Igor (2008)

User Rating:

6.0/10   

Director:

Anthony Leondis

Writers:

Chris McKenna (written by) and
John Hoffman (additional screenplay)

Release Date:

19 September 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy

Tagline:

All men aren't created Evil.

Plot:

Animated fable about a cliché hunchbacked evil scientist's assistant who aspires to become a scientist himself, much to the displeasure of the rest of the evil science community.

Plot Keywords:

Evil Scientist | Mad Scientist | Assistant | Science | Invention

Awards:

1 nomination

Cast

John Cusack	...	Igor (voice)
Myleene Klass	...	Dr. Holzwurm (voice)
Robin Walsh	...	Dr. Holzwurm's Igor (voice) (as Robin Howard)
Matt McKenna	...	Dr. Herzschlag (voice)
John Cleese	...	Dr. Glickenstein (voice)
Steve Buscemi	...	Scamper (voice)
Sean Hayes	...	Brain (voice)
Jess Harnell	...	Announcer / Royal Guard #2 (voice)
Eddie Izzard	...	Dr. Schadenfreude (voice)
Jennifer Coolidge	...	Jaclyn / Heidi (voice)
Jay Leno	...	King Malbert (voice)
Molly Shannon	...	Eva (voice)
Zoë Bright	...	Blind Woman / Killiseum Fan #1 (voice)
Sophia Eraklis	...	Blind Orphan #1 (voice)
A. Cheron Hall	...	Blind Orphan #2 / Blind Orphan #4 (voice)

MPAA:

Rated PG for some thematic elements, scary images, action and mild language.

Runtime:

87 min

Country:

USA | France

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

DTS | SDDS | Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:PG (certificate #44613) | UK:PG | Ireland:PG | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Australia:PG | Singapore:PG | Malaysia:U | New Zealand:PG | Netherlands:6 | Argentina:Atp | Mexico:A | Portugal:M/6 (dubbed version)

Company:

Exodus Film Group

Trivia:

Scamper was originally to be introduced while hanging himself as Igor returns to the castle at the beginning of the movie. This is included in the novelization of the film but was cut from the actual release.

Goofs:

Continuity: When Igor takes Eva to the "Brain Wash", she's put in carriage/booth #12. Brian/Brain gets his own brain cleaned in #04. However, both of these are not only next to each other, but by the end, they both appear to be getting out of the same carriage #04, next to #03.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Igor: [voice over] Nice weather we're having, huh? Here in the Kingdom of Malaria, every day's forecast is rainy, with a 100% chance of horror! It wasn't always like this, though. Years ago, Malaria was a sunny land of farmers, until the mysterious storm clouds rolled in...
[...]

Movie Connections:

References The Fly (1958)

Soundtrack:

Baby, Won't You Please Come Home

A cute animated film, with some scary moments (but nothing serious)

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!" :-)