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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 18, 2008

Updated:

IGOR **

Dr. Frankenstein himself could not revive "Igor," an animated comedy about a hunchbacked lab assistant playing at mad scientist.

A potentially original premise and an eager voice cast led by John Cusack and Molly Shannon are left to decay amid a clunky story vaguely reminiscent of "Monsters, Inc." and a clutter of cartoon images often resembling visuals rejected from "Tim Burton's Corpse Bride."

Director Tony Leondis ("Lilo & Stitch 2: Stitch Has a Glitch") and screenwriter Chris McKenna take a jumble of Hollywood horror cliches and shove them through a meat grinder to concoct an awkward, unfunny comic twist on the evil-genius genre.

It all starts with a clumsy voiceover introduction by Igor (Cusack), one of the unsung lab gofers who help the kingdom of Malaria's demented inventors come up with their diabolical creations.

Seems Malaria was once sunny farmland until perpetual storm clouds moved in and choked off the crops - and the inhabitants' good dispositions. King Malbert (Jay Leno) came up with a new industry - EVIL - and he holds an annual competition to find the nastiest monsters, machines and doodads to extort cash from the rest of the world.

After Igor's crazy master (John Cleese) snuffs himself in an experiment gone bad, the hunchback seizes the opportunity to become a mad scientist himself by creating a behemoth terror of a woman (Shannon) out of spare parts.

Trouble is: His beast turns out to be a pussycat who calls herself Eva, would never hurt a fly and dreams only of becoming an actress.

The makers of "Igor" somehow decided that cramming in a bunch of Louis Prima songs and having Eva dress up like Little Orphan Annie to croon "Tomorrow" would be funny. It's not.

PG (mature themes, scary images, action and mild profanity); 86 minutes

David Germain,

The Associated Press

GHOST TOWN

Ponder this dilemma. You have cast Ricky Gervais, the terror of the original "Office," and smug former talk show host Greg Kinnear in your new light romantic comedy. But both actors seem to be at their best when they play characters audiences love to hate.

What to do?

Director David Koepp solves the problem in "Ghost Town" by allowing both actors to be as irksome and annoying as they want to be, at least for the first half of the movie. Then, to get the romantic part of the movie going, Koepp carefully guides them toward being people we can at least tolerate.

Gervais plays Bertram Pincus, a dentist devoid of social skills. He dies during a medical procedure but returns to life. With him comes the power to see and hear dead people.

Frank Herlihy (Kinnear), a philanderer, badgers Pincus until the dentist agrees to assist the ghost with a personal problem. Frank is convinced his widow (Tea Leoni) is about to marry the wrong guy.

The slow transformation of both characters is what makes the film work. Gervais and Kinnear get to be wickedly funny through the obnoxious aspects of Pincus and Frank. Then the emotional switch is flipped and the movie settles into a safe romantic tone.

PG-13 (profanity, adult situations); 101 minutes

Rick Bentley,

McClatchy Newspapers

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