Igor takes place in the village of Malaria. Years ago, storm clouds covered the land and stayed there. Without the sunlight, the village's agriculture industry literally withered up and died. But the people's king, Malbert (Jay Leno) stepped in and figured out a new way to keep the village going. He suggested that the village's top scientists get together and hold a massive competition. Whoever can create the best evil invention will be named the best for that year, and the invention will be used to blackmail the world.
Each evil scientist is helped out by a hunchback named Igor. Well, this movie follows one such Igor, and this Igor isn't content with staying in the background throwing switches. In fact, when he gets out of Igor school, he ends up being assigned to one of the worst scientists in the area (played by John Cleese) and Igor has to constantly correct his mistakes. But our hero, played by John Cusack, gets a chance to shine on his own when his master inadvertently blows himself up. Now Igor, along with his sidekicks, will build an evil invention destined to win the competition and show that even a hunchback can do great evil deeds.
Their invention is Eva (Molly Shannon), a Frankenstein's Monster-like character who is a giant of a woman, but a series of mishaps and mistaken brainwashings leave Eva not only not evil, but thinking she's an actress. Now Igor, Scamper (an immortal, but cynical rabbit played by Steve Buscemi) and Brain (a brain in a jar that isn't very bright played by Sean Hayes), have to convince Eva that she is auditioning for the part of an evil monster in order to get her to win the competition.
But, of course, things aren't that easy. The competition's current reigning champion (who apparently has a habit of stealing other scientists' work), Dr. Schadenfreude (Eddie Izzard) has heard of Igor's new invention and wishes to make Eva his own entry.
While the visuals are really good and the music really helps to set the film, the overall feel, as far as story and performance goes, is just okay. I couldn't really put my finger on any particular issue. The actors seemed to do well on their own, but the whole was less than the sum of its parts and in the end, it just didn't come together all that well. Though I have to say, it wasn't all bad; I loved the banter between Brain and Scamper. Between the rabbit's hyper-intelligence and constant attempts to end it's immortal life and Brain's dim-witted actions, the two just mesh really well.
The other disappointing aspect is the utter lack of special features. All the Blu-ray has to offer in the way of extras is an audio commentary, an alternate beginning and and some artwork. It really didn't feel like it was worth it and makes the movie fall into the rent-if-you-must category since there isn't really any reason to go back after seeing the movie to check out any documentaries or featurettes. All in all, the movie just doesn't stack up when compared to other CG films. While enjoyable at times, the story is predictable and feels very average.
