In the new animated film, Igor, dark clouds and thunder storms fill the land of Malaria, where the rockstars are the mad scientists... and following closely behind, disregarded by society, are their hunchback assistants, all named Igor. Malaria finds its wealth in creating evil, world-destroying monsters, and machines, and then demanding exorbitant amounts of money from the rest of the world in exchange for not releasing these monsters to wreak havoc.

Only Evil Geniuses are allowed to invent; an Igor is destined to be an Evil Genius' assistant, never allowed to invent anything. But there is one large-eyed, cutesy Igor (voiced by John Cusack), who secretly plans out great inventions when he's not assisting his master, Dr. Glickenstein (John Cleese).

Naturally, the movie's story follows this Igor from his underdog beginnings on to his dreams of becoming an inventor—a true Evil Genius.

When his master is accidentally killed in a lab experiment-gone-wrong, Igor begins work on his own masterpiece—a giant killing machine. But when things don't go as planned, his monster creation ends up not being so scary, with no desire to hurt or destroy. Thus fulfilling the movie's tagline: All men aren't created Evil.

We were created in God's image, each of us unique specimens of the handiwork of an all-powerful Creator. We were created to have fellowship with God in perfect peace in the Garden. But then Eve and Adam decide to disobey God.

Essentially the fall of humanity begins with the simple act of eating a forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden. Adam and Eve are kicked out of the garden and all sickness, sadness, turmoil, oppression stems from that moment. In this movie, Eva (Molly Shannon), Igor's huge, intended-for-evil creation, is like a re-incarnation of the original Eve, trying to make good on the mistake in the Garden.

Eva refuses to do evil, even though she might have been created for it. There is good in her because of a brainwashing gone wrong, but she prefers to channel her energy into good, and doing the right thing. And this helps lead all of Malaria toward the light, so to speak. Through the course of the film, Igor and Eva unintentionally uncover a devastating truth that has kept the kingdom in the darkness, literally and figuratively.

Igor created Eva to be the a giant killing machine, the ultimate evil invention, in order to win the Evil Science Fair, and all the accompanying prestige and respect—things that have never gone to a lowly Igor in the history of Malaria. But because of a botched brainwashing incident, Eva can't even hurt a fly, and instead is obsessed with being an actress. Igor then must use this apparent malfunction to his advantage, and make Eva pretend to be evil, for the sake of the Fair.

Because I grew up watching cartoons and have loved art and drawing all my life, animated films have a special place in my heart. But a great story is key to making an entertaining and successful animated movie or show. Even if stories and characters are unoriginal or formulaic, the movie can be awesome as long as it's told with some style and fun. In IGOR's case, we have an appealing, funny-looking main character with some comedy-relief sidekicks struggling against a villain in a formulaic story—but that's not enough to make an entertaining movie, regardless of the audience age.

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