Post by BIGFANBOY on Sept 18, 2008 18:41:40 GMT -5
IGOR
Review by Gary Dean Murray
The place is the Kingdom of Malaria, where mad scientists rule the land. And every mad scientist has to have an Igor, a subservient assistant who pulls the switches. In a world where there is a 100% chance of horror, Igor is another with a Yes Master’s degree and a desire to be more. So begins the story of Igor, the latest in the mad dash for kid film gold.
Igor (voiced by John Cusack) is a very cleaver assistant. He has invented two sidekicks. Brian is a brain with little going on in the actual cranium and Scampers is a rabbit who has been given an immortality serum. All Scampers wants to do is die. Since Igor must not be a mad scientist, he hides his creations from his master, the evil doctor Glichenstein. It seems that Malaria has an Evil Scientist Contest where the best and brightest show off their latest invention and then use that invention to blackmail the rest of the world to pay for safety. And every year King Malbert is bested by Dr. Schadenfreude the reigning champ of the mad scientist world.
When the good evil doctor Glichenstein dies, Igor decides to build his greatest invention—a giant monster. The diabolical part of the monster is the ‘evil bone’ put into the body. But, when the monster doesn’t act evil, Igor takes it to have brain washed. There is a mix-up and the monster is now Eva, an aspiring actress who wants nothing more than entertain.
On the other side of the plot, we find that Dr. Schadenfreude hasn’t invented anything, just stolen inventions from his fellow scientists. He calculates that one more win and he can claim the mantel of King for himself. And he has his sights on Eva.
It is these two forces going toward the Evil Scientist Contest that fuel the story of Igor.
Some of the animation is just perfect, giving a dark and macabre feeling to all the proceedings. But, it is almost too dark for a kid’s movie. Like Monster House this little tale will probably scare the pants off the youngest of little ones.
There are some great references to The Fly and The Invisible Man as well as Metropolis. But, by far, the film Igor most emulates is The Nightmare Before Christmas. Some of the characters seem to have been lifted whole cloth from the story of Jack Skeleton. King Malbert is exactly like the mayor in Nightmare.
Most of the music is Louie Prima, the great loudmouth vocalist who was a smash artist in the early pre-rock and roll fifties. These jump tunes are used in varying degrees but all work well. Songs from Annie are also in the mix and effectively drive the story along.
The look of the entire production does capture both the look of old school Universal and Hammer as it blazes a new path of computer animation. I know that it is easier to make homage to favorite flicks, but Igor more than delves in a cinematic past.
While all the voices are good, the biggest praises have to go to Steve Buscemi as Scampers. He gets the lion’s share of laughs and does so with some perfect comic timing. Actually a separate cartoon with Scamper the rabbit would make a great second feature.
Igor is not a great film, either in terms of groundbreaking animation or story telling. But, it is a fun little bit of fluff that is better than most September releases.
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