i was so disappointed with this movie that i registered with IMDb just to post my displeasure with it. my wife and i picked it up at the redbox for a Sunday afternoon laugh with the six-year-old. as fans of tim burton type films, we were expecting a witty and enjoyable experience. i love comedy films of all colors, but this movie did not provoke so much as one smile. the puns were extremely predictable and lame, and many times very inappropriate. we were horrified to have our child watch a movie that was marketed and rated as a children's movie that contained such vulgar and dark content. for the 30 minutes that we watched, we were bombarded with nothing but verbal/physical abuse towards the characters, along with repeated attempts at trying to make suicide a humorous subject. when we got to a part where the main character is telling another that they need to teach them how to "murder" people, we had enough and turned it off. if your child is not already in their teens, i strongly suggest refraining from watching this movie with them, regardless of its PG rating. however, even if i had watched this movie alone i would have still turned it off because of its complete lack of depth and humor. two thumbs down for this misleading movie.

An interesting horror based animated movie

[mbuckingham-1 · 29 November 2008]

Dreamworks' new animation is perhaps mainly for kids, but I'm sure it will also be enjoyable for accompanying parents.

Quite an experimental movie being an animation spoofing the horror genre.

Igor really wants to be an evil scientist, when he decides he wants to create an evil monster. What he creates may be quite a bit different than he had originally expected.

As a fan of the horror genre, I found it quite amusing being a spoof on Frankenstein. And I quite enjoyed it! I wouldn't recommend to everyone however, but if you happen you watch it, I'm sure you will enjoy it!

Graphics are good, and the movie is quite emotional at times. But don't forget that it's aimed at kids!