Igor (2008)

Igor is chock full of quirky humor and arcane plot twists that look bewildering on paper but are satisfyingly weird on the silver screen. It's perky but too dark for young kids, however, boys aged 10-12 should enjoy it -- with some generous dollops of satire thrown in for parents. In a mashup of congenital deformity and societal stereotyping, Igor (John Cusack) has a one-note career track as the hunchback laboratory assistant to the mad scientist Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese). You can almost hear the "Yes, Massa" when it comes out as the requisite "Yes, Master." After a freak lab accident, Igor decides to try and change his stars. His master's nemesis, Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard), holds King Malbert (Jay Leno) and the town of Malaria in thrall after turning the economy into a mad-scientist-based military-industrial complex. Igor has taken (made) his own assistants in the form of the suicidal yet undead rabbit Scamper (Steve Buscemi is wryly hilarious in the role) and the disembodied and misspelled Brain (Sean Hayes is as funny as Chicken Little's Fish Out of Water). The gargantuan woman, Eva (Molly Shannon), looks less lumpy and frumpy than you'd expect of a Ms. Frankenstein but that's the cutesy grotesque style of the movie -- think Tim Burton meets Disney. Eva wants to become more than Igor intended for her -- and I think she (and the movie) succeeds. 4 stars. (11-19-08)