Igor (2008)

Really enjoyable! Igor and its cast of oddities are absolutely lovable! Igor is about the land of Malaria, which produces evil inventions and where the evil scientist is king. If you're born a hunchback, you are automatically an Igor, a generic evil scientist's assistant whose main job is to "pull the switch!" upon command. But one Igor (John Cusack) is different; he dreams of becoming a scientist as well, and has already made a few inventions of his own: his sidekicks Scamper (Steve Buscemi), the immortal Energizer bunny with a deathwish, and Brian (Will & Grace's Sean Hayes) the dyslexic brain who might be a bit too gay for his own good. Then, when the opportunity presents itself, Igor gets a chance to invent something really big that may just win him the praise his genius finally deserves.

The plot is fairly original; the punch lines may be a bit trite sometimes but are still delivered well so they still work. The situations can be shockingly too dark for children but can be appreciated by adults who just want to have a good time. The animation is incredibly moody but quirky and unique, reminiscent of Tim Burton's creations though more tongue-in-cheek and not as depressing. No wonder Igor is so funny; its writer Chris McKenna also wrote for American Dad and its director Anthony Leondis was involved in the similarly humorous Emperor's New Groove 2 and Lilo & Stitch 2. It also helps to have a strong cast (that also includes talented comics John Cleese, Jennifer Coolidge and Molly Shannon) that fit their characters v. well.

Fmovies: 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.

The movie was funny and entertaining for me and the kids. Not nearly as scary as "Nightmare before Christmas" for kids. The Igor character is likable and the sidekicks are excellent. The voice talent is matched up with the characters very well. This is one of the best kids films we have been to see at the theaters in a few years. It is right up there with Cars. We may go see this movie again at the theater and I am sure the DVD will keep the kids entertained again. It is great that an independent company can produce an entertaining film and we don't have to just wait to see what Pixar puts out. Go see this movie for yourself, you will not be disappointed.

Igor fmovies. I enjoyed "Igor" because its messages, humour, the characters, the cast chosen and the CGI was terrific. The messages explain that we all can be evil, but we do not have to be evil and can make our own decisions - an incredibly good message that all too few people in this world seem to grasp. The humour can be dark and slapsticky some of the time, but there are a great deal of very entertaining one-liners. The characters are all likable, even the baddies (the most featured baddie, voiced by Eddie Izzard, is extremely good and mainly because of Izzard). All of them are well-planned and have an important part in the film. The cast chosen were very good, including the comics Eddie Izzard (mentioned earlier) and John Cleese (he hardly appears, but is an important character). The CGI is almost always dark, a sort of creepy purplish colour. All of the characters, objects and places in the film are well- animated. While they do not look realistic, they still look impressive.

In "Igor" (which is based on Frankenstein), we come to the kingdom of Malaria, where everything is evil and the sun never shines. In the kingdom are a group of evil scientists who make evil, destroying inventions each year for the annual evil science fair. The scientists have hunchbank servants, all called Igor. There is one Igor who is slightly different from the rest. He wants to be more than just another "Igor", he wants to be an evil scientist. He has already created an immortal rabbit (who does not want to live) and a robot with a big brain - a rather idiotic brain, I hasten to add. Will Igor manage to live up to his dreams, and create an invention to win the science fair..?

I recommend this fun, watchable film to people over the ages of 8 (this may look like a children's' film, but some children might be scared easily by this film, as there are a few gruesome bits), to people who like madcap creepy fantasy films and to people who like CGI animation. Enjoy "Igor!" :-)

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.

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.