Igor

Plot synopsis:
In this fantasy world that contains elements of the horror film and steampunk genres, Malaria was once a sunny, thriving village that relied on farming for its economy, but a change in the climate caused the crops to die, and the farmers to become poor. It is the new leader, King Malbert (Jay Leno), who proposes the town can prosper with a new economy of evil inventions that would kill and wreak havoc, and making evil scientists rich tycoons. Anyone born with any type of disfigurement would have their fate automatically led in the direction of becoming a slave to their masters named "Igors", and are typecast as being foolish, slurring, and stupid.However, one particular Igor (John Cusack), tired of the mistreatment and stereotyping against him, is actually scientifically intelligent, despite being shunned by his own master, Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese). Behind his master's back, he has brought a sarcastic rabbit named Scamper (Steve Buscemi) back to life from having been run over and making him immortal. He also transports a brain that formerly belonged to a man named Brian into a life-support robot, named Brain (Sean Hayes).Dr. Glickenstein invents a rocket as his entry into the annual Evil Scientists Fair, but he is killed during a malfunctioning test run. Knowing his chance at becoming more than what the world sees in him, Igor decides to keep his master's death a secret and participate in the Fair himself. He assembles a huge, monstrous being from human tissue and places the Evil Bone -- the key to pure evil -- inside the finger of this monster. Only, when he brings her to life, he discovers the giant is completely gentle, polite and affectionate. When explaining how she's supposed to act, the giant (Molly Shannon) mispronounces the word "evil" and converts it to "Eva", which becomes her name.Igor surmises that the Evil Bone had not activated properly, and immediately brings Eva to the "Brain-Wash" to correct this by making her watch violent acts of horror on television. Brain absentmindedly changes the channel in the midst of the treatment, and causes Eva to adapt the personality of a kind Hollywood actress. Igor uses this to his advantage by telling her that the Fair is an audition for the role of Annie in the famous musical, and she agrees to obey him at last. While preparing for her role, Eva becomes close friends with Igor, and supports him in his goal of becoming different.Meanwhile, the greatest, richest, and most acclaimed evil scientist in town, Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard), is at odds with the King, as he has won the last seventeen Evil Scientists Fairs in all the past years, and yet, he has failed to earn the respect from the King into making him the new ruler of Malaria. He begins setting things into his own hands when he discovers the death of Dr. Glickenstein and his slave's invention. He first tries to take the creation by force during a carriage chase through the backroads, which fails. He then talks to Igor in person during a civil visit to his own laboratory, and offers him a deal: give him Eva as his creation for the Fair, and become the richest evil scientist instead. Igor discovers his true intent, and he narrowly escapes.Through time, Igor feels like his emotions toward Eva have overshadowed his own intentions, and tries to shake himself out of it. While on the balcony, Dr. Glickenstein's former assistant, Heidi, pays a visit. Eva spies them through the window, and approaches Heidi to ask what is going on. Heidi admits she has fallen for Igor during his self-transformation, and mentions what he would do with someone as ugly as her, which puts Eva's opinion of herself in question.The night before the Fair, she sees Igor in a kiss with Heidi, which is revealed to be Dr. Schadenfreude's girlfriend, Jaclyn (Jennifer Coolidge), in disguise. Igor is arrested by the King, who also found out about the cover-up, and throws Igor into the "Igor Disposal". Eva is then approached by Dr. Schadenfreude, who draws her into giving up Igor's apparent lies and come with him. He reactivates her Evil Bone by pushing her into committing her first act of evil (throwing him backward), which transforms her into a growling monster.Scamper and Brain follow Igor into the Disposal, and free him. All three rush toward the Fair to save Eva. While sneaking around, Igor discovers that the dark weather Malaria has had for years was the result of a weather-controlling machine built into the King's home and the Fairgrounds, which means that the King had actually orchestrated this whole evil-invention industry himself. Igor rushes into the arena where the inventions are all fighting, including a deranged Eva, and tells her that everyone has an Evil Bone inside them, but it is up to that person to choose whether or not to use it. Eva regains her sanity, and forgives him. Scamper and Brain deactivate the weather device, shining the sun back over Malaria, and exposing the King as a fraud.For his heroism, Igor is soon dubbed the new King. Dr. Schadenfreude takes the throne for a brief few minutes, until he is also stripped of his occupation and respect. The Fair is changed to an annual musical theater showcase, with Eva as the centerpiece of the first event, and all Igors are now seen as equals to everyone else.

Tags: brainwashing, comedy, fantasy, psychedelic, dark

Review:
Well, I Liked It. I don't know why this movie doesn't get more positive recognition; I thought it was terrific, and I've seen most the feature-length animated films of the past several years.
This holds it own against most of them.For an animated film, it has exactly what you want: fantastic colors and colorful characters -most of them very funny and entertaining to view and hear - and a good story with some interesting twists to it.
I mentioned that to a friend and he said, "That's because he looks like one in real life." I wouldn't go that far, but I understand where he's coming from.Actually, all the leading voices - Buscemi, John Cusack, Molly Shannon, Sean Hayes, John Cleese, Jay Leno and more were all great.
It lacked a bit of depth at some times, but it is still amusing and entertaining.Overall Igor is a good animation movie.
It's definitely worth seeing for animation fans, people who like Tim Burton's work (as the design in the movie is similar to his style), and anyone who wants to enjoy a light story with a happy ending..
In this animated comedy adventure, John Cusack plays the titular character, a sweet, intelligent lab assistant to an evil mad scientist who creates life, much to the chagrin of the mad-scientist community, in the, uh, person of a giantess named Eve. Although it's completely computer animated, the movie recalls such stop-motion-animation fare as The Nightmare before Christmas and the recent Coraline, not to mention the old Universal monster classics, whose old clichés get tweaked a few times.Igor (it's both his name and his profession) works for Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese), who's desperately trying to make an evil invention to enter into the Evil Scientists Fair.
Igor, in fact, has already made two inventions - a snide, suicidal-yet-immortal rabbit (Steve Buscemi), and a dumb robot with a brain (Sean Hayes).Circumstances lead Igor to try to make his own evil entry - the creation of life itself, something the real evil scientists have never been able to accomplish.
This is because her Evil Bone must be activated, see; to do so, Igor even takes her to get brainwashed, but instead of horror images Eva somehow watches an episode of Inside the Actor's Studio with James Lipton, so when she emerges she's a struggling actress who's on her way to a big audition.Personally, I found this movie a whole lot of fun, probably because a) I love the old monster movies that are just skewered here and b) I love animated movies, too.
John Cusack, one of my all-time favorites (I've seen more than thirty of his films) is great as the not-quite-evil lab assistant, and the animation is top notch, with wonderfully realized backgrounds that recall those old monster movies quite well.
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.
Naturally most fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas who saw this trailer were interested in seeing Igor, it was the dark humor we craved around Halloween, not the typical safe humor used in most children's movies.
So I saw this opening day with great hopes, but I left the theater a little disappointed, while it's a cute movie and is fun to watch at times, this was technically a failure when it comes to what I was expecting.
I'm not saying this movie was a total disaster, it's cute, it's worth the look, but like I said, the story doesn't add a special touch to make Igor stand out against other animated films.Igor is...
After trying to brain wash her, she gets the wrong message and wants to become an actress, Igor figures a way for her act evil and win the competition, but realizes that maybe having a heart of gold isn't so bad.
But he still has one more problem, another inventor who is trying to take over will do anything to get ahold of Eva and rule the city.This movie is worth the look, I'd just say if you're going to go to the theater for it, I'd recommend a matinée, it's fun for your kids and I will say that there are some fun laughs and despite the story's predictability, it's still enjoyable.
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.
His master Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese) continues to falter  and does not heed the advice of his subordinate or that of Igor's  creations including a robot named Brain (Sean Hayes) although labelled  with permanent marker incorrectly, much to his chagrin, as "Brian" and  Scamper (Steve Buscemi) a suicidal reanimated rabbit.
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.
(i actually really like the actors themselves,i just don't think either they were right for the parts,or if were that they did as good as job as should have).The story itself is not i felt something kids would relate to very well,but overall it was enjoyable enough,i just wouldn't go out of way to recommend it like i would, say, Tim Burtons nightmare before xmas.
The film's portrayal of the pursuit of evil as if it were a virtue (arguably) mirrors the way a significant sector of modern society chooses to vaunt such negative qualities as oppression and the deliberate instilment of fear.Maybe that was why I didn't particularly enjoy the film (although to be fair maybe the fact that I was the only person watching the screening I went to wasn't conducive to an enjoyable experience either!) I went expecting to spend a couple of hours of escapism from what the media sometimes persuades me is an all-too-brutish humanity - instead I found myself being rather uncomfortably reminded of man's inhumanity to both his own kind and many of the planet's other inhabitants.Having said that I think the film is very well made, has numerous moments of wit and humour and is extremely imaginatively illustrated.Some comments have described Igor as a purely children's' film.
Nevertheless, as far as children's entertainment goes, Igor isn't the worst production of the year, and although the laughs are few and far between, younger viewers should still have a lot of fun with the zaney, off-the-wall characters dreamt up by writer Chris McKenna; yet this doesn't mean that they'll want to revisit the experience on DVD, probably opting to put Kung-Fu Panda and WALL-E on that Christmas list instead.Following the untimely death of his evil scientist master, loyal servant Igor (John Cusack) takes it upon himself to impersonate his master in order to show the world what an evil scientist he can be.
Of course all involved give it all they have too, helping flesh out their caricature characters into something a little more dynamic than the script provides, yet for all the good that Buscemi, Hayes and Cusack do, the anchor that is the pacing, plotting and general writing from McKenna is what constantly keeps such rays of lights from truly shining.Kudos must be given to the animation department however for coming up with a look and feel that in turn rivals this year's visually arresting Horton Hears a Who!
That phrase could describe a big number of animation films, from the good ones (like A Bug's Life or Finding Nemo) to the horrible ones (like Bee Movie or Doogal).Unfortunately, Igor is a new addition to the second group, and it punishes us with 90 minutes of forced humor, far-fetched design and generic action sequences.Igor tried to make likable references to the horror cinema, but it could not achieve that because of its lack of ingenuity and grace.We are in presence of another pathetic animation film with a bland and insipid screenplay.The only thing I liked on this film was the character Scamper, thanks to Steve Buscemi's solid voice work.Pity that character has a very limited appearance on this movie.I am not among them, but I know many people excuse even the weakest screenplays when the animation is good.Well, Igor will also disappoint them, since the animation is absolutely generic and insipid.Igor may be better than the previously mentioned Bee Movie and Doogal...but that is the same as saying that drinking poison with lemon flavor is better than drinking poison with buttermilk flavour.In fact, saying "less bad" is more proper in this case than saying "better".In summary, Igor is a horrible animation film and an authentic waste of time..
With wonderful animation flicks like The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride being tentpoles for animation touching on darker themes and realms (as with festival darlings such as Fear(S) of the Dark), Igor would find itself in good company, and it lives up in certain terms to belong.Voiced by the excellent John Cusack, Igor is a typical hunchback and because of his physical disability and rights (or lack thereof) in the land of Malaria, Igors in general have a single career path, and that is slave to the scientists of the land.
So in a tussle between the actual being and her intended role comes an unlikely romantic story that somehow managed to touch the hearts, resembling how in relationships one tend to change the other subconsciously (or consciously for some), and vice versa.Adversary comes in the form of scam scientist Dr Schadenfreude (Eddie Lizard) and his chameleon wife Jacklyn (Jennifer Coolidge) who scheme to steal Eva away from Igor and fulfill her intended evil purpose, and it's up to Igor and his crazy creations and sidekicks Scamper (Steve Buscemi) and Brian/Brain (Sean Hayes) to save the day.
Some of the best lines were reserved for the banter between Scamper and Brain, and I thought these two characters actually lift the movie when it fell prey to the tried and tested story formula, providing some genuinely funny moments when you least expected.The animation here really challenged the notion of having everything aesthetically pleasing.
And it is this cheery disposition in spite of a gruff exterior, that exudes throughout the movie as well.With a surprisingly star-studded supporting voice cast with the likes of Christian Slater, Jay Leno, John Cleese and even Arsenio Hall, Igor may not have scaled new heights in animation techniques nor with its fairy-tale story, but for what it lacked it made it up for with plenty of heart.
Like a lot of computer animated movies these days, Igor is long on inventive visuals but short on good scripting.
I was half right, it was a great film definitely but it was unfortunately somewhat overlooked.It was a great experience the jokes were clever, the story is nice enough, and it's surprisingly dark for a children's film(which made the movie a bit more enjoyable for me) well bottom line this isn't by all means a perfect movie but it has a certain charm to it,it's definitely worth a look-see your kids will like it and it's enough to keep adults entertained..
this animated film is sort of a riff on the original Frankenstein film.but it adds its own elements to the mix.it is entertaining and has some amusing moments,but it's not what i would call hysterical.there's romance angle which works well here.and there are a few good action sequences.the whole thing is only about 81 minutes(minus the end credits)but it does drag a bit at times.the voice work is excellent though.i was particularly surprised to find that Jay Leno voiced one of the characters.he did a really good job.and it's not the character you might think.overall,though i liked the movie,i can't say it was stellar.it passed the time for 81 minutes,and like i said has some amusing moments.for me,Igor is a 6/10.
Igor is a movie which attempts to be witty and bring a dark animated comedy to children.
This movie should not have worked.It had fairly standard characters--the henchman who wants to be a great inventor, the bitter immortal, the stupid brain, the not-so-evil Frankenstein-esquire Monster.
Man, I really wanted to like this movie, I am a big fan of fantasy settings, interestingly designed characters, cool story premises, all that noise and from the trailer and concept art I viewed, I thought this could turn out to be a great flick.Not so much.
Dreamworks' new animation is perhaps mainly for kids, but I'm sure it will also be enjoyable for accompanying parents.Quite an experimental movie being an animation spoofing the horror genre.Igor really wants to be an evil scientist, when he decides he wants to create an evil monster.
John Cusack voices Igor, the hunchback who wants to a evil scientist.
A solid film with great animation, quirky characters, wonderful voice work and good writing.
Never did I expect that to be worked into an animated movie.There was some intensity in the movie, and one of the main characters "turns on" the evil in the end, which can be frightening and perhaps confusing to small kids.It was good to watch on the big screen, and I'm looking forward to its release on DVD for at least rental, and a probable buy..
Up until now the only scenes that stood out were those where Igor's creation calls herself Eva when he tells her she was doing evil things and those that referenced 'Annie (of of my favourite musicals as a child).' When I heard this film was showing on Viva (a music and entertainment channel in the UK), I decided to give it another chance and I found it even more entertaining second time around.While the animation was decent and the dialogue was dark and witty, the characters were modelled in unique, surreal ways, although Heidi in particular looked a bit plasticky, a lot of the backgrounds were not as colourful as the characters and props and the special effects were rather cheap.
Having made a note on the title for a few years (!) due to it appearing to be a cartoon Horror which has weirdly been forgotten,it felt like the best time to at last meet Igor.View on the film:Displaying a confidence in his writing debut (with additional material from John Hoffman/Dimitri Toscas and director Tony Leondis) of playing around with genre staples which would work wonders with Jumanji 2 and in the MCU, the screenplay by Chris McKenna moves pass the big-name monsters in order to follow the daily grind of the lab assistants and evil henchmen such as Igor, who have dreams of becoming mad scientists themselves, but always get stuck following the demands of their masters.
Dipping into off-beat Horror Comedy with a talking brain and a suicidal immortal rabbit, McKenna gives the movie dollops of heart via Igor's Frankenstin's Monster-style creation Eva learning that she does not have to sit in the pigeon-hole others attempt to place Eva in.Brimming with enthusiasm in the detailed audio commentary with McKenna and producer Max Howard, Director Tony Leondis shows a real promise here, which has sadly not continued (his next project was 2017's The Emoji Movie.) Looking back to the Gothic Horror films of the 1930's, Leondis gives his monsters an excellent grotesque appearance, with the smoothly-handled CGI animation not taking the rough edges off the put together with odds and ends, fading into a metallic grey, character designs.
One Igor (John Cusack), who serves tedious-minded Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese), is a talent inventor and aspires to be an evil scientist himself, he has already invented a re-animated immortal rabbit with a death wish, named Scamper (Steve Buscemi), and unintelligent human brain transplanted into a life support jar named Brain (Will & Grace's Sean Hayes).
But this Igor is smart and has good ideas that he wants to try inventing, but in this land an Igor is looked down upon.The movie is filled with good vocal actors, including John Cleese as Dr. Glickenstein, Steve Buscemi as the immortal rabbit Scamper, Sean Hayes as the constructed Brain (who wrote Brian on his transparent brain bubble and people call him Brian instead of Brain), Eddie Izzard as Dr. Schadenfreude, and perhaps the best of all, Jennifer Coolidge (of 'Legally Blond" fame) as Jaclyn / Heidi.
IGOR (2008) ** (Voices of: John Cusack, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi, Sean Hayes, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge, Jay Leno, John Cleese, Arsenio Hall, Christian Slater) Disappointing animated fare attempting to do what SHREK did for storybook characters this tries for classic horror characters ; to wit: the titular hunchbacked assistant to mad scientists (a game Cusack) decides to create his own 'evil' monstrosity and the end result is a gi-normous patchwork gentle giantess named Eva (Shannon also a good sport) who is far from being what he wanted her to be.
he works as an assistant or let me say as an Igor for the evil scientist Dr. Glickenstein who died trying to invent a new dark monster ...
For Igor (John Cusack), the main character, had probably the best graphics in the whole movie.
The voice cast (John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Eddie Izzard, Jennifer Coolidge) is excellent, and the movie has a unique and striking look to it - kind of like The Nightmare Before Christmas with the volume turned up to 11.