The laboratory door opened for the animated John Cusack-starrer this afternoon and here's what came stumbling out... a bring-the-family horror movie that could be "charming" and DreamWorks-ish--or edgy and "dark" like a Tim Burton flick.  It's just too early to tell.  I'm hoping for something as oddball as Mad Monster Party but also for something that's substantially more compelling.

If you're not aware of Igor's premise, you should know it's a pretty good one.  The story represents a revisionist take on classic horror that is somewhat akin to that of Monsters, Inc. in its behind-the-scenes approach to the material.  Ever wonder about the lab assistants of all those mad scientists, how they land their jobs in the first place, maybe whether they have aspirations of their own?  Well, this is the movie that promises to answer all such questions.  We'll reportedly see how young hunchbacks are pulled out of the mainstream to undertake training at a school for Igors:  that's where they learn to pull switches with such aplomb.  If handled well, this could be really funny stuff--like Bee Movie in its battle-against-conformity theme, but much sicker and more pointed.

For this reason, I wanted to believe director Anthony Leondis when, in the Q&A that followed the screening, he remarked that writer Chris McKenna (of American Dad fame) brought a smart, "subversive" sensibility to this horror-comedy.  My concern is that Igor will, in the end, resemble a hunchbacked version of Rocky as our anti-hero builds his own creation, "Eva," and proves all the naysayers wrong about his underachieving namesakes. 

And as far as the animation is concerned, the character and set designs looked promising (although no real home runs were hit), but the overall style is quite noisy--both aurally and visually.  It's a big mistake to make too many snap judgments from a trailer, but I'm somewhat anxious that Igor might become one of those hyperactive and self-consciously quirky/ironic animated movies that we've seen far too many of in recent years.  

So, my fellow fans of horror and animation, let's just keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best...