'Igor' Scares Up Mild Family Fun 

By Martha Brockenbrough
MSN Cinemama

Not long ago, the guy who was the voice of movie trailers died. I still hear him, especially when I watch concept-heavy movies like "Igor."

And so, in honor of the late Don LaFontaine, here goes:

"In a world where evil is good, and where scientists compete to invent the most evil device, there lives a hero who aspires to be the best mad scientist of them all. His name is Igor (pause) and he's a hunchback."

Did that feel a little flat to you? Me, too. And so it goes with "Igor," an animated monster movie that is witty, attractive and fun without ever rising to greatness.

Igor lives in a world that once was bright and beautiful. But then the weather turned, the crops died, and mad scientists started inventing hideous weapons that they threaten to release on the rest of the world, which pays a bounty not to be attacked.

Every year, the newest horrors are displayed at the Evil Science Fair. But not everyone can compete. Oh, no. If you're born with a hump on your back, you're an Igor, and the best you can hope for (after earning your Yes Master's Degree) is a shot at flipping the "on" switch.

One Igor dreams of bigger things. When his incompetent master dies before the big Evil Science Fair, Igor and his sidekicks, a brain in a jar and a reanimated rabbit, get a chance to unleash hell in the form of a giant female Frankenstein's monster sort of creature. But there's a problem with her evil bone, and she just wants to act.

It's a good setup, and the movie is full of clever moments. What separates it from the best, though, is a missing theme. What's the point of this story? That good is stronger than evil? Forgive me if I'm a little cynical about that these days.

What's in It for Kids

"Igor" is rated PG for some scary moments and images. It's a better choice for elementary-school-age kids than younger ones, because some of the funniest material is pretty dark.

Steve Buscemi plays a reanimated rabbit who wants to die, but can't. He attempts suicide in a variety of grisly ways (and, in one key scene, even gnaws off his own feet). It's funny, but probably not for all kids.

The story line is one that kids will be able to follow, though. There aren't a lot of confusing flashbacks, though one character does take pills that allow her to change forms, something that isn't clear the first time she appears on-screen.

They will root for Igor (John Cusack). Even though he initially dreams of evil, it's clear he's kindhearted and sympathetic. He would never let anything bad happen to blind orphans, for example.

What's in It for Grown-ups

Though the overall theme of "Igor" falls flat, there are many clever moments and references within, to classic "Frankenstein" movies and even "A Clockwork Orange."

All the Igors are required to speak in that "yesss, mahster" accent. And the shape-shifting girlfriend goes by the names Jaclyn and Heidi. (Jekyll and Hyde -- get it?) So the screenplay, by Chris McKenna, is certainly witty and imaginative on the level of individual lines.

The cast is also very good. In addition to Cusack and Buscemi, John Cleese plays an evil scientist and Jennifer Coolidge, recognizable from "Legally Blonde" and the hilarious Christopher Guest movies, plies her gummy comic voice to perfection. Eddie Izzard (most recently Reepicheep in "Prince Caspian") plays her boyfriend, the evil scientist Schadenfreude. And Sean Hayes from "Will & Grace" manages some restraint as the comic Brain in a Jar.

In short, this isn't one of those movies that has been slapped together and packaged as a vehicle for selling Happy Meals to children.

But it falls short of classic status because the cleverness isn't harnessed to a greater theme. Where "WALL-E" told us something about our propensity to consume ourselves into oblivion (and certainly alienation from all that is meaningful), this movie says, what, that evil is bad? That you can't make a person into an Igor just because he has a hump on his back?

Ultimately it doesn't matter that the movie is set in an upside-down world where bad is good and good is bad. It's stuff we've seen before, and it's focused more sharply elsewhere. This is a fine family diversion, but it won't be a defining cultural experience for your family.

Read More 'Igor' Reviews on MSN Movies

DVD Review: Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre -- The Complete Series 7-Disc Set

Speaking of such experiences, we're living in a time when many kids have never heard the classic fairy tales that are part of our cultural vocabulary.

To kids today, "The Little Mermaid" is Ariel from Disneyland. She lives happily ever after with her prince. But the original Little Mermaid didn't have quite the same luck. She either had to stab her beloved and be turned back into a mermaid by his blood, or be turned into sea foam.

Yes, it's dark. But it's also the version of the story that resonated for nearly two centuries before being co-opted by the corporate entertainment world. There is nothing wrong with polishing a classic story for modern sensibilities, of course. The modern screen adaptations are great fun, and, on their face, more geared to our definition of what's kid-appropriate.

Color me old-fashioned, but I liked those fairy tales when I was a kid, and was able to recognize their influence later when I encountered the archetypes in literature and on the big screen. It makes for savvier viewing.

"Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre" is a great introduction for kids to the classic versions of those fairy tales, both common and obscure. The collector's set, which came out this month, has seven DVDs, with two dozen fairy tales from a Showtime program that ran from 1982 to 1987.

There is some creakiness to the episodes. Even though they're directed by the likes of Tim Burton and Francis Ford Coppola, and star Robin Williams, Christopher Reeve and Susan Sarandon (and even Mick Jagger), they feel more like community theater than cinema.

This isn't all bad and might in fact be an asset. The relative simplicity puts more attention on the stories themselves.

The DVD collection, which retails for $99, comes with a book and card game. Without a doubt, it'll help make your kids more culturally literate, even if they prefer the happily ever after version of "The Little Mermaid."

Martha Brockenbrough is MSN's Cinemama, for the Parents' Movie Guide. She is also the author of "It Could Happen to You: Diary of a Pregnancy and Beyond." She's also founder of SPOGG, the Society for the Promotion of Good Grammar. She writes a fun-with-kids column for Cranium.com, as well as an educational humor column for Encarta. Check out her Web site.

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