Three out of
Five stars
Running time:
87 mins
Enjoyable animated comedy with likeable characters, impressive animation and some good gags, though it runs out of steam towards the end.
What's it all about?
Igor is set in the rainy kingdom of Malaria, which is home to the world's most evil Mad Scientists, each of whom has an assistant named Igor. However, one such Igor (John Cusack) has ambitions of his own and he gets his chance when his master, Doctor Glickenstein (an amusing cameo by John Cleese), accidentally engineers his own demise.
Assisted by his self-created sidekicks (suicidal-but-immortal rabbit Steve Buscemi and brain-in-a-jar Sean Hayes), Igor succeeds in creating his own monster (Molly Shannon), Bride of Frankenstein-style. However, the monster's Evil Bone doesn't quite work and Igor's problems get much worse when cheating competitor Doctor Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) and his sneaky female sidekick Jaclyn (Jennifer Coolidge) threaten to expose his secret.
The Good
You could be forgiven for thinking that Tim Burton had a hand in Igor (so to speak), as the character designs are basically ripped off from both The Nightmare Before Christmas and The Corpse Bride, with bug-eyed, hunch-backed heroes, strangely sad monsters and spindly, insect-like villains. That's not actually the case, but the Burton vibe definitely adds an extra level of atmosphere and the animation is quirky and interesting throughout.
The script is extremely witty (several of the jokes will fly over the heads of younger children) and the characters are both original and likeable, particularly the double-act of Buscemi's Scamper and Hayes' Brain. Cusack makes a good lead and Izzard and Coolidge have a lot of fun with their (animated) scenery-chomping parts.
The Bad
The only problem is that the plot is a little too simplistic and the finale is slightly disappointing as a result. It's also here that the absence of the Burton touch is most keenly felt, because the film opts for a sunshine-and-light ending rather than go for something darker.
Worth seeing?
This is a likeable, well made animated comedy that both adults and kids will enjoy.