Igor 2008

David Germain, Associated Press: 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 images often resembling visuals rejected from Tim Burton's Corpse Bride. Read more

Ben Lyons, At the Movies: It is not visually stimulating. Read more

Michael Phillips, Chicago Tribune: My kid went with it, and I had a fairly good time, as I waited for the reappearance of a marble-mouthed peasant tart, voiced by Jennifer Coolidge. Half the time her line readings are hilarious, and it's impossible to know why. Read more

Tasha Robinson, AV Club: While the stitches holding together the plot are clearly visible, Igor breathes some enjoyable life into its stolen grab-bag of gimmicks. Read more

Janice Page, Boston Globe: To convince you that it's full of surprises, the movie throws in Louis Prima songs where they don't belong, and it riffs on classic monster-movie cliches mostly by spinning them into newly unfunny cliches. Read more

Adam Markovitz, Entertainment Weekly: Igor tries to spoof Mary Shelley just as Shrek did the Brothers Grimm, but something tells us this movie's charmless hero won't make an ogre-size impression on kid audiences. Call it a hunch. Read more

Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail: A Frankensteinian mishmash of parts, with drawings that are derived from Tim Burton grafted onto a script filled with Shrek-style sarcasm. Read more

Nancy Churnin, Dallas Morning News: You can think of it as an animated riff on the American dream: Our fate is determined not by the accident of our birth, but our own will, intelligence and talent. And let's not forget serendipity. Read more

Amy Nicholson, I.E. Weekly: A modest do-gooder trying to pretend that its not Cartoonland's most direct attack of the Bush administration. Read more

Robert Wilonsky, L.A. Weekly: So bad it's scary. Read more

John Anderson, Newsday: Director Tony Leondis and screenwriter Chris McKennna have mined everything from Young Frankenstein to Sleepy Hollow to Japanese anime to the German Neo-Expressionists to create that rare thing, a cartoon for adults. Read more

Lou Lumenick, New York Post: Pieced together from Tim Burton and various other sources with more desperation than inspiration. Read more

Roger Moore, Orlando Sentinel: There's enough good stuff here that a better 'toon could have been stitched together from the many promising funny parts. Read more

Peter Hartlaub, San Francisco Chronicle: While much of the banter between the characters is inventive, the plot turns are predictable - complete with a romantic misunderstanding straight out of The Karate Kid (and 20 other films). Read more

Susan Walker, Toronto Star: Igor, like the Frankenstein's monster at the centre of its tired plot, looks like something cobbled together out of used, very used, parts. Read more

Hank Sartin, Time Out: Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: But there's not much form to the plot which develops in fits and starts. Nevertheless, those kids that weren't confused appeared to enjoy it, so there you go. Read more

Claudia Puig, USA Today: While this is no WALLE, or Ratatouille, it does bring to mind Monsters, Inc. and some of the visual flair of Burton's The Corpse Bride. Read more

Justin Chang, Variety: With its belabored gags, misfired pop-culture references and garish visuals crammed together like so many disjointed body parts, this manic kidpic cranks up the annoy-o-meter early on and rarely lets up. Read more

Mike Mayo, Washington Post: Even the desolate future envisioned in this summer's hit Wall-E has more immediate appeal for kids who might not be familiar with the source material for Igor. Read more