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'Igor'

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BY JOHN ANDERSON | Special to Newsday

September 19, 2008

There's always a pivotal moment in a monster movie when you know things are going to go terribly wrong. In the fanciful, smarty-pants "Igor," that moment arrives when the towering, patchwork, reanimated Eva (voice of Molly Shannon) is accidentally exposed to James Lipton of "Inside the Actor's Studio." She emerges ... an actress! Oh, the humanity.

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. And for all its influences, it feels totally fresh. In the land of Malaria, which has become the Silicon Valley of evil inventions, anyone born a hunchback is sent to Igor school for a Yes Masters degree so he can serve one of Malaria's 13 mad scientists. When Dr. Glickenstein ( John Cleese) does himself in, his personal Igor (John Cusack) is left to complete his own creation, a huge monstrous woman who, in fact, wouldn't hurt a fly. Abetted by the brainless Brain ( Sean Hayes) and an immortal, acerbic rabbit named Scamper (Steve Buscemi), Igor needs to turn Eva bad in time for the Evil Science Fair.

Not all the jokes work, but most do, and the overall tenor of "Igor" is goofily funny - probably a bit sophisticated for kids but certainly good-natured. The voice work is particularly good - Buscemi and Shannon are standouts, as is Eddie Izzard as the hilarious Dr. Schadenfreude. And the animated characters possess an unusual depth of emotion. "Igor" must have been a real roll of the dice for its makers, but it's paid off.

'Igor' (PG)

PLOT In the kingdom of Malaria, a lowly but brilliant lab assistant creates a woman who's half "Iron Giant" and half Betty Boop.

CAST Voices of John Cusack, Steve Buscemi, Jennifer Coolidge, Molly Shannon

LENGTH 1:26

PLAYING AT Area theaters

BOTTOM LINE Animation for adults which, like the monster herself, is a little this ( Mel Brooks, Monty Python), and a little that ( Tim Burton, Tod Browning), and a lot of fun.