Those of us who have watched any version of the Frankenstein monster movies are familiar with an Igor or two. There was the classic and hardly noteworthy Igor of the Karloff version, the beyond funny Igor portrayed by Marty Feldman in Young Frankenstein, with his wild and crazy eyes and, my personal favorite, the disgusting and rightfully lunatic Igor of Bram Stoker’s version. He is so crazed and inhuman that he is banished to a mental institute.

The child in me (and yes, I am quite in touch with her) loved this Igor, simply because it was animated, but the adult in me was glad to see the seldom mentioned Igor, the underdog of monster flicks, portrayed as a main character in his own big screen version.

Now, Igor being a hunchback slave is about as much as the title character has in common with the traditional story. Igor is a hapless slave to his mad scientist master and although he appears to be a cookie cutter Igor (strange low voiced accent, averted eyes), he is so much more. His true potential comes out when his master is gone due to unfortunate circumstances. His accent is suddenly gone and his dreams of winning the Evil Science Fair come to the surface. John Cusack is wonderful in the title role of the long suffering Igor. His straight man humor comes through even in animated form. Steve Buscemi has, in my opinion, the best lines of the film. He portrays Scamper, the evil undead, experiment gone wrong, sarcastic and highly intelligent bunny (phew!) right on the money. You can almost see Buscemi’s true personality come through in his zinger one liners. Sean Hayes plays Brain (or is it Brian). He is funny enough, although you feel he is really there for the silly stupid lines that appeal to the 6 to 10 age group. The monster is as big as life in character as is her actual persona. Yes, I said she. Molly Shannon does the monster right! Think Peter Boyle as the monster in young Frankenstein, turning out to be quite the social butterfly and capable of more than just evil. In this case “Eva” is all good and thus the dilemma begins. I keep thinking she’s not evil she’s just drawn that way. Our band of characters goes through some exciting adventures and misadventures whilst trying to switch Eva to evil and beat out the other Mad Scientists at the fair. A few added pluses in the film are several character cameos you wouldn’t expect and the music was quite enjoyable. In the end, unexpectedly, you might find yourself with a happily ever after love story…….after all.

Review By Priscilla 
priscilla@smartcine.com

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