Banner: Exodus Film Group
Producer: Max Howard, Patrick Doyle
Director: Anthony Leondis
Voices: John Cusack, Sean Hayes, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, Jay Leno and Eddie Lizzard
Rating: 2.5/5
Igor is what you’d call cute and funny with a heart but a plot that is rather thin. It’s like this fascination of Tim Burton films rehashed to make one suggestive of his works. Pungent with one-liners, Igor is all but that.
It’s evil with a dash of nice. Igor (John Cusack) plays obedient servant and helper to his master, an evil scientist. With the evil science fair coming up real quick, Igor harbors aspirations to turn to becoming an evil scientist. He gets a shot at the limelight when his master croaks and Igor is left to himself. In an attempt to gain adulation and win the fair, he creates an evil monster gone wrong, Eva (Molly Shannon). Love and all the goodness find Igor and the evil bone in him turn good. But like in all evil stories filled with good, there needs to be a villain. Enters Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard), an evil scientist who is out to sabotage everyone and steal Igor’s invention. Battling between good, evil and discovering love; Igor is a journey.
There is nothing in this film that will provide you that "wow" factor. Also there is nothing you probably have not seen before. It’s Tim Burton all the way, so much so it reminds you of the Night Before Christmas and the Corpse Bride. Having said that, the film does have this Frankenstein like, morbid quality to it that makes it interesting and unique.There is very simply a short story that has been dragged to make a feature length film. What makes this film a worthy watch are the fantastic one liners the film offers and the whacky characters that are created with great precision.
Perhaps what hampers this film most is the fact that it is predictable. It’s not the kind of film you’d take your kid to watch, simply because they wouldn’t understand the screwball humor. So that leaves you to watching the movie, but with the predictability that flows, where is the incentive? The other hassle with the film is that the supporting characters are far better etched than the lead ones, so thus in essence you pretty much don’t care for the lead characters and are more engrossed in the life of Brain and Scamper.
Technically the film is well crafted. The rendered animation is first rate. In the scene where the evil machine conks off, the textures rendered on each of the props in the scene is great. The camera movements are regular and nothing to talk highly about. Similarly the editing is proficient, but fails to induce that excitement in scenes where required.
The film is a let down with respect to the impressive cast lending their voice to the characters. Cusack and Shannon as the lead characters fail to add any excitement to their characters. Their droning voices do nothing for the film. Hayes and Buscemi are outstanding. They bring in the much needed spunk and energy, and the well crafted lines certainly are the icing on the cake. Leno as the King of Malaria serves his purpose and does ok just as Lizzard. Its Cusack and Shannon that actually disappoint.
Igor is entertaining to the point you chose not to get bored. It’s morbidly cute and funny, but that’s about it. You’d rather wait for the DVD than shell out big bucks for this time-pass fare.
