"If you like your humor on the crispy side, you’ll probably enjoy this quick zing of animated spunk. Full of pitch-black jokes, it’s sort of like The Nightmare Before Christmas’s quirkier, less popular baby brother. "
CG animated fare has become a cola war of sorts. Pixar is Classic Coke in a glass bottle, shipped straight from Mexico. Dreamworks' team hits like Pepsi Free. And everyone else is President's Choice; a generic shit kid shelf dweller specifically reserved for people on welfare. Vanguard Animation, the whores responsibly for this summer's craptabulous "Space Chimps", is a stinging sip of Kikapoo. And then there's Sparx, the French team responsible for "Igor", MGM's fall comedy of evil errors. Its either Royal Crown Cola, or Shasta. I can't really differentiate between the two. All I know is, it tastes great with Whiskey, but you'll probably hide it and bring out the good stuff when friends and neighbors come over. Yeah. "Igor" is decent. Though not classic by any stretch of the word. And it looks like a Xeroxed copy of Henry Selick's iconic stop-motion work rendered in Pixels. In fact, I'd say "Igor"'s King Malbert (voiced by an unrecognizable Jay Leno) is a direct rip-off of The Nightmare Before Christmas's Mayor of Halloween Town. Only dressed in a white sport coat instead of the traditional black garb.
Despite that carbon copy fact, the film has a lot going for it. Its zippy pace is infectious, and it has one hell of a cantankerous sense of humor. The voice cast pulls in a surprising amount of inspired work. It's as if they really wanted to be here, which makes this strange tasting thing a little funner than it should be. Maybe nobody told them it wasn't a Pixar film. Or maybe they actually had faith in the source material. "Igor" isn't based on any preexisting fable, like the Shrek franchise. But it does have its roots fully planted in the early Universal monster movie mythos, and it pulls a lot of inspiration from those evil mad scientists we used to see so much of back in the late 1930s.
"Igor" is no longer a name in this world. It is a job title, like doctor or lawyer. Any kid born with a hump on his back is quickly sent to "Igor" school, where they must earn a "Yes, Master!" degree before taking residency in a lab, preferably with a crazy inventor out to destroy and/or rule the world. John Cusack's "Igor" is different in that he wants to be the mad scientist, unleashing his cruelty to the sunnier parts of his great country. Writer Chris McKenna is able to get a lot of mileage out of this "meager apprentice done good" storyline. He sets his main character on a tiny adventure full of dead baby seal jokes and riffs on abusing blind kids, and it's an unusual journey to say the least.
John Cleese makes a great cameo voice appearance as the evil Dr. Glickenstein, and he gets in some of the film's best lines. Most of his animated on-screen time is spent dedicating his electrified death chamber to his mother. Because she's the only other one that could bring as much pain and suffering into existence. He is quickly decimated by his own creation, and that's what sets the rest of the story in motion. With Master Glickenstein out of the way, "Igor" can now go about creating his masterpiece: LIFE. That's right, "Igor", seen as nothing more than a lowly apprentice, is the first "mad scientist" to ever create life. And it's a project that just might make him the star of this year's Evil Science Fair. Too bad the creation goes haywire, and what he is left with is a lumbering actress hell-bent on destroying Hollywood with her massive talent. As voiced by Molly Shannon, this Frankenstarlet is about as mean as a butterfly, and not the evil bringer of destruction that was originally planned. It all has something to do with the evil bone in her pinkie finger not being activated. This leads to a great scene involving a brainwash, and then we are treated to "The Sun Will Come Out Tomorrow" off the Annie soundtrack. Which is a little lame. (I guess they couldn't afford to come up with any new tunes.)
The supporting cast brings a suitcase full of funny one-liners, and it takes a little bit of the pressure off John Cusack's shoulders. He definitely seems to be the one carrying the most weight during these manic proceedings. Cusack actually does a fine job as this little hunchbacked midget, and once you leave the theater and then go look at his real face, you can't help but see this "Igor" character hiding in there, lingering in the shadows of his dark black pupils. Both John and "Igor" sort of look a like, and it's a little disturbing. I wonder if his face ever got stuck in full Hunchback mode while trying to deliver some of these lines? The first couple of scenes, where John is acting as a narrator, sure will remind you of his earlier work with Savage Steve Holland. And it's nice to hear Cusack's voice in this capacity again. (Seriously, f*ck Anastasia! Who needs that garbage?) As the story wears on, you can actually hear the strain it is putting on Cusack's vocal chords. Before the end of the film, he sounds like a rusted out can of anchovies. And it works beautifully in the moment. Poor guy, he must have been carrying around a bag of bricks while trying to slide into the guise of this particular monster. (For some reason, I can't shake that image of him in the recording booth from my head.)
Sean Hayes and Steve Buscemi serve as "Igor"'s two bumbling sidekicks. Hayes plays Brian, a brain locked in a glass jar full of pickle water; his lips made of an electric current. He's a little on the slow side, complete with a revolving pincher hand that often comes in handy. Buscemi plays a suicidal rabbit that spends the entire film either moping about or killing himself only to discover that he is an immortal. He's a little too black and off center for a kiddy flick. But you'll soon forget about his problems when you see Eddie Izzard's animated swimsuit bulge. The comedian plays the very fey Dr. Schadenfreude, a man out to kidnap "Igor"'s new evil invention and use her for his own nefarious world domination plans. Just so you're up to speed, "Schadenfreude" is a German term that means "receiving a largely unanticipated delight in the suffering of another which is cognized as trivial and/or appropriate." And that pretty much sums the guy up. He's such a delightful baddie, he's able to turn Molly Shannon's sweet natured actress monster into a Godzilla-like beast capable of tearing an entire town apart.
While Dr. Schadenfreude's bubbly "business in the front" action might shock you for a few seconds (seriously, the guy's got shlong), something equally as ruptured eventually comes along, distracting your thoughts from this obvious obscenity. As soon as you adjust to the slight adult overtones of the piece, and reacquaint your kids with the action, along comes Jennifer Coolidge as a shape shifting sexpot stacked with mounds of fun cleavage. You'll have to quickly avert your children's eyes as these flesh puppies occasionally make an attempted escape two our three times throughout the running duration of the film. At this point, I wouldn't doubt that the animators responsible for this have hidden some very sexual images in the inked-out background. It makes for a goodtime romp that you'll enjoy. But it just might scar the kiddies.
"Igor" is what you'd call a guilty pleasure. And you might feel ashamed of yourself for laughing at some of its off-color jokes. But nothing heard in WALL-E beats this voice cast. And this fine ensemble group may be the film's one saving grace. "Igor"? It's not perfection, but I don't think it was ever meant to be. And it looks stunning when compared to something like Space Chimps, the worst CG animated flick to hit the big screen since the genre kicked into high gear with 1995's Toy Story. Though, it is strange, after seeing WALL-E a couple of times, to see another film with animated characters screaming "Eva!" (The unfortunately chosen name of Molly Shannon's Frankenannie).
"Igor"? It gets a closet friendly Whoop-doo! Now, let me sit back and enjoy this refreshing Royal Crown Cola. Yum.
(Note: All of B. Alan Orange's reviews are based on the Boo! or Whoop-doo! evaluation system.)
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