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Search forDon't be too Igor to see this one, kids
Friday, October 17, 2008, 07:00
Look at Captain Hook and salty seadog Smee, Voldemort and Wormtail, or Cruella De Ville and her bumbling henchmen Jasper and Horace.
The same is true of deranged inventors, intent on unleashing evil upon the world. While they are busy in the laboratory creating mayhem, someone needs to be on standby to throw the switch that sets the plan in motion.
"All Igors are forced to serve evil scientists. Our life is a permanent graveyard shift," explains the hunchbacked protagonist of Tony Leondis's disappointing animated feature.
As the title of the film makes clear, the much-abused sidekick, who normally skulks in the shadows, enjoys a rare moment in the spotlight here, realising that he doesn't have to behave like a monster just because other people see him that way.
Regrettably, when the mad scientist behind Igor – screenwriter Chris McKenna – was harvesting ideas for his creation, he forgot all about characterisation, frequent laughs or soul.
More worrying, the animators appear to have grave-robbed some of their designs from Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas, including a monarch who bears an uncanny resemblance to the Mayor of Halloween Town, and a patchwork heroine who could be Sally's obese cousin.
Igor (voiced by Cusack) resides in the land of Malaria, where he must do the bidding of evil scientist Dr Glickenstein (Cleese).
Sadly, the doctor is somewhat lacking in talent – his inventions rarely work, and as an underling, Igor is unable to point out oversights in his master's blueprints.
When fate hands Igor an opportunity to invent something himself, the servant does the unthinkable and creates life.
Unfortunately, his monster, Eva (Shannon), isn't evil at all.
Indeed, through an error at the brainwashing plant, she believes that she is an actress destined to audition for the role of musical heroine Annie.
"I'd rather be a good nobody than an evil somebody – and so would you, Igor," she tells her creator.
Aided by sidekicks Scamper the rat (Buscemi) and Brain (Hayes), a thinking organ on wheels, Igor attempts to unlock his creation's dark side.
Meanwhile, rival inventor Dr Schadenfreude (Izzard) schemes to kidnap Eva to win the annual science fair, judged by the King (Leno) at the Killoseum.
Igor has some brief flashes of brilliance, such as a clever verbal pun with Schadenfreude's female sidekick, or Scamper's grisly escape plan, which causes him to quip, "Who said rabbit's feet are lucky?".
Yet for the most part, Leondis's film is as brain-dead as some of its grotesque characters.
Izzard is noticeably out of sorts, barely registering in a role that seems perfect for shameless scene-stealing.
Children will be bored almost as quickly as parents.
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