Animated movies are made mainly for children but there are edgy ones that adults can enjoy more, like "Igor", with its gruesome imagery and dark humor reminiscent of the hit 1993 Halloween flick, "The Nightmare Before Christmas", and "The Corpse Bride" by Tim Burton.

The story is set in a place called Malaria, where the sun never shines and evil scientists use and abuse outcast hunchback assistants called Igors to create the most diabolically evil creations. One such mad scientist is Dr. Glickenstein (voice by John Cleese), who is so careless that he blows himself up while doing an experiment, leaving his own Igor (John Cusack) alone. Igor then comes up with the idea of producing his own evil creature to compete in their tiny kingdom’s Evil Science Fair. What he really aims is to be able to create the greatest, baddest monster ever imaginable so that he can put his name on record as one of the most evil mad scientists ever to exist. But in the process of his creation, he and the other Igors discover that they don’t have to be evil to survive.

Igor is a homage to the classic Frankenstein monster movie and many other elements are derived from other movies. Igor’s creation is Eva (Molly Shannon), whose supposed to be ferocious but wouldn’t even hurt a fly. She becomes the heroine whose assembled body parts do not match up quite well. Her character is reminiscent of "Bride of Frankenstein" and the Fritz Lang German film, "Metropolis". She has a missing DNA that makes her dumb and she’s erroneously brainwashed to believe she’s a high-maintenance drama actress, so acting guru James Lipton (of "Inside the Actors Studio") pops up for a cameo.

When the king of Malaria, Malbert (Jay Leno), gives the permission for Igor to join the science fair, his rival, Dr. Schadenfraude (Eddie Izzard), gets terribly insecure. Schadenfraude has a lady-in-waiting, Jaclyn (Jennifer Coolidge) who has 13 different personalities, with hair and costume to match each distinct personality.

Another character is Heidi (also Jennife Coolidge), a peasant girl who tries to attract Igor. Igor has two hilarious sidekicks he himself created: Brain (Sean Hayes), who has a human brain in a glass jar on his head that has no intelligence whatsoever, and Scamper (Steve Buscemi), a buck-toothed squirrel who’s been killed but is now immortal.

As the story unfolds, Igor becomes increasingly fond of his own creations in a way he never expected. He also learns how to make decisions about good and evil when he uncovers a nasty plot that threatens their world and decides to fight to save it This dilemma of his provides some positive values and messages for younger viewers who’ll watch it.

All in all, "Igor" is quite enjoyable to watch, being a mixed bag of slapstick humor and witty cynical jokes that make fun of a lot of things in American culture. It does have a dark side, what with it being set in a place where the sun never shines and with its violent visual comic gags involving Scamper who, after becoming immortal, has gotten tired of living and tries to take his own life by drinking poison, eating dynamite and even eating his own appendages to escape from a tight situation.

The voice acting of the talented cast is on target, especially John Cusack who does an excellent job as the mild-manner Igor and Eddie Izzard who nearly runs away with the movie as his portrayal of Schadenfreude will remind you of an Elton John gone superbad.