Rating: MM

Review of Igor first published in an October 2008 issue Spark*, the newspaper of Reading University Students’ Union.

Director: Anthony Leonidas
Starring: (voices)  John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Sean Hayes
Running time: 87 mins

In the town of ‘Malaria’, the race of hunchbacked ‘igors’ are ridiculed as deformed and worthless beings, enslaved as assistants to the ‘evil scientists’ (apparently in abundance in this town) and forced to “pull the switch!” for their various malevolent inventions. One of these poor creatures is the eponymous Igor (John Cusack), the dutiful servant to the evil Dr Glickenstein (John Cleese) who doesn’t seem to fit the ‘evil’ cultural work ethic that abounds in Malaria. Naturally good-hearted Igor is accompanied by friends that he himself has created (in secret obviously), Scamper the immortal rabbit (a brilliant Steve Buscemi) and ‘Brain’ (the often hit-and-miss Sean Hayes). Together with these two trusty sidekicks, Igor embarks on a perilous adventure involving a potential coup-d’état, physics (and chemistry and biology) defying antics and saving the day right at the end.

In terms of voice talent, the cast is pretty impressive, ranging from A-listers John Cusack and Jay Leno to more offbeat personalities such as Eddie Izzard (wonderfully camp and gothed up) and John Cleese. Carving sympathetic, developed characters from essentially pixellated walking clichés must be a hard task and the actors pull it off well.

However, as an overall cinematic experience, Igor just can’t get past its overriding sense of formula. As someone who actually really likes childrens’ films (Horton Hears A Who! is clearly one of the best films of 2008!) and a generous helping of gothic-tinged cinema, Igor seemed like the perfect film for me. Sadly though, I couldn’t help but feel that it was punching above its weight, desperately trying to aim as high as Wall.E for entertainment value and engagement with the adults in the audience. However, Igor does in places boast a pretty funky jazz style soundtrack (making a great contrast with the film’s gothic noir look) and some really wonderful references and homages to Frankenstein. All in all, a fun night out for kids at Halloween, but for all its Tim Burtonesque influences, Nightmare Before Christmas this isn’t.

Rating: MM