 | ON: Content is age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | PAUSE: Know your child; some content may not be right for some kids. |
 | OFF: Not age-appropriate for kids this age. |
 | NOT FOR KIDS: Not appropriate for kids any age. |
Igor
- Review Date: September 15, 2008
- PG
- Genre: Family and Kids
- 2008
Common Sense Media says
Mad-scientist comedy is fine for younger kids.
Parents say
QUALITY
Kids say
QUALITY
What parents need to know
Parents need to know that, like most animated films, ads for this movie have been targeting the 5-and-up set on television. You don't have to worry about any age-inappropriate language, sexuality, or commercialism, but there are a few episodes of mild peril and cartoonish violence: Evil scientists' monstrous creations fight each other and at one point lose control and threaten the inhabitants of Malaria (the kingdom where the movie takes place). The musical Annie is featured prominently, so don't be surprised if kids want to see it afterward.
What's the story?
In the dark, gloomy kingdom of Malaria, evil scientists have free rein to create monstrous inventions with the help of hunchbacked servants who are all called Igor. The central Igor (voiced by John Cusack) secretly wants to be a scientist, so when his misguided master (John Cleese) dies in a lab explosion, Igor brings to life a towering female monster, Eva (Molly Shannon). But instead of being vicious, she's convinced -- thanks to a brain-washing mix up -- that she's an aspiring actress.
Is it any good?
IGOR borrows its animation style from Tim Burton and its story from Young Frankenstein, but even with such classic inspiration, it's only OK. At least the voice actors are top-notch -- the supporting cast includes Steve Buscemi as the voice of Igor's suicidal-but-invincible rabbit creation Scamper; Sean Hayes as Brain, a dim-witted brain in a jar; and Eddie Izzard as the hilariously named celebrity scientist Dr. Schadenfreude.
Kids will certainly be entertained, especially by the antics of the two sidekicks responsible for most of the laughs. The story is so simple that even very young kids will be able to follow along, and Eva is surprisingly touching as she practices "Tomorrow" and dresses up like Gloria Swanson. Igor -- like many other recent animated movies -- may fall short of the Pixar standard for greatness, but it's good enough for most little monsters.
What families can talk about
Families can talk about the movie's messages. Why is it so out of the ordinary for Igor to want to be a scientist? How do others' expectations affect the way we behave and the way we see ourselves? Families can also discuss how this film fits into the monster-movie genre. What does it have in common with movies about Frankenstein and the hunchback of Notre Dame? How is it different? Kids: If you could create a "monster," what would it be like?
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Kid, 11 years old
January 23, 2009
AGE
Suprised by Common Sense Review
We turned this movie off about half way through and had a talk about what we'd seen so far with our sever year-old son. After the talk, we decided not to watch the rest.
By the half-way point, hunchbacks had been verbally and physically abused, and one had apparently been killed and stuffed for failure to perform. A women was told she could be thrown back to the gutter where she'd been found, and otherwise verbally cut down. And characters were told to make time for a little torture everyday... while being shown a poster of a cat being hung.
The "antics of the two sidekicks" (CSM review) includes one of them, who is immortal, repeatedly and violently killing himself, then coming back to life to try again. Appropriate for age 6 and up? Even if there is a good moral at the end, it cannot make up for someone thinking this movie is for children. Or humans.
Common Sense Media, we use your reviews faithfully... please re-watch this movie then re-read your review.
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AGE
This is an ok movie, but it doesn't live up to Pixar in any way possible. It does have it's moments, but is not a classic. I say rent it
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AGE
AWFUL!!!
This movie was absoutly horrible. It IS NOT suitable for children period. We rented this movie last night and turned it off. I am very dissapointed. Some of the violent things in the first part of the movie my 3yr old didnt pick up on, thankfully... but when one of the characters head gets a hole blown in it from opening a mothers day card... I draw the line. The makers of this movie should be ashamed for gearing this toward children.
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Kid, 10 years old
September 5, 2011
AGE
thriller
weird movie
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AGE
This was a horrible movie for little ones! Even my husband and I were turned off by the sexual scenes and violence, especially at the end of the movie. There was much more than just "flirting;" there were racy scenes with more leg and cleavage shown than I would allow my kids to see on a real person, and the character is too realistic looking to let it pass. The violence is sad and demeaning, and my boys (who love The Lord of the Rings & Braveheart), were scared by the ending Annie scenes. None of them asked to see Annie after this movie. This is not only a bad remake of a good story (Hunchback), it's one of the worst "kids" movies I've seen in a long time.
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AGE
Horrified
I was so disgusted with this movie. Luckily I had told my son we would watch half tonight and half tomorrow night. I will find a way to avoid watching the rest. My son is 6 and will be 7 in March. He is very bright though and understood many of the horrible concepts in this film. The main being that evil was good and nice bad. Maybe the idea would change later on but we'd watched half of the movie and that is a long time to be bombarded with ideas of evil being good. Also the character that repeatedly tries to kill himself had my son asking about suicide. And I can't imagine how many impressionable children watching poison being drunk and thought that looked like fun. This character shoots himself in the head only to come back, drinks poison, explodes himself etc. Disgusting! And then there is the talk of murder as being a nice thing to do. The nice invention is put inside a room with eyes held open to watch a woman screamming and terrified as though she is learning to be mean. All these concepts were only in the first 15 minutes! Unbelievable that this was geared toward 6 year old children, as my son watched discovery kids there were tons of commercials for it. If there are any other parents that feel the same way about it please write. I want to warn as many parents as I can to avoid this movie. Go and see Bolt or Hotel for dogs or some other good movie instead!
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AGE
"Let me break the mold by saying, Not Terrible."
I really liked this this movie. Any violence it had was purely Juvenile. There was only one swearword in the whole film, "Da== it!" And there was nothing sexual. The flirting was very tame, and two characters fall in love in every movie. All in all, I thought it was a good comedy for kids. The only problem might have been the animation.
It was done by some French Studio...
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AGE
I was about to sleep through this movie
Half-way through the movie, I was ready to fall asleep. It was REALLY boring and confusing. Like I had no clue what was going on. Terrible.
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AGE
TERRIBLE
we took 5 kids, ages range from 6 to 11 to see this movie.
It was terrible. only one child wanted to stay to the end to see it. It doesn't reveal an actual moral to the story until the end and be that time the violence and story line both had me ready to walk out. This movie treated the "Igor's" with violence. they were hit and slapped and put to death for having a thought. The same was true for the women in the story. We had a serious discussion on the ride home about appropriate behaviors and actions. HORRIBLE MOVIE
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AGE
better than i thought
i think this movie was pretty good
it can be a bit scary for kids under 5 i think
and at one scene its a bit gory
i recomend it 5+
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| Topics: | monsters, ghosts, and vampires |
| Studio: | MGM/UA |
| Director: | Anthony Leondis |
| Cast: | John Cusack, Molly Shannon, Steve Buscemi |
| Genre: | Family and Kids |
| Run time: | 93 minutes |
| Theatrical release date: | September 18, 2008 |
| DVD release date: | January 20, 2009 |
| MPAA rating: | PG |
| MPAA explanation: | some thematic elements, scary images, action and mild language. |
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