Igor (2008)

That was an excellent one.

Memorable, crazy movie

Instead, you get a movie that's enjoyable enough, but leaves you feeling like it could have been much, much more.

Mostly, the movie is committed to the value of a good time.

This strange inventive movie is straight out of the same ghostly, nightmarish imagination of the same company which produced such great films as 'The Nightmare before Christmas.' In the far away land of Malaria, there lives a odd population of Evil Scientists and their able hunchback assistants all called Igor, who together via yearly for the coveted award of Mad Scientist of the Year. Each of their murderous creations must be as monstrously evil as possible so that King Malbert (Jay Leno) can threaten the outer world with their release if they don't pay him to keep the monster locked up. However this year, one particular Igor (John Cusack) wants to evolve into a Mad Scientist himself and create the ultimate monster. Together with a number of recognizable Hollywood voices like John Cleese, Steve Buscemi and Eddie Izzard assemble to craft what will most likely come to be known as a creative Classic. A movie designed for the entire family. Recommended. ****

After watching "Igor" I didn't know what to think. It seemed a little dark to be a children's film and delivery was late. However, after I gave it some thought, I realized I liked the film better than I first thought. This movie, while not brilliant, is actually kind of fun. This is one of the few attempts to make a children's dark comedy, probably because kids wouldn't understand the things played for comedy should never be done in real life. Take Scamper, for example. He is an immortal, who doesn't want to be immortal. So he tries to kill himself various times, but of course he doesn't dies. While funny on screen, it is not funny in real life. Don't get me wrong this movie can actually be funny and even at times clever. However, it lacked magic. There was nothing that made me wish there was more (except for maybe Scamper) and very little heart. Don't get me wrong, this is a good film, but don't expect "Citizen Kane". Expect a cheesy, dark, but sometimes funny animated film that unfortunately doesn't 100% satisfy.

I expected Igor to be terrible, but it turned out to be a pretty enjoyable film. It's the kind of thing you don't mind watching with your kids a few times. It doesn't break any ground as an animated film, but what it does, it does pretty well. Igor's sidekicks are highlights of the movie; both Scamp and Brain are constantly hilarious. Though I can definitely see why it bombed in theaters. Family audiences might dislike Igor for its black humor, but it's a light kind of black humor - harmless and fun. Nightmare Before Christmas fans might hate it for its visual style, which is at times a complete rip-off of NMBC or Corpse Bride. This is most apparent in supporting characters: the mayor of Malaria resembles the mayor of Halloweentown, Dr. Glickenstein resembles Dr. Finkelstein... the resemblances are uncanny. As for goths, they'll absolutely detest the ending! I detest the ending as well, especially the song they close the movie with. Speaking of music, they use 30s-50s vocal jazz tunes to great effect throughout the film, heightening certain moments.

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.