Movie Review: Igor Rated PG

Every other other month or so, we take turns taking our three older girls to the movies for a "date night." We've seen the ads for Igor and it seemed like a "cute" movie to take the girls to. We usually go one on one, but since I'd taken my 6.5 year old to see Wall-E a few weeks ago, we decided she would come with my 2 year old and myself and still get some quality time. My 11 mo old and 4 year old stayed home with dad.

First let me say that I did NOT do my homework. I didn't read reviews like I usually do and I did NOT pay attention to the movie rating: PG.

Chalk it up to a rought week without dad at home (he was on a business trip). I think I learned my lesson that even if I'm tired, I can't be lazy about movie selection.

In general, the overall theme of the movie was good (you can be whatever you want to be, you don't have to be evil, it's better to be good, lying is bad). However, the pervasive them for most of the movie was "evil" and killing. I must have been living in a bubble when I missed that in the previews? In my mind, it was about a "mad scientist" (um, okay, maybe I should have figured that but I didn't realize a mad scientist meant it was always for killing/harm, I thought they were just a little nutty like most truly brilliant scientists gathering for a science invention competition) with an Igor who wants to change his station in life because he's really a closet inventor who is not allowed to invent so he does it in private.

Oh yeah, speaking of, that was another pervasive theme: Having a defect in your back meant you could only serve as an Igor (slave). This theme didn't bother me so much as it was an opportunity to talk to my 6.5 year old about how we treat people and although people look different, they are owed the same rights and mercy that we give anyone.

Spoilers ahead:

To get a better perspective, though, the goal of this entire kingdom was to create horrific killing inventions so that they could blackmail the rest of the world--pay the kingdom money (I think it was 30 billion dollars?) and they won't release the terrible invention. Each year, there is a competition for the most horrific invention: in a big arena with worldwide televisions watching, the scientists release their invention and the one left standing after "killing" all the others wins! The reward: the scientist gets the "best scientist" badge of honor and the kingdom gets the blackmail money from the rest of the world (seen televised in scenes cowering in fear as they watch the event on television).

This town didn't start that way; they were originally farmers until one fateful day when the town was covered in darkness due to a layer of clouds that never left. They could no longer farm, so the new king declared they must create horrific inventions to force the world to pay them. In the end, you learn that the king actually created a machine to keep the kingdom covered in clouds and darkness; it was all his master plan.

Aside from the cussword "damn," about 10 references to killing and murder and the overall plot of everyone striving to be as evil as possible, it was charming...for a 10 year old. Perhaps if my husband and I had seen the movie alone, I would have enjoyed it. Instead, I'm still kicking myself for not leaving the theater.

This is a cute movie along the lines of the "Nightmare Before Christmas." Of course, I don't think Nightmare is appropriate for anyone under age 10, either. Oh, and I've seen comparisons to Disney's "Monster, Inc." that I think are way off base (did these people actually SEE both movies?). Comparing Igor to Monsters, Inc. is like comparing Psycho to the Wizard of Oz.

Click Here for the trailer we've seen a dozen times (scroll down and hit play on the page). Tell me where in that trailer does it mention they are MAD scientists creating killing machines?? From this trailer, it seems like a "cute" movie, but it's way to violent for little ones. I think the trailer was a bit dishonest about the conents of the movie.

Again, it's rated PG for a reason. And I'm disheartened that a movie that had so much potential had to fulfill it's theme in such a violent way.