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'Igor' offers little sense, fewer laughs
Movie Review: Igor
By Patrick Rills
Special to 2theadvocate.com
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PLAY OFFICIAL TRAILER
out of 4 stars.
Welcome to Malaria-- a world unfortunate enough to share the same name as the mosquito-transmitted disease as well as to serve as the setting for the animated bore, “Igor.”
Malaria, deprived of sunshine, has been forced to abandon its agricultural economy and instead blackmails other countries by assembling a group of evil mad scientists to create weapons so terrifying that the world pays Malaria to not use them.
Makes sense, right?
As “Igor” is supposed to be a parody of Frankenstein movies, every evil scientist is staffed with a hunchbacked henchman known as an “igor” whose primary duty is to “pull the switch.” Igors are the untouchables of Malaria’s caste system, handling the manual labor for the evil scientists and never being allowed to think for themselves.
However, there is one igor (voiced by John Cusack) who strives to be more than a mindless switch puller. He aspires to transcend the bigotry and become a respected scientist himself by winning Malaria’s annual evil science fair. But when his female monster turns into a dim-witted, good-natured actress instead of a bone-crushing terror machine, his chances of winning seem remote.
But that’s enough about the plot already, because the more you think about it, the less it seems like any thought was put into it whatsoever. Animated movies have survived plots that are thinner and as improbable – for instance, a rat who cooks by pulling the hair of a chef – because younger audiences are looking for well-developed characters and well-timed humor not complicated by motivations and sociological subtexts.
The film’s fatal flaw is that it is too hung up on trying to be witty and fails on just being funny. The dialogue and references seem as if they would be over the heads of children and not clever enough for adults.
“Igor” is void of the classic slapstick that’s usually a homerun with children. Instead, its jokes are tacky and borderline crude. Ironically, the only light-hearted, brighter moments in the overly dark-toned “Igor” come from a cynical, suicidal rabbit voiced by Steve Buscemi.
Families are always looking for movies like “Shrek” that appeal to their younger children but are also well-written enough to enthrall the parents as well. Anyone looking for that in “Igor” will most certainly strike out. It will entertain neither.
