Entertainment, Music - Army Times

‘Igor’ gets over hump with clever jokes, story

“What hump?”

If you recognize Marty Feldman’s famous line as Igor in “Young Frankenstein,” you’re the perfect audience for the slight but entertaining “Igor,” a clever animated film that turns the whole evil scientist-hunchbacked assistant relationship on its head.

Like the “Shrek” and “Toy Story” franchises, “Igor” features layered jokes that both children and adults will find amusing.

For the youngsters, there’s the slapstick humor of dim-witted disembodied Brain (voiced by Sean Hayes) that floats in a jar. For the parents, there’s an indestructible mutated rabbit (a very funny Steve Buscemi) who keeps returning from the dead despite repeated suicide attempts.

The film does have lots of dark — but very funny — scenes. If you’re easily offended or don’t want your kids exposed to “Monty Python”-type humor, you should probably skip “Igor.”

The clever story by screenwriter Chris McKenna quickly establishes a permanently dreary land called Malaria, which is inhabited by a group of evil scientists and their hunchback assistants, all called “Igor.”

Every year, Malaria’s evil king (Jay Leno) holds a contest in which the scientists create the most fearsome creature, which is then used to blackmail the rest of the world. Malaria needs to keeps its coffers filled because the kingdom can’t grow anything.

One Igor (John Cusack), though, dreams of becoming an evil scientist himself and winning the contest with his evil Frankenstein-like project, Eva (Molly Shannon). There’s a problem, though: Eva’s evil bone (literally) doesn’t work.

Along the way, the fast-paced 87-minute film pays homage to classic horror films — especially “Frankenstein” — and pokes fun at everything from existential philosophy to “Actor’s Studio” interviewer James Lipton.

All the voice work is inspired, especially that of the aforementioned Buscemi and Eddie Izzard as Igor’s rival Dr. Schadenfreude. In fact, Izzard sounds suspiciously like Dr. Frank-N-Furter from “The Rocky Horror Picture Show.”

Unfortunately, the film’s animation doesn’t live up to its frequently clever script. Compared to the gorgeous Pixar projects, “Igor” is flat and almost one-dimensional. But Pixar has probably raised the bar so high with films such as “Wall-E” and “Ratatouille,” no animated film will be able to match that studio’s heights.

Still, “Igor” has enough clever jokes and fun characters to make it worth catching — especially if you’re a fan of classic monster movies or have a warped sense of humor.

Rated: PG for some thematic elements, scary images, action and mild language.

IGOR

Opens Friday, Sept. 19

Three Stars (Good)