Thursday, October 9, 2008

IGOR

Cast: (Voice) John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, John Cleese, Christian Slater, Jennifer Coolidge, Arsenia Hall, Sean Hayes, Eddie Izzard, Jay Leno, James Lipion, Molly Shannon; Director: Tony Leondis; Producers: John D. Fraklis, Max Howard; Screenwriter: Chris McKenna; Music: Patrick Doyle; Editor: Herve Schneid; Genre: Animation, Comedy; Distributor: International: The Weinstein Company, Local:VIVA; Running Time: 85 min.;

Technical Assessment: 3
Moral Assessment: 2.5
CINEMA Rating: For viewers 14 and above

In the land called Malaria, a child with a humped backed was born. Since this kind of phenomenon was unacceptable to their kind, he was named Igor. As an adult, he now works for a wicked master scientist. In spite of his talent in science, Igor is not allowed to try and use his skills. He is only to do the simple tasks that his master gives him. Still, he is determined to become like his master, to the extent of winning the title of “Best Evil Scientist” at the annual Evil Scientist Fair. A chance for Igor to start something comes when a disastrous accident in the lab takes place; he attempts to develop a gigantic woman he calls Eva, mistaken for “Evil” for a while. He prepares and trains her to help him create and spread evil all around. Things become complicated however, when his master goes after him, and also catches Eva to brain-wash her for his own agenda. But Eva (once “Evil”) is found to be a naturally good character that could not be easily turned bad. Igor also finds out that he could not really be evil as his master and his followers are.

Igor tries to be a film for all viewers. There is the struggle between the bad and good characters to gain the upper hand. The acting casts are computer generated images not easily identifiable for viewers. One example is a brain soaked in a jar called Brain; and another, among others, is a very skinny rabbit named Scamper which keeps on trying to kill itself. The characters or images are too many and they move at a pace that makes it difficult to understand what is taking place as the story moves along.

Wanting to be like his wicked boss, Igor was willing to turn evil. But it turns out he is too naturally good to turn bad. What happened had positive effects on Eve and his group of followers. It may not be a good idea for the younger teens to watch Igor because of some of the weird and scary unrecognizable characters shown. There are also some violence depicted, although in cartoon style.